Letter: 2011 Campaign Information to Residents

I have been observing this year’s campaign from the sidelines – it’s been 15 years since I have been on the sidelines and I have to say I am very disappointed in the overall tone of the 2011 Campaign. It appears we have forgotten that all the candidates are River Edge residents who will still be River Edge residents on November 9^th. 

The tone of the mailing’s going to our homes and the posting on the Patch have been counter productive. River Edge residents deserve to have the issues presented, clarified and truthful. The information should not be continually slanted to meet a Political goal. 

I am going to address each item as I know it. There doesn’t really seem to be anything new this year, so, since I was on the Council for the last 15 years, I do have the background information to look at - as it should be looked at and presented to the River Edge voters. 

The items are in no special order – it’s the facts that should be most important.

1) Tax reassessment - it has been argued by both sides that we should have a reassessment to stop Tax Appeals or we shouldn’t do it because our tax assessment is at a sufficiently high percentage that there will be no benefit to the Community at large.

From the Table of Equalized Valuations 2011:

• River Edge Borough - Assessed Value - $1,828,102,400
• Assessed Ratio - 91.72%

Doing a reassessment with a ratio of 91.72% is not the norm and probably does not justify spending the $175,000. Most towns do not do them until the ratio is approximately 75%.

2) Delaying of Pension Payment to be repaid over 15 years. In 2009, two things occurred that put the Council in a position where the tax increase would be extremely high if we did not take some action.

The first item was that Governor Christie in his budget made large cuts in State Aid to both the Borough of River Edge and the River Edge and River Dell School Budgets. In addition, there was also a large increase in the State Pension Fund Bill. 

The Council decided to take the option presented to defer the Pension Payment, saving several hundred dollars in additional taxes to each household for 2009.  The Council did this to smooth out the impact of both the State Aid cut and the Pension increase. True, the pay back over 15 years was at 8.75% but the majority felt that was a better approach for family budgeting. It wasn’t done as a gimmick or a slight of hand; it was done taking the daily needs of the resident into consideration.

3) The Tax Rate – for the most part when people look at their tax bill they look at the full amount and don’t necessarily break it down into the seven parts that make up the budget. The overall tax bill contains the following elements – Municipal Tax - River Edge Schools - River Dell Schools -Bergen County Tax - Municipal Open Space Tax - Bergen County Open Space - the Library and the Sewer charge.  

Some history — when I was first elected to the Council, the percentage of your tax bill that came from the Municipal Budget was 30%. The 2011-2012 total was 24% Municipal and 1.5% for the Library. Since 1996, the tax rate as a percentage of the overall tax bill has gone down 4.5%. If your tax bill is $10,000, the cost for Municipal and Library operation would be approximately $2700 - about $225 a month for all Municipal services.

4) River Dell Funding - River Dell Funding has been a political football in several Mayoral campaigns. When Mary Anne Hone ran for Mayor, a Political piece was sent out to everyone stating that because she was a teacher in the River Edge System that she would only be able to be a 28% Mayor and not be able to defend River Edge against the Oradell proposal to change the funding formula. 

We, River Edge, have the form of government that allows the Mayor to only vote when there is a tie among the members of the Council. That Political mailing put doubt in the minds of a lot of residents as to whether a Mayor who is a teacher in River Edge would best represent them. Again in this campaign, a misleading statement about River Dell funding has been made to look like the challenger wanted to increase our taxes by working with Oradell to do so. This kind of campaigning does not do justice to the residents of River Edge and is clearly aimed at creating a sense of fear of a very large tax Increase. 

5) Huffman & Koos - This empty piece of property has been a real negative for our community for a long time and continues to be even today. The history of the property is too long to present here but a couple of things need to be said to put it all in perspective. 

The owners of the property were invited to be part of the River Edge Redevelopment Plan by the Mayor and Council. Early in the work for the downtown redevelopment, the Ciancia Brothers came before the Mayor and Council with their attorneys and told us they did not want to be part of the redevelopment plan. They for some reason felt that eminent domain proceedings would be part of the plan. 

