March 19, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 Midland Park Council wants to revisit 2014 budget proposal Midland Park Borough Council mem- bers want to revisit the municipal budget introduced last month prior to its adoption on March 27. Councilman Nick Papapietro said he does not support the budget in its present form and suggested additional discussion. Other council members agreed. At issue is the amount of money set aside in the capital budget for the future purchase of a new pumper for the fire department. The council puts funds into a capital reserve account at the end of each budget year towards the future purchase of large ticket items so as eliminate or greatly reduce the amount that has to be bonded to make the purchase. The proposed 2014 budget includes a $150,000 set aside, which Papapietro wants reduced to $100,000 so as to decrease the amount to be raised by taxation this year. The reduction would result in an $18 savings to the proposed tax increase for municipal purposes only of $110. “If we reduce the capital budget reserve by $50,000, we would be keeping the tax impact lower without using any surplus,” Papapietro said during last week’s mayor and council meeting. He noted that in pre- vious years the set aside has been only $50,000, so keeping $100,000 is already a 100 percent increase. Mayor Patrick “Bud” O’Hagan explained that previous set asides had been predicated on a cost of $500,000 to $600,000 for a new truck. That number is expected to be considerably higher this time around, he said, necessitating build- ing up a larger reserve so as not to incur large financing costs. “Given the rising costs, $18 does not make a big difference . I’d rather put more money aside for the purchase than go into greater debt. I am certainly sensitive to keeping the taxes as low as possible, but our residents expect us to put funds away for things that are coming up,” said Coun- cilman Jack Considine. “And our seniors are already protected with the tax freeze,” he added. Councilwoman Nancy Peet said she’d rather spread the capital reserve differ- ently. “We should considerer other needs: additional sports fields, improvement of our facilities for youth that seniors can avail themselves of, the property on High- wood Avenue,” she said. “But we should start with public safety,” said Considine. O’Hagan noted that cutting the budget now would have cap implications down the road, making it difficult to meet rising mandated costs. He said the auditor should be consulted before any changes are made. The mayor said this year the municipal budget was held to a cap of 1.4 percent, not the 2 percent allowed by state law. Borough Clerk/Administrator Addie Hanna said should the council decide to make changes to the budget before the public hearing, it could still be adopted because the line item change would be less than 10 percent.