MONTVALE, N.J.—The Borough Council adopted a $20 million budget on May 11 that officials said would raise municipal taxes on an average borough home approximately $131 yearly, or about $11 per month.
According to Mayor Michael Ghassali, the 2021–2022 town budget reflects the first municipal tax increase in four years.
The vote was 5–0 to adopt the $20,003,197 budget. Councilwoman Rose Curry was absent. The figures do not represent the school or library taxes, which are separate.
The average borough home was assessed at $525,926, officials said.
Ghassali told Pascack Press on May 12 the increase covers a shortfall of revenue due to Covid, such as hotel tax and court and construction fees, and that it covers $320,000 incurred for Covid-related supplies and expenses.
“The increase also covers the addition of twice-a-week waste pickup during the summer, a service our residents asked for. It is higher than I would like it to be, but our Finance Committee did a great job trimming where they could,” Ghassali said.
Councilman Timothy Lane, who heads up the Finance Committee, said that 2020 revenues were down, including ticket revenue due to a shutdown of Joint Municipal Court, along with a decline in construction code fees and hotel taxes due to fewer bookings and less travel due to Covid-19.
“We tend to do pretty well in collected taxes,” said Lane, who offered detailed explanations of last year’s declining revenues and appropriations for the 2021–2022 budget year.
He said significant expenditures for the next fiscal year will include road resurfacing projects, improvements and maintenance to public buildings, municipal employees’ health benefits and pensions, debt service, and sanitary sewer service via the Bergen County Utilities Authority.
He said about two-thirds of property taxes come from local and regional school taxes, along with a 12% levy for county government. He showed uniform construction code fees declined about 32% in 2020.
Under the online user-friendly budget for 2021–2022, it highlights “structural budget imbalances” noting fees and permits were estimated to decrease $70,000 due to Covid-19; plus a drop of $81,000 in Municipal Court fines and costs; and a $98,000 drop in hotel/motel taxes.
Other budget increases listed included $246,197 for police salaries and wages; $180,000 for new garbage removal services; and $51,320 for additional sewer flow required by Montvale.
Lane said employee pension costs are fixed and mandated by New Jersey. He noted health care benefits were crucial to retaining employees but that the borough “is going to have to manage our health care costs going forward. We’re going to have to make sure that we get value for money in that regard.” He said health care costs continue to increase every year nationwide.
He said the borough is “always evaluating current zoning and looking to review our Master Plan” related to corporate zoning and tenants.
Ghassali called the budget “a responsible budget” and noted many increases were directly related to Covid expenses last year. He said the borough is waiting for state guidance on how it may spend about $852,000 in federal stimulus funds to be provided under the American Rescue Plan.
Councilman Chris Roche said the budget showed an almost 9% increase “before all the department came back and trimmed where we needed to trim.”
Councilman Doug Arendacs commended “all the hard work” that went into preparing the budget, and mentioned its including twice-a-week summer trash pickups. “I’m proud as a resident here for this budget we’re now passing,” he said.
Borough accountant Jeff Bliss said the stimulus funds can be spent through 2024. He said those funds were not included in Montvale’s adopted budget. He said the state Division of Local Government Services has yet to interpret the federal government’s interim guidelines on how stimulus funds can be spent.
He said “in general” the funds can be spent on Covid-related expenses such as personal protective equipment, revenue losses due to Covid, and infrastructure expenses, such as sewers and broadband capacity.
Bliss said once guidelines are clarified on how funds may be spent, the mayor and council can then decide how to use the funds through 2024.