$46 Million Budget Introduced; Average Homeowner to See $122 Municipal Tax Increase
The budget includes a proposed tax increase of $121.75 on the average assessed home.
Photos
Council introduced a $46.2 million municipal budget Tuesday that would increase taxes 4.5 percent, or $121.75, on the average assessed home.
The budget, whose introduction passed in a 3-2 party-line vote, maintains borough services and avoids furloughs and layoffs for borough employees.
The Republican council members who supported the budget lamented the tax increase, but said it was necessary to rebuild the surplus that was depleted last year when council drew from reserves to hold taxes flat – a move they called an “election year gimmick.”
“We have to make up the differential for the fact that we used a substantial amount of surplus last year so that a zero tax increase was delivered to the taxpayers,” Deputy Mayor Ed Trawinski said. “Fortunately this year because of the hard work of the manager and the department heads, taxes have increased, but they haven’t shot up to the point where they did in the prior times when we had zero increases.”
Council offset last year’s budget with nearly $5 million of surplus and capital surplus funds, close to $2 million more than has been proposed in this year’s budget.
Manager Tom Metzler said that total reserves would be down to just over $2 million at the close of this fiscal year, but that the generation of new revenues should replenish the declining surplus, or at least stabilize it going forward.
Councilwoman Lisa Swain voted to oppose introducing this year’s budget because of the extent that it would increase taxes.
“It wasn’t too long ago that I was out campaigning and the number one concern that I heard from all the residents in Fair Lawn was their taxes,” she said. “I’m not about to turn my back at them…the residents are not ready for this."
Councilman Kurt Peluso echoed Swain’s sentiment about the tax increase, saying he would only support a budget that met the state’s 2 percent tax cap.
“If you’ve been reading the Record lately, in all the editorial pages everyone is saying, ‘We need to maintain this 2 percent cap,’ and I agree,” he said, bemoaning the loss of residents whom he said move out of town solely because they cannot afford the borough’s taxes. “I would support any budget that maintains that 2 percent cap but once you exceed that 2 percent cap, I do not support it.”
Fair Lawn was able to increase taxes above 2 percent this year because, under the law, a municipality that raises taxes less than 2 percent in one year can bank the difference and use it to exceed the cap in subsequent years.
In late April, Peluso proposed making a number of cuts in an attempt to reduce the residential tax burden, but his approach did not sit well with Republican council members.
Both Trawinski and Deputy Mayor John Cosgrove said Tuesday that Peluso’s proposed cuts would have done more to harm the borough’s taxpayers than their own proposed tax increase would.
To halve the proposed tax increase -- as Peluso had originally suggested doing – the borough manager and chief financial officer determined that council would have to lay off some 40 borough employees or implement more than a month of furloughs – neither of which appealed to any of the council members.
“I do not support furlough days after reviewing the numbers with borough manager Tom Metzler,” Peluso said Tuesday. “What we do support is looking for ways to help the residents here in Fair Lawn.”
Prompted by Trawinski Tuesday to specify how he would decrease residential taxes, Peluso recalled the budget wrap-up meeting in April where he had attempted to present alternatives to the proposed budget.
“We went through a list of possible ways to save the taxpayers money and towards the end of that discussion, the mayor said that she didn’t respect my vote on this and that she was appeasing me like she appeases her children,” Peluso said. “So that discussion was certainly cut off very quickly.”
At April’s budget wrap, Peluso offered a number of cost-cutting alternatives that the council unanimously approved -- like not filling currently vacant positions. However, when he began publicly raising the possibility of cutting specific employees – albeit by title, not by name -- the Republicans balked.
“I am prepared to make difficult decisions to do further cuts,” Trawinski said at the time. “But I don’t do them this way.”
After being rebuffed by all three Republicans, Peluso declined to continue suggesting other layoffs he had in mind.
“Government doesn’t work by saying ‘We want to cut from the budget,’ and shoot from the hip,” Trawinski said to Peluso Tuesday. “Government works when, collectively, the five of us participate in what we think is a good faith budget process, sit down and review that process…You can’t just sit there on a budget and throw stones.”
In spite of the proposed tax increase, this year’s budget actually appropriates $84,174 less and anticipates bringing in $555,826 more than the 2011 budget.
Since Metzler took over as borough manager on Jan. 4, he said he'd managed to cut more than $800,000 from the budget, calling it a "significant number."
“What we’re doing with this budget is we’re trying to be responsible," Baratta said before voting Tuesday to introduce the budget. "We’re trying to do what the people of Fair Lawn elected us to do."
