November 5, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 13 Ridgewood, not its water company, donated to teams by John Koster The Ridgewood administration supervised by the Ridgewood Village Council, not the Ridgewood Water Company, donated $59,000 to recreational sports groups before Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld curtailed the technically illegal donations a few weeks ago. The Ridgewood Water Company, as a quasi-separate entity, actually donated $2,000 a year from 2011 to 2014 to various sports groups for a total of $8,000. Village Manager Sonenfeld, once apprised of the dona- tions and the fact they were technically illegal under state law, curtailed them and last week clarified the actual amounts in writing. The report that the Ridgewood Water Company had donated $59,000 for more than a decade as previously published was incorrect and the actual amount donated was $8,000 over the past four years, as Sonenfeld explained last week. “Municipalities, by state law, cannot make donations to charitable institutions,” Sonenfeld said. “There are very few exceptions to this.” “We have been making donations to Social Services of Ridgewood and Vicinity. Last year’s contribution was $4,500. We have been making donations to Social Services for over 10 years. This practice will not be continued,” she said. “We have also been providing funds to Children’s Aid and Family Services; last year’s amount was $5,000. In this case, there was a contract that calls for Children’s Aid to provide counseling services to Ridgewood residents during crisis situations. This service has not been widely used and we will not renew this for next year. We have been provid- ing funds to Children’s Aid for over 10 years as well. “In both of the above cases, the context was that these organizations do, in fact, provide services to some Ridgewood residents. “As far as sports teams are concerned: The village has been providing monies to Ridgewood sports teams for over a decade and more -- these teams may be 501c3s or not. The amount of monies provided has decreased over time. Last year, the village gave $3,000 (Ridgewood Soccer $500, Ridgewood Junior Football $500, Ridgewood Lacrosse $500, Ridgewood Biddy Basketball $500, Ridgewood Baseball/Softball $500, Ridgewood Hoops Club $500). In prior years, the village also provided funding to Ridgewood Junior Wrestling and Ridgewood Roller Hockey. Between (continued on page 15)