November 5, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 15 Ridgewood, not its water company, donated to teams by John Koster The Ridgewood administration super- vised by the Ridgewood Village Coun- cil, not the Ridgewood Water Company, donated $59,000 to recreational sports groups before Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld curtailed the technically ille- gal 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 vari- ous sports groups for a total of $8,000. Village Manager Sonenfeld, once apprised of the donations and the fact they were technically illegal under state law, curtailed them and last week clari- fied the actual amounts in writing. The report that the Ridgewood Water Com- pany 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 institu- tions,” 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 Chil- dren’s Aid to provide counseling services to Ridgewood residents during crisis situ- ations. This service has not been widely used and we will not renew this for next year. We have been providing funds to Children’s Aid for over 10 years as well. “In both of the above cases, the con- text 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 Base- ball/Softball $500, Ridgewood Hoops Club $500). In prior years, the village also provided funding to Ridgewood Junior Wrestling and Ridgewood Roller Hockey. Between 2008 through 2014, sports teams were given approximately $59,000. Again, I think the intent was right-minded as we do run recreational programs for our youth, but to avoid any semblance of 501c3 donations we will stop these contributions top the sports teams. “Ridgewood Water began a practice in 2011 to donate money to Ridgewood Baseball, Midland Park Baseball and Glen Rock Baseball (total about $2,000 per year). My understanding is that the prior village management thought that this would be a positive community ges- ture. The practice has now stopped.” Sonenfeld clarified the written state- ment verbally by identifying former Village Manager Ken Gabbert as the manager who had approved the $2,000 per year comprehensive donation to the Ridgewood, Glen Rock, and Midland Park baseball groups. A former Ridgewood Council member had stated separately that when Gab- bert arrived as village manager, Gabbert found that some of the money collected from Glen Rock, Midland Park, and Wyckoff water fees was being used to support the Ridgewood Police Depart- ment, the Ridgewood Fire Department, and the administration. Gabbert curtailed the practice. Glen Rock Mayor John van Keuren, a retired financial professional, confirmed that water fees had apparently been used to fund Ridgewood functions not involved with the delivery of water to customers in the other three towns. The court case in which Wyckoff, Glen Rock, and Mid- land Park filed suit against Ridgewood is pending.