Municipal State Aid for Ridgewood Remains Flat

It's not a return to the 2009 state aid figure, but the village will again be receiving $1,867,322 for the 2011 budget, according to the Department of Community Affairs, which released the state aid figures late Wednesday.

With a mandated 2 percent cap in effect, the village will again face a rocky road in balancing services the village is known for while controlling costs. Over 30 workers in 2010 as the village moved to close the budget gap.

Few expect 2010 to be an outlier– it looks likely to serve as a baseline for a few years.

The village has seen a downturn in state aid for years. The village received over $2.4 million in aid in 2009, which was a 4 percent reduction from the prior year. The 2010 budget was $42.4 million with a tax levy of $31 million. With the cap in place, the 2011 levy would be slightly over $31.6 million.

Various departments lost money in the past budget year while pensions and health care costs rose significantly (they rose 16 percent and 9.5 percent last year, respectively).

But Village Manager Ken Gabbert has reported in recent council meetings that many of the departments that had been in poor fiscal shape a year prior are improving, though some remain in the red like the parking utility and the Parks and and Recreation Department.

The next three village council meetings will be discussions and presentations on the upcoming budget, which will need to be submitted by early June.