WOODCLIFF LAKE—Increasing flights by jet aircraft headed to Teterboro Airport are “very hectic” over the weekends above borough skies and need to be addressed, Mayor Carlos Rendo said in a Facebook Live broadcast on April 18.
He said several residents planned to attend a Coffee With The Mayor hour-long event on April 23 at Whole Foods Market to explore other suggestions.
Rendo has held a few Saturday coffee events in 2023 as part of an initiative to increase transparency with residents over local issues of concern. Rendo, a two-term Republican mayor, heads an all-Democratic council.
He and two running mates are planning to challenge a Democratic slate that includes former Councilwoman Nancy Gross running for mayor, along with her two running mates.
(See “Election Hopefuls Set Hot Primary Ballot,” April 3, 2023, Michael Olohan.)
“Sundays are awful with planes. I sit in my backyard and it’s constant, one after the other after the other after the other,” said Rendo. He said the borough has been working to reduce airplane flights and noise “for years” and the effort is fully supported by the 10 mayors in Pascack Valley Mayors’ Association.
He said they would continue to pressure the Federal Aviation Administration, Teterboro, and other airport stakeholders, “to bring some relief to our residents.”
Last year, the mayors’ association requested a seat on the Teterboro Aircraft Noise Abatement Advisory Committee, or TANAAC, and was unanimously rejected by TANAAC members.
“We are the one community that gets the most planes over our skies on Saturdays and Sundays,” said Rendo, noting he had requested flyover data from Teterboro officials last year.
The Facebook broadcast was less than 30 minutes and dealt with a variety of topics. He also briefly interviewed Chief Financial Officer Jonathan DeJoseph on his position and the 2023 budget process.
He said he was consistently asked “why are our taxes so high?” and why residents do not have services to match the high taxes. He said the borough portion of local taxes is “24 cents on the dollar”, while the “bulk of your taxes” is the schools’ tax portion of “62 cents on the dollar” while about 14 cents goes to Bergen County.
Rendo said “We have no say” in the school district or Bergen County budgets which they must pay. He said the borough still has “one of the lowest tax basis of any municipality in Bergen County…we still are very reasonable concerning the municipal taxes we pay.”
He said the borough had been able to cut healthcare costs for 2023 by an estimated $100,000 by outsourcing employee health benefits to a new plan. He said the new plan maintained similar employee health benefits from the current one.
He said the borough was in “intense negotiation” with the police on their contract to keep the budget within its state-mandated 2% annual budget cap increase.
Rendo said the budget will be introduced at the May 22 council meeting and adopted at a June meeting.
Prior to discussing budget items, Rendo said the Parks & Recreation Department was awaiting a county grant to install two pickleball courts, probably near the borough’s tennis courts, although a final site had yet to be selected.
Moreover, he said the county recently pulled permits and was looking to construct up to nine pickleball courts at the county-owned Wood Dale Park. He said improvements would be made around the tennis courts’ area. “So that’s exciting news.”