The Mayor and Council at that time felt that a protracted litigation would not be beneficial to our plan to redevelop the downtown and invited the owners to prepare a plan of their own and work with the Council. The relationship did not work. They then exercised their right to keep the proposed building height low enough so that their plan would not have to go to the Zoning Board and petitioned to be heard by the Planning Board. 

The rest is history - an approved plan back in 2007 that even today has not been started. One of the issues that has become part of this campaign is the recent announcement that the Ciancia Brothers have again said they are ready to build.  That’s great for River Edge if it happens but we have to ask ourselves how it is that four years ago, in October, right before the Mayoral Election, an announcement was made that they were ready to “Put a Shovel in the Ground”.  Nothing happened and here we are again 4 years later, again in October, with another announcement being made that they are ready to go now. I was at the Campaign forum when Mayor Watkins announced it. I asked members of the Council if they were aware of the conversations with the Ciancia Brothers - they were not. Open government works best. You decide if this looks like open government to you.

6) The American Legion (known in last years election as the Money Pit) - You have all heard a lot about this property and its mold and its cost. I was a part of the proposal and purchase of this building and I would like you to have all the facts. The building was for sale - we reached out to the Veterans and after negotiations, we settled on a purchase price of $425,000.  When purchased, the property assessment was $750,200. We knew the building would need work and had a plan of how to finance the largest part of the updates and repairs. We started by getting a $100,000 grant from Community Development Block Grant, reducing our out of pocket cost to $325,000. 

We then were able to get an Architect from Leonia to do a survey of the buildings needs and prepare a Grant application that we would present to Community Development. He did this at no cost to the Borough. The proposed work was for $298,000 -  it included new heat and air conditioning, new windows, roof repair, ADA compliant ramps, an upgrade to the kitchen, etc. If we would have submitted this grant application we would have received all or part of that which was requested. If that were the case, we would have received $271,000 from Community Block Grant and the town would have had to put in a 10% share of $27,100 - 90% Grant, 10% from us - a great deal.

River Edge has a long history of working with Community Development having great success.  We have received well over $1,000,000 in grants for the Borough, our Schools and our Library related to ADA compliance and Senior programs.  There was concern that the building could not be used for anything other than Senior use. I have in my possession and will gladly share with anyone who wishes to see them, letters from several members of Community Development in Bergen County outlining the use of the building.  

A letter dated January 19^th 2010 from Joseph Rutch, Director, stating the following; “The center is designated as a senior citizens center and the Borough is required to operate the facility as such.  However, occasional uses for another purpose would be permissible.  The occasional use must not conflict with or displace scheduled use for senior citizen activities.” A second letter to the Mayor and Council dated March 9, 2011 from Alan Negreann, our Borough Administrator, where in he provides the response from Laura Salandra, Community Development Program Monitor, stating that if the American Legion was to remain a senior center, then it would have to be scheduled five days a week for the senior purpose but may have other uses thereafter. 

She also went on to say that if it were converted into a public building for civic use, that River Edge would be able to apply for additional Community Development Block Grants for barrier free work such as handicapped doors, a ramp and an elevator. This project and this building have been dismissed by the majority of our current council. The proposal included all the essentials needed to open the building, including work by ServPro in the amount of $14,769.21 to clear out the damage caused by the water in the basement and eliminate the mold that is present. River Edge has lost an opportunity to make this building a great place for our seniors today and in the future. This is an opportunity we need to revisit and capture for our community.

7) Bogert Road Pocket Park (known as Furlough Park in last years election) - As an aside, I just read today where Governor Christie is having Greystone Hospital taken down and converted into Open Space as the hospital no longer meets the needs of NJ residents and Open Space is very important to New Jersey. 

With that in mind, I again wish to provide the correct information on the purchase and other items concerning this area located next to Cherry Hill School. First, the funding for this purchase came from Bergen County Open Space, $217,500 and from New Jersey Green Acres funds, $217,500 – that total is the full amount of the $435,000 we paid for the property. 

