September 25, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 Franklin Lakes Rent control ordinance considered unlikely by Frank J McMahon The possibility of adopting a rent con- trol ordinance in Franklin Lakes appeared unlikely after Franklin Lakes Borough Attorney William Smith advised Mayor Frank Bivona and the borough council that any rent control ordinance the council might consider would most likely be chal- lenged in court because of the limitations state law places on such ordinances. The senior citizens of The Horizons at Franklin Lakes, located on Courter Road near the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Colonial Road, attended a recent council meeting and asked the governing body to adopt an ordinance that would limit the monthly rent increases at their senior citizen complex to a two percent ceiling on all lease renewals. Following a review of the state’s laws, Smith advised that towns have the right to pass a rent control ordinance for the health and safety of the public if the mul- tiple housing in question is considered sub-standard and failure to have a rent control ordinance would affect the health, safety, and welfare of the residents who live there. However, the law does not apply to buildings constructed after 1987, Smith said, and the borough’s senior citi- zen housing complex was built in 2001. Smith also pointed out that a number of New Jersey municipalities that have rent control laws are doing away with them because of the negative effect they were having on those towns. Those nega- tive effects were explained in a 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal, which described the actions of two cities in Hudson County to scale back their rent control ordinances, or to limit the provi- sions in them, apparently in an attempt to increase tax revenue by spreading out the tax burden onto transitory people in their towns. Franklin Lakes Borough Administra- tor Gregory Hart also advised the coun- cil that there are no state laws regulating rents, but about 100 of the 565 towns in the state have rent control ordinances, mostly cities and large towns. He said none of the northwest Bergen County towns have such ordinances. Hart also advised the council that, according to information provided by Horizons to the borough’s tax assessor’s office, the total actual rents in that hous- ing complex increased by 3.99 percent for 2010 and 2012. The seniors claimed that recent rent increases ranged between $150 and $642 per month on lease renewals, and they have received water treatment plant charges starting at $28 for a one-bed- room unit to $44.75 for a two-bedroom unit, including a $3.75 service fee for an outside contractor to do the billing for the landlord. The rents at the Horizons that are listed on its website are $1,745 to $2,040 per month for a 754 square foot, one-bed- room unit with one bath and $1,955 to $2,340 for a 1,066 to 1,250 square foot, two-bedroom unit with two bathrooms. Veronica Gringeri, a resident of the age 55 and older housing complex who acted as a spokesperson for her neighbors, said many Horizons residents are paying much more than those entry level rents and some are paying more than others for the same type of apartment. She explained the disparity between (continued on page 11)