Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • April 21, 2010 Franklin Lakes Mayor and council at odds over municipal budget by Frank J. McMahon Franklin Lakes Mayor Maura DeNicola, who is not seeking reelection this year, has called the budget the council introduced earlier this month unacceptable. She described the spending plan as an insult to borough taxpayers and said it should be withdrawn. She was challenged by Councilman William Smith, chairman of the council’s Administration/Finance Committee, to provide specific items in the budget that she would cut in order to reduce the budget. Committee member/Councilman Frank Bivona described her criticism as politically driven. The $15,510,778 budget was introduced after several months of early morning meetings of the mayor and council and represents a four percent increase in appropriations, but requires $10,418,446 in property taxes, which requires a $918,374 (or 9.6 percent) increase in property taxes. That property tax levy, which is below the allowable state tax levy cap by $172,927, will raise the borough’s tax rate by 1.8 cents. The owner of a home assessed at the average of $1,280,901 would experience a municipal-purpose tax increase of $231 per year. To determine the total property tax increase, the municipal-purpose increase must be added to the proposed $269 increase in the local school taxes and the proposed $173 increase in the regional high school taxes plus any increase that may be proposed in county taxes and the Bergen County Open Space Fund. According to Bivona and Franklin Lakes Borough Administrator Gregory Hart, the budget contains some notable items that are out of the council’s control because of contractual or regulatory obligations. They include a contribution of $1.6 million to the municipal library; a health care insurance cost of $1.4 million, which is an increase of $187,000; a debt service cost $1.3 million; a $1 million reserve for uncollected taxes, which represents an increase of $229,000; a pension contribution of $900,000, which has increased by $448,000; a garbage and recycling collection and disposal cost of $900,000; and $100,000 in additional snowplowing costs due to the winter storms. Hart pointed out that those required costs total $7.1 million, or 46 percent of the 2010 proposed appropriations, while salaries and wages constitute $5.1 million (33 percent) of the proposed appropriations, a large percentage of which are subject to contractual obligations or negotiations. He emphasized, therefore, that the council has the ability to control about 20 percent of the budget’s appropriations, or $3.3 million for 2010. Hart advised that non-mandated appropriations in the budget decreased by $340,000 (or 2.3 percent), including But STILL can’t lose that Tummy or Cellulite? Call me about VelaShapeTM A NEW Nonsurgical method of Fat reduction and body contouring • Non-invasive • No Anesthesia • No Downtime Beverly Dunn, MD Waldwick, NJ • 201-445-0032 Dieting? Working Out? reductions in legal costs, buildings and grounds expenses, mayor and council salaries, general administration expenses, engineering costs, and financial administration expenses. He added that the budget does not include the elimination of any staff positions or any temporary layoffs or furloughs for employees or any closings of the municipal offices as was done as a result of last year’s budget, and it anticipates a 2.5 percent salary increase for most employees. DeNicola criticized the budget in a statement she posted on a political website in which she said, “In these precarious financial times, when everyone from the governor on down is trying to find ways to trim the cost of government by making sacrifices, I think the council needs to face the taxpayers and tell them why they cannot do a better job of cutting costs.” She announced in that statement that she would not support the municipal budget because she said it is “fiscally reckless” and raises taxes unnecessarily. “These are tough economic times and the council should be working with my administration to identify areas where we can create savings for our homeowners,” DeNicola stated. Bivona responded, “Mayor DeNicola’s criticism of the proposed 2010 budget is politically driven and includes misrepresentations of facts that distort the presentation of a responsible plan for the future. The current fiscal condition of the municipality and the necessity to raise taxes is a direct reflection of her policies over the last several years as a councilwoman and mayor.” Bivona further stated that the proposed budget is almost identical to last year’s and the majority of the proposed tax increase is the result of large items in the budget over which the borough has no control. 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