Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • January 11, 2012 Franklin Lakes Council confirms Ryerson Road special assessments by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Council has passed a resolution confirming the special property tax assessments that will be imposed on seven Ryerson Road property owners as a result of the improvements made to that roadway. Ryerson Road, which is located off Pulis Avenue just north of Bridle Way, used to be a private dirt road. The improvements, which included paving the roadway, were intended to solve the drainage problems the residents of that road had been complaining about for years, specifically that rain water was running onto their driveways because of the poor drainage on the unpaved road. The assessments, which are based on the frontage each of the lots has, range from $5,062 for a lot with a 65-foot frontage on Ryerson to $32,539 for a lot with 416 feet of frontage. Carl Barbara owns the property at 242 Pulis Avenue at the corner of Ryerson Road. His property has a proposed special assessment of $14,373 after Michael Leposky, the borough’s tax assessor, reduced the frontage for assessment purposes from 367 feet to 184 feet in response to Barbara’s complaint about the excessive and unusable frontage on his lot which fronts on both Ryerson and Pulis. After the public meeting at which the assessments were confirmed, Barbara said he feels the method used by the tax assessor to determine the special assessments is unfair and that he and the other property owners were originally led to believe that the cost would be split equally among the property owners. “Basing the special assessment on frontage alone,” Barbara said,” is not fair.” He told the governing body he did not understand how the road improvement makes his property more valuable since it fronts on two paved roads and has a circular driveway between those two roads which is used by motorists as a shortcut. Barbara offered to pay a one-time payment of $9,750 for the assessment, but Leposky declined the offer after reviewing Barbara’s contention that approximately 90 feet of his property’s frontage is unusable due to allowable setbacks and public utilities. According to Leposky, the assessments for two of those lots, including Barbara’s property, were adjusted downward by 50 percent because the homes on those two properties front on Pulis Avenue. Leposky claims the increase in value realized by all the properties as a result of the installation of the new roadway exceeds the proposed special assessment. He told the council the proposed assessments are fair and equitable based upon the criteria for setting these types of assessments. (continued on page 14)