March 19, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Franklin Lakes Proposed municipal budget detailed at work session by Frank J. McMahon Franklin Lakes Mayor Frank Bivona announced the results of the borough coun- cil’s work on the 2014 budget at a recent work session. According to Bivona, the amount pro- posed to be raised by taxation is $11,233,414, which is up $214,415 (1.95 percent) from 2013, but the proposed tax levy is under the maximum allowable state levy cap by over $1.4 million. The borough’s tax rate, including the library tax, will increase by 0.0038 of a cent to 0.2732 cents, which will cause the municipal/library portion of a resident’s tax bill on an average home assessed at $1,030,000 to increase by $39 to $2,814 per year. The borough’s property owners must remember, however, that increase must be added to the tax increases for the local and regional school districts, Bergen County, and the Bergen County Open Space tax, to determine their total tax increase for 2014. Gregory Hart, the borough adminis- trator, advised that the notable line items included in the borough’s 2014 budget of $16,342,354 are: salaries and wages of $5.24 million, debt service of $1.42 million, Homework Helpers available The Franklin Lakes Public Library offers Homework Helpers for children in kinder- garten through grade five on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 5 p.m. Volunteer high school students are paired with the elemen- tary school students to assist with home- work assignments at the library. There will be no Homework Helpers sessions during school and library holiday closings. Registration is required. To regis- ter a child, call (201) 891-2224. The library is located at 470 DeKorte Drive. health insurance at $1.57 million, manda- tory municipal library support at $1.41mil- lion, pension contributions at $910,000, and garbage and recycling collection and disposal at $750,000. Hart said the proposed budget includes total budget appropriations of $16.34 mil- lion, which is a decrease of 1.14 percent from 2013. The key increases in the budget as opposed to the 2013 budget are: plow- ing and salt costs, which rose $160,000 as a result of increased snow removal this winter; and the borough’s health insurance costs, which rose by $98,125, but represent what Hart described as a relatively modest 6.65 percent increase from last year. All other appropriations decreased by over $445,000, Hart said, adding that the proposed budget includes $33,390 from the library’s return of excess funds and that money will be used to decrease taxes. According to Hart, the proposed budget meets the borough’s goal of stabilizing the use of surplus. “Once again, in 2013, the borough was able to regenerate more surplus than it had budgeted, resulting in an increase in its fund balance as of year’s end,” Hart said. “The borough is meeting its goals as stated in its fund balance and use of surplus policy.” The borough also managed to keep the tax increase in 2014 to a minimum, Hart said, and under the tax levy cap which is two percent. In addition, the borough decreased its overall debt in 2013 by $260,000. “Since 2008, the borough’s authorized debt has decreased by nearly $2.5 million, or nearly 15 percent,” Hart emphasized. “In this year’s proposed budget, the bor- ough will, once again, look to fund recur- ring capital expenditures by funding over $550,000 of capital projects within the operating budget.”