Zero Percent Tax Increase Could Force Layoffs for 5 Ridgewood Cops, Firefighters

The average Ridgewood household could see a $225 tax hike after municipal officials identified an additional $600,000 in cuts and revenue. But cutting deeper to realize a zero tax increase might require pink slips for firefighters and police officers.

According to Village Manager Ken Gabbert, $38,000 in new revenue and about $550,000 in departmental reductions have pared a potential tax increase to 1.5 percent. The figure on the working draft represents about $225 per the average resident, he said Wednesday night at the council meeting.

"This proposal, without the staff reductions or layoffs, would mean a budget of $44,995,981," Gabbert said. "So we're under last year's budget by $240,000, which is a half-percent under [last year's] budget. But because of the way the structure is, there is still a tax increase."

Not filling six vacant positions – 2 in police, 4 in fire – would save another $235,000 in 2013, but still leave the village well short if it wanted to realize a zero percent tax increase.

"We would need six to seven full and part time staff layoffs to bring up around $224,000 additional [in cuts]," Gabbert said.

Five of those positions would be in public safety, according to Gabbert.

But Mayor Paul Aronsohn said those cuts aren't happening.

"The village manager is putting those options out there as different options but again, and I don't want to speak for other council members, but there is absolutely no desire here to lay off anybody."

Aronsohn and several council colleagues have set a goal to reach a zero percent tax increase, but reaching it without making hard personnel choices appears increasingly unlikely. He maintains the council may very well not reach the zero mark, but should explore the costs and benefits.

There could yet be some light at the end of the tunnel to reach a lower tax increase without necessitating big layoffs.

Because the village has not received any official word on FEMA revenue, it hasn't factored the revenue into the 2013 budget. It could be at least $175,000 and as much as much as $450,000, according to Gabbert.

If expected FEMA aid comes through and the government decides to not fill the six vacant positions, the council could use the funds to cut the $224,000 figure in half, thereby reducing the potential layoffs, Gabbert said.

The council might wait until June to adopt the budget so it can appropriate the revenue, if and when it arrives.

The 1.5 percent tax increase budget option also includes a $62,000 addition to the library, which Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli remarked would not equal the 2009 operating budget necessary to prevent closings. Further, the working budget proposal does not include $25,000 needed to keep the extended Graydon Pool hours.

Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh stressed that when possibilities include cuts to services as vital as public safety, the public must make its voice heard.

"I think the public really should weigh in on things," she said. "There are those that value the library, those that value the pool [Graydon] but they may all defer to keeping public safety. We need to encourage people to show up at the council meetings and give us their input."