March 27, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Franklin Lakes Borough council opposes free county service by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Borough Council has passed a resolution in opposition to a recent proposal by Bergen County to provide 911 dispatch services to all Bergen County municipalities at no cost to those municipalities. The resolution was forwarded to the Bergen County Executive, the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders, and each of Bergen County’s municipalities. According to the resolution, in addition to the 911 dispatch service, the county has presented a plan for the provision, in the near future, of emergency services dispatch for all Bergen County municipalities at no cost to those municipalities; and the county has indicated its intention to provide additional services to municipalities at the county level in the name of shared services, claiming it can provide these services more cost-efficiently than the municipalities. Franklin Lakes Mayor Frank Bivona and the borough council, however, oppose the “free” services because they claim the cost of those services would be borne by the borough’s taxpayers in a disproportionate manner, since that cost would be spread out over all the county’s municipalities based on the equalized assessed value of each of those municipalities. Bivona explained that those services would result in increased property taxes to the residents of Franklin Lakes, because county taxes are based on equalized assessed values and are not calculated on a per capita basis. Because the average assessed value of homes in Franklin Lakes is substantially higher, as much as 2.5 times higher, than the average assessed home in Bergen County, Franklin Lakes taxpayers would end up paying a substantially higher proportionate share of any county service provided to municipalities. Bivona and the council believe the cost of any shared services should be based on a per capita basis. “The actual cost of services provided by the county, such as emergency services dispatch, would be approximately the same for all Bergen County residents and therefore should be charged based on a per resident, or per capita basis,” the Franklin Lakes resolution states. “Prior to moving forward with any of these initiatives, the county should provide municipalities with a financial analysis including, but not limited to, an analysis of all costs of construction, equipment, and staffing of the proposed centralized facilities, which can be reviewed and considered by the municipalities in a decision-making process. If the county is able to demonstrate that it can provide a service more cost effectively on a county-wide basis to all Bergen County municipalities, then the cost (continued on page 13)