PARK RIDGE—After numerous budget meetings, on May 14 the Park Ridge Council approved the 2024 Municipal Budget. Mayor Keith Misciagna explains, “A balanced budget is achieved by using a portion of the surplus generated in prior years. The borough is utilizing about 66% of it, or $1,600,000, to offset the tax levy all while maintaining a AA bond rating and replenishing our surplus.”
Misciagna said, “We are also allocating around $1.5 million to the repayment of our Borough debt, in turn saving money on paying interest. The only portion of the tax bill that the mayor and council control is the municipal budget and through responsible discussions and review of forecasted statement of revenues, appropriation, fund balance and the municipal tax rate, we are able to deliver a budget with no municipal tax increase.”
He said, “One of the largest portions of our budget is for public safety, which provides full-time coverage by our police department for our residents and providing a safe and secure environment for our community. We are committed to the continuation of repaving and beautification of our roads and the installation of ADA curb ramps.”
Misciagna noted, “We previously repaved many roads in town, a portion of the road improvement program was funded through a NJDOT grant in the amount of $180,540.”
He said, referring to a borough chart, “Our allocation of appropriations has remained stable.”
Misciagna said, “As part of the Finance Committee and a taxpayer, I am proud that we delivered a budget that maintains a healthy and steady financial heartbeat.”
He thanked the borough CFO and administrator for all of their work on the town budget “and for keeping a steady hand on the borough’s operational and financial standing year-round.”
The mayor also thanked “all our department heads and employees who are always committed to providing an efficient and economical government for our residents. For all the hard work by the councilmembers of our Finance Committee for reviewing the budget line item by line item and our borough auditor, Jeff Bliss, of Lerch, Vinci & Bliss who provides professional financial guidance throughout the year.”