A comparison of the past two budgets:
| Budget Item | 2012 | 2011 | Difference |
| Total Appropriations (Expenditures) | $46,167,326 | $46,251,500 | ($84,174.11) |
| Surplus and Capital Surplus Used | $3,000,000 | $4,947,297 | ($1,947,297) |
| Total Revenues | $46,167,326 | $45,611,500.11 | $555,825.89 |
| Total Property Taxes | $35,868,571.01 | $33,060,662 | $2,807,909.01 |
| Average Assessed Home | $323,679 | $411,663 | $87,984* |
| Estimated Municipal Tax on Average Home | $2,808.98 | $2,687.23 | $121.75 |
*Change in assessed home value from 2011 to 2012 is due to a property re-assessment that was carried out in 2012
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Michael Agosta
2:07 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
Taxes increase.
Sounds like poppycock from the Donovan puppets.
Karen Barbour
7:38 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
Thats what we need, give more money so we can't pay anything and have more peope move out of Fairawn, can you say foreclosure?
Karen Barbour
7:51 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
I meant people.
SO FAR
9:16 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
i think enough time has passed to some what judge the new majority....
-so far the only way they have generated money is through the taxpayers pockets, additional fees and raising taxes.
-while there is a couple new bruglaries a week we still have a police chief who the officers have no confidence in and is costing the town millions.
-ive seen them look silly by getting rid of an auditor for donating to dems and try to replace him with a new auditor who donated to the reps.
i love the entertainment services FL offers but maybe we should think about cutting back on some of them before you raise taxes and force people out of town.
fred
9:55 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
I thought that there was a limit placed by the state that it could not be increased by more than 2 percent?
SO FAR
10:10 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
there is fred- however this current majority likes to find technicalities and bend the rules. like baratta and trawinksi saying they are not double dippers or have a conficts of interest holding two governtment posistion because "they dont except the small stipend". or when christie put a cap tax increases so they tried adding new fees for the residents to create revenue. and now they will justify raising it taxes over 2% becuase it was raised less the 2% the last time, even though im sure this would be frowned upon by the governer
BellairBerdan
11:37 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
As it turns out we have learned that Trawinski has indeed taken benefits all along, making the Majority's mantra that "No Republican receives any stipend or benefits from the people of Fair Lawn" a big fat lie.
We can also see that the threat of layoffs and furloughs was not to keep us in line, but to increase the surplus.
Article after article we have seen how much was actually saved LAST year by the Democrats. Will we see the same written next year?
SO FAR
10:15 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
im really curious that if gov christie could see what the new majority has done so far if he would still swear them in. it seems everything governer christie is against the council has done
1- holding multiple government posistions
2-adding fees to circumvent the tax increase cap
3-raising taxes more the 2%
as a once proud republican i feel the current council arent being very creative and thier solution to generating money is by taking it from our pockets
Tommy P
10:19 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
Hats off to the Republicans for cutting budgets. Too bad they cut the wrong ones! Instead of cutting the budgets of the people of Fair Lawn, they should be working to cut the budget of the Borough of Fair Lawn. We have way too many employees, many making way too much and not enough cops.
Shame on the 3 "Republican" tax increasers. Its a shame they couldn't find a way to keep the increase below the 2% cap.
Stuart Pace
10:31 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
LOL
...Just Saying
12:13 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
Two questions: (1) has anyone actually looked at the budget numbers in the story? Looks like a very tight budget using almost 2 million dollars less surplus and another $800 thousand in cuts before presented. (2) Is it costing anyone,anyone less to run your household this year than last year? ... Just Saying
Tommy P
1:49 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
Its very easy to paint a picture that looks like that with summary numbers, but when you look past the first layer, you see the complete story. Its rotten.
We have overpaid employees, understaffed PD, a subsidized Pool, a library on the decline, overstaffed DPW and Rec department, a money-pit "Community center" and the list goes on. Truth be told, they should have cut the budget by 4.5% not increase it by that.
...Just Saying
1:52 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
Sorry Tommy P, I moved to Fair Lawn so that my children can enjoy the pool, which I will purchase a family pass for and LOVE the programs offered by the recreation department and the Community Center. I have looked past the first page of the budget. Was easy, I stopped in the municipal building yesterday and asked to review a copy. The total increase for salaries and wages from 2011 to 2012 is $40,700. Couldn't determine if they hired someone or that is for raises. When I asked about this amount I was told it was police raises offset by positions that have been eliminated ...Just Saying
...Just Saying
2:31 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
Tommy P: Sorry, can't comment on the Community Center but I will research that next week. Actually there is nothing misleading about salaries in the budget schedule. It lists 2012 salary and wages, 2011 salary and wages and the difference which is an increase of $40, 700. I really don't understand where your going with the number of households vs. the average tax increase. Have you read the budget yet?
Tommy P
4:51 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
What is misleading is scheduled overtime is omitted. I'm glad you like the pool. I love the Radburn B-pool. We get $0 from the town to fund it, yet they take (under threat of force) from everyone in town just so you can enjoy Memorial pool. Your "membership fee" or pool tax is ADDITION to what our property taxes cover. Our Senior Center is mostly used by people who don't live here.
