Ho-Ho-Kus
May 6, 2009 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 3
Council introduces budget with $162 average increase
by Jennifer Crusco The owner of a Ho-Ho-Kus house with the borough’s average assessment will pay an additional $162 in municipal-purpose taxes this year. The average assessment is approximately $825,000. Councilman Kevin Crossley said the $7,888,404 budget introduced by the council last week, presented the borough with problems not faced in many years. He said many reductions had been made, and spending was down $150,000 since 2008. Crossley added that the borough had worked to maintain residents’ quality of life, most specifically the elements of public health and safety, including police, fire, and ambulance services. He pointed out that expenses involving union contracts, pensions, sewer authority costs, Social Security, and tax appeals, could not be reduced at will. Ho-Ho-Kus Chief Financial Officer Joseph Citro said this year’s budget includes a tax increase from 41 cents to 43 cents, and incorporates $171,000 in mandated expenses. The amount to be raised by taxation is $5,913,836, and the reserve for uncollected taxes is $250,000. Anticipated revenues for 2009 include $4,500 for alcoholic beverage licenses, $10,000 for fees and permits, $121,000 from the municipal court, $109,000 from parking meters, $88,000 in interest on investments and deposits, $12,000 in fees from the Uniform Fire Safety Act, and $146,000 in rent of municipal property. Mayor Thomas Randall said he was pleased that the borough had not taken the pension deferral, which he said would have been akin to “lighting a fuse.” Randall said he was glad to craft a budget that avoided the deferral pitfall. He also thanked the council for working on the spending plan, especially Councilman Crossley and Councilman Gordon Hamm. Councilman John Mongelli added that the spending, while reduced from last year’s municipal budget, still resulted in increased taxes as there were not enough offsetting revenues. “We did everything we could and we still have a tax increase,” he said. Councilman Hamm expressed his view that it would have been fiscally irresponsible to have cut the budget any further. He added his thanks to the borough’s department
heads for their work, which led up to the final budget. The council also introduced the water utility and solid waste utility budgets at last week’s meeting. This year’s water utility budget totals $841,760, and the solid waste utility budget totals $897,000. The public hearings for the municipal, water, and solid waste budgets will be held on May 26. The hearings will be part of the council’s regularly scheduled public meeting, which will begin at 8 p.m. in Ho-Ho-Kus Borough Hall.
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