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BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
Englewood, New Jersey — A proposed 2018 municipal budget for Englewood shows an approximate 7.4 percent increase for residents that would mean an increase of $382 on the average city home, said the city manager on Feb. 6.
Last year’s municipal budget increased approximately 6 percent, Councilman Charles Cobb said.
‘Negative trends’
City Manager Ed Hynes said a preliminary budget of $65,995,000 was presented to council members last week. He said the proposed budget “has been hit by cross currents and negative trends” and “would be as challenging as 2017” in terms of declining revenues and increased appropriations.
Hynes said 2017 city revenues decreased by 9.7 percent due to $600,000 in anticipated revenues from Lincoln School’s rental not occurring as the school did not receive its certificate of occupancy; court revenues down by 30 percent; $300,000 in sewage bills remain unpaid; and $60,000 lost from ice rink revenues when the rink was temporarily closed. He said revenues declined by $1,128,000 in 2017.
Hynes said increases for 2018 include $425,000 for Public Employment Retirement System pensions and for police and fire personnel retirements, $1 million for upcoming municipal retirements, and $300,000 for capital improvement debt.
Hynes stressed the proposed budget would be discussed at a series of upcoming budget hearings held at city hall. Hamer noted the meeting dates and times will be posted on the city’s website.
Cobb called for “belt tightening” and said people need to understand “about balancing the budget instead of plugging the budget.”
“I think to a person we are not satisfied with a 7.4 percent increase. We’ve got work to do and this is for real,” Council President Wayne Hamer said.
Upcoming budget meetings are 7 p.m., city hall second floor conference room, on: March 7, March 14, March 21, March 28, April 11, and April 18. City Hall is at 2-10 N. Van Brunt St.
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Budget transparency
A brief presentation on a cloud-based system to better monitor city services, expenses, and provide “real-time” data comparisons for budget analysis was made Feb. 6 by a representative from OpenGov.com.
A web-based reporting system to help make Englewood’s government data, budgets, records and information more transparent and accessible to citizens was discussed at the Feb. 6 council meeting.
The software creates an interactive “dashboard” of charts and graphs that incorporates and illustrates budget data for council members and residents to determine trends and review costs, said Charles Garrison, OpenGov, of Redwood City, Calif.