Using last year's theft as justification for this year's theft doesn't work for me, does it work for you?
Harold Vogel
12:36 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
So much for the 2% cap, aren't we the taxpayers supposed to vote on whether to approve any thing higher than a 2% increase? Or was that just BS too? WE'VE been Bamboozled!
Tommy P
1:24 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
That's poppycock! We have been swindled!
fred
4:40 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
The mayor's office said that there was no increase last year and therefore they could increase us 4%.
Cindy Evans
1:12 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
How much of a tax shift happened with the reassessment. I had heard that the valuations of the commercial and industrial properties went down further than the residential so even if they had the exact same budget as 2011, the resident's portion of the tax base would go up anyway.
Harold, it stated in the article that if you don't use the 2% cap in one year, you can use it moving forward. That's what they did according to the article.
Zak Koeske
5:10 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
@Cindy - It's the opposite. The residential properties were assessed about 21% lower, while the commercial properties were assessed only about 2% lower.
Tony Sina
1:48 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
"Council offset last year’s budget with nearly $5 million of surplus and capital surplus funds, close to $2 million more than has been proposed in this year’s budget."
My guess is, had the previous council not utilized the surplus the way they did, taxes would have gone up on their watch, preventing anyone who voted on it to campaign against raising taxes in reelection.
At the risk of being accused of libel behind my back...again...sounds like a very sneaky game of Hot Potato.
Somewhat unrelated, I am reminded of this unique new debt managing program when discussing this whole business - http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff
Tommy P
1:56 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
Tony are you publicly running for council? Or is it not announced yet?
Regardless of the past (stupid) decisions. This council led by Republicans increased spending. Just because a previous council used the surplus first, doesn't make it okay for the current council to overspend today. Our leaders have cut nothing but OUR budgets.
Tony Sina
2:05 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
Hi There, T-Money:
No sir, not running for council. Should I be flattered that you ask? What did I say that makes you think that?
Also, I'm looking at the table up top, and it is showing that expenditures for 2012 is going down by $84k and change. Is the spending increase you're referring to not included in that?
Tommy P
5:02 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Wrong Mr Sina. :)
Don't be confused by expenditures, the reality is they are spending way more. They are still spending $3m of "surplus". They are still increasing property taxes by over $2.8m and are planning an additional 555k in additional revenues (taxes).
Tony Sina
5:12 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Point taken...I do find it odd that we are spending $3mm in surplus when the borough manager is talking about the need to increase the surplus. Is that spending some sort of requirement or hand-off from the previous council? In other words, is that usage mandatory or irrevocable for whatever reason?
Tommy P
5:37 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The title of the article is a bit misleading. Its not a budget, but rather several budgets rolled up. There are differences between capital and operating budgets. I suspect the bulk of the $3m is for the water tower maintenance which is soo overdue the state is about to fine us for it.
LENNY
2:19 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
how much is this increase due to re opening a pool for a few weeks? people are hurting fighting to feed their familys pay bills keep their homes. come on lets face the music make the hard cuts.
Michael Agosta
4:38 am on Saturday, May 26, 2012
Property values decreased.
Property taxes increased.
Trawinski still collects a medical stipend from Fair Lawn while collecting
$175,000 + benefits from his county job.
Apples to apples, this amounts to poppycock.
LiarsandVillians
4:18 pm on Saturday, May 26, 2012
This Memorial day let's not forget Councils' of past and present screwings they gave everyone! Happy Memorial Day!
Deleted because of harassment
11:20 pm on Sunday, May 27, 2012
Gotta love how the political bias seeps through with the lingo - and the accusations - while ignoring the FACT that the favorite FLDO ploy is to use the municipal surplus like a piggy bank in election years to fund a zero tax increase - I can think of nothing less obvious in this town other than the constant stream of the 'who,me?' blame game for every ripple in the economy putting further stress on the economic stability of the town. Employers become vacant offices, and houses become worth less and less by comparision to towns with rational tax plans in place of the 'election year shuffle' that is Fair Lawn's FLDO game plan. Sorry, Ms Former Mayor, you were part of the problem, and all the pouting on the minority side of things will not change that.
Tommy P
5:04 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Both sides use the gimmick, it just so happens the (R)s are a bit bitter that they have a smaller pool to draw from.....
Tony Sina
5:06 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
...It's always POOLS with you, isn't it?!?
Jenne
4:47 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Is it my imagination, or is the entire tax increase to cover the cost of re-funding the borough piggybank (i.e. surplus)?
Deleted because of harassment
8:24 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Seems that way to me, too. Gotta pay for the depletion of the surplus as a stalling tactic somehow. Remember the furloughs two years ago that most strangely were followed by no need to raise taxes last year? The games politicians play with our money...