The North Bergen Board of Commissioners on Wednesday introduced their $83.3 million budget for calendar year 2012, which will result in a 2.6 percent increase in municipal taxes, said Chris Pianese, township administrator.
Residents’ taxes are determined by three budgets – the town budget that was just introduced, the school budget that is usually approved in April, and the county budget that is usually approved in June.
The budget will be the first full calendar year budget (Jan 1. To Dec. 31) since North Bergen decided to switch from a fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) last March. In order to switch to a calendar year, the board approved a $41.6 million transition year budget last September, which effectively ran from July 1 to Dec. 31.
Before that, the last full budget was $82.8 million.
If the state approves the new budget, a hearing will be held at the next meeting on April 25 at 11 a.m. so the public can give comments and suggestions. Following the hearing, the budget can be adopted.
Pianese said that the new budget will be paid for by $57 million in taxes (the tax levy), which is up $1.4 million from last year, or a 2.5 percent increase.
Pianese said that the increase in spending is mainly attributed to group insurance costs for town employees, police, and firefighters, which he said rose 7 percent.
“As bad as that is, I think we did a pretty good job controlling what it would have been,” he said, adding that he had seen far worse increases in other municipalities.
Pianese also said that the town is currently under the caps for increases that the state allows.
“We had a lot of leeway [within the caps],” said Pianese, “and we could have gone higher.”
According to Pianese, union negotiations resulted in the lowest contract raises for approximately the last 20 years.
“We settled every union contract at a 2 percent [increase per year] for a four-year deal,” said Pianese. “It wasn’t an easy task. The unions were used to higher numbers.”
Getting creative
State aid remained flat from the previous year, which, according to Mayor Nicholas Sacco, presents a burden because the cost of living goes up.
“When they don’t increase state aid, you’re actually losing money,” said Sacco during the meeting. “Every time you have flat [state] aid, it means a tax increase. That’s what it comes down to.”
Pianese said the administration had to get “creative” in order to free up budget space.
He also said that 15 veteran police officers have retired recently, and the city has hired 17 new officers.
Pianese said the town will continue to see revenues from host fees, which are collected from several facilities such as the Eagle Recycling at 4711 Dell Ave.
“In 2011 we collected 300,000 [dollars in host fees],” said Pianese. “In this budget we doubled that to 600,000.”
He said, “I think this is a very solid budget that has very little reliance one-time, one-shot revenues. Moving forward, I am hoping the [economy] begins to turn around, and that the state considers a higher allocation of state aid that we sorely need to continue to balance the budget.”
If the state approves the budget, a public hearing will be held at the next meeting on April 25 at 11 a.m.
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Controversy continues
During the portion of the meeting for members of the public to speak, North Bergen resident and attorney Mario Blanch began firing questions about the town’s meeting schedule, which he feels inconveniently excludes the public. Blanch has represented several critics of Mayor Nicholas Sacco.
Sacco, however, left the meeting before Blanch began.
Blanch said the 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. meetings are not easy for the public to attend. Most surrounding towns have their meetings at night.
Resident and frequent meeting attendee Herb Shaw questioned the decision of Sacco to leave the meeting. He then complained that neither the mayor nor commissioners had answered the public’s questions during the meeting.
“You don’t say anything,” said Shaw. “It’s always [public relations firm] Vision Media that say something.”
Shaw then inquired about his two missing garbage barrels that he claims were stolen by the North Bergen DPW.
“We’ve got our best man on it,” said Town Attorney Herb Klitzner. He then responded to a followup question by telling Shaw the man in question was “undercover” and couldn’t be identified.
After the meeting, in response to Sacco leaving early, Blanch said, “We did not elect Herb Klitzner to be the mayor. We did not elect [him] to be a commissioner.”
Town spokesman Phil Swibinski said, “Mayor Sacco has a nearly perfect attendance record and it is extremely rare for him to miss any part of a commission meeting. He left to attend a ceremony in Jersey City honoring a local resident.”
Swibinski added, “Mr. Blanch is a paid political operative, not a member of the public, and the mayor didn’t miss very much by leaving before [Blanch] had a chance to comment.“
Other affairs
A resolution was passed hiring Max Adamo Construction, Inc. to perform additional work on the Police Building at 4233 Kennedy Blvd. in the amount of $5,300. The company had previously performed construction for $16,150, but it was determined that the building needed extra repairs.
An additional resolution was passed identifying an area north of North Hudson County Park and east of River Road as a potential “area in need of redevelopment.” The Planning Board of North Bergen can now undertake a preliminary investigation to determine whether or not the area indeed meets the criteria for redevelopment.
Stephen LaMarca may be reached at slamarca@hudsonreporter.com.