We have received the $217,500 from Bergen County and the Borough has to request the $217,500 from the State. No furloughs were caused by this transaction. This project has not been a favorite of our Mayor – she has been open about it and she has every right to express her opinion. The Council at the time of purchase felt it was a good use for a property next to one of our schools and provide additional open space in the south end of River Edge. Early on, there was a meeting on site that included the Beautification Committee, Recreation & Shade Tree Commissions as well as Mayor Watkins and Councilwoman Walker, Superintendant John Lynch from DPW and myself. 

This meeting was to overview the land and see what the best use of it would be as determined by the committees. Much of the work after the clean up and clearing that would be done by the DPW would be handled by these volunteers. In the process of working with Green Acres, a review of the property was required to make sure it was clean and could be used by the residents. There was an old building on the property that had asbestos shingles on it as many homes of that era did and it was determined they would have to be removed properly and the property checked for safety. That has been done and that section of the area is clean. 

A check of the borders of the property showed that Chlordane was present along the rear fence line and near an old shed. This too has been checked and cleaned and is now ok. An old oil tank was removed with no leakage, therefore, no cleanup was required.  The last area to be approved is the area you have heard so much about – this is along Bogert Road. This land was being used by Stepping Stone Day Care as their playground and had been checked through them but to be sure has been checked again.  

There is no indication of any chemical or other problems in this area on the property. This property purchased for $435,000 with grants had an assessed value of $704,400 at the time of the sale. During last year’s election and to this day, this land has been presented as a horribly contaminated location. This type of information spread for political benefit is a disservice to River Edge and it’s residents. This is good Open Space land and hopefully will be another excellent place for River Edge residents to enjoy our town. 

8) The last item I want to review with all of you is the SURPLUS (that we wasted so the story goes) - To understand the surplus we have to understand the funds and where they come from. One of the methods used in budgeting to help ensure enough tax collection is something called the Reserved for Uncollected Taxes or RUT. 

This line item in the budget protects the Municipality from financial problems that could be caused by failure of residents or businesses not paying their taxes.  The law allows for River Edge to set the RUT at a percentage no greater than the actual taxes collected but it also allows the towns to make it lower than collections and in essence collect more money than the town needs to meet the projected and approved budget. The practice of using a lower RUT is used by many towns and is not unique to River Edge. 

Using the RUT and the Deferred School Taxes, River Edge was able to build up a significant surplus. This money is truly “the People’s Money” - many of our Council people and the Mayor have used the expression that the surplus is the people’s money and should be used to hold down taxes. There is agreement by almost all on that account, but when the surplus reaches a very large amount, it makes sense to use some of it to help to reduce taxes or not add taxes by using it to do what is called Capital Project or large equipment purchases. Just to give you an idea of some of the ways these funds can be used, here are some of the projects that either were supported by the surplus or were possible due to the use of surplus in a given budget year.

• Replace 73 year old Pump Station at Wayne Ave
• Eliminate pump station at Woodland Ave
• Purchase of special equipment for DPW

There are many more – just those three amounted to approximately $2 Million dollars. Money collected as taxes should always be used for the public good – whether it is surplus, open space or capital funds, it is ultimately the taxpayers money and used for the overall maintenance or improvement of River Edge.  Creating surplus is not a bad thing - using surplus is not a bad thing - each and every dollar can be accounted for - it shouldn’t be made out to look like a bad decision when it is a planned and implemented program or purchase for our town. Campaigning should be about facts, not skewed information or worse, messages that are not true.  

I know this is a great deal of reading and information. I truly hope you will read it all and maybe ask questions about it. It is a dialogue that should be important to all River Edge residents. It’s time to stop with the negatives and half truths.  Go to the ballot box on Tuesday - make your decision – Wednesday morning everyone will know the results. The results are important, but even more important is the need for all our residents to get more involved in running our town. The seven people elected by you don’t have all the answers. They need your input, your criticism, your praise and everything in between.

River Edge is a great place to live and raise a family. Get more involved – you will be better for it.

Sincerely,

Tom Smith

River Edge Councilman, 1996 to 2010