Westwood's Assessed Value Drops $17M
The borough's assessed value is down, which could cause taxes to rise, according to auditor Gary Vinci.
The assessed value of Westwood has dropped by about $17 million this year because of tax appeals, a decrease in taxable properties and the former Pascack Valley Hospital remaining closed, auditor Gary Vinci said at a recent borough council meeting.
The drop in value from about $1,730,000,000 to $1,713,000,000 could mean a $28 tax increase for the average borough homeowner to compensate for the loss of ratables, according to Vinci. All properties in Westwood are included in the assessed value.
Borough officials are facing several rising costs for the budget this year, according to Vinci. The costs of health insurance, pensions and payment on debt service will all be increasing, he said.
Councilwoman Cindy Waneck said officials had been going over their budget line-by-line and already brought it down from a 9.26 percent tax increase to a 3.61 percent increase. They still planned to cut more capital expenses, she said.
"There will be additional cuts," Waneck said.
One example of the cuts: the borough will not continue its road repaving program this year, officials said.
Mayor John Birkner said that the assessed value of the hospital would increase once it reopens. Hospital officials have said they plan to open June 1.
"That will be a big boon," Birkner said.
The next two years may be hard for budgeting, according to Birkner.
Officials also said they would look for more sources of revenue to help lessen the tax levy increase.
The council is expected to introduce their budget March 19 and hold a public hearing about a month later.
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Kelly Van Rijn
10:37 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Or, instead of raising taxes, Westwood could fire a cop or two. Or make them kick in more for their health care or pensions. But, no, let's just keep soaking the taxpayer.
buffymcbuffy
10:56 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Why can't Westwood go to a 401k for ALL town employees? I'd also like to know, what happened to the surplus we had for rainy days? Ooops, Mayor Birkner spent it all on the Westvale field without town approval. I do agree, we have too many police officers. There are many times I have seen 3 squad cars for 1 pulled over vehicle. I also have read, that Westwood is the highest paying police dept in the Pascack Valley. It's time to merge the police dept with the Bergen County Police dept to cut cost. Westwood police station could serve as a substation for the county police. Why do we need police depts for all towns? You know it's bad when New Jersey is rated the state with the highest property taxes in the NATION.
Phil Picinich
4:04 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Every year the Town GOP controlled council sends out political literature that they hold down taxes and salaries. Every January taxes go up and town employees get raises. Most employees make over hundred K a year and many more are in the $200,00 and up bracket. Town taxpayers have no clue of the backroom deals, huge salaries and benefits paid to Westwood employees. Many of these employees live out of town and even out of state. Instead of layoffs of some employees taxes got raised. If you drive down to the industrial section of town you will see 50% of the builds vacant and for rent.
Kelly Van Rijn
9:45 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
This is what you get with Democratic politicians and labor unions. They enrich themselves while the taxpayer gets screwed.
scruffy
9:45 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
I do not know what Borough employees you mean unless you are speaking of the Police Department and possibly the Borough Administrator. Other than that the Borough Hall employees do not make anywhere near that in salaries.
Please don't make blanket statements like that without facts to back it up. Clarify which employees you mean so that the rest of them aren't yelled at when they are not in that bracket by any means. The benefits are the same that all State employees get. Unfortunately the benefits cost a lot these days and gets worse each year. The Budget is open to the public to look at and go to the hearing of the same. The problem is that the public by and large never goes.
I do not know if we are the highest paid department around however, perhaps the media can do a article on that sure would be informative to see what each town pays.
As for firing a cop or two you are wrong. Westwood has the need for the amount of cops. Sure there are slow days but I challenge you to do some research and see what goes on in town and how much activity there is that demands the size of the force. Otherwise we will be paying overtime to the others then we really will have more to complain about. This is not Mayberry. One Officer does not pull over a car anymore. I do believe however that the budget needs adjusting LINE BY LINE. Austerity is in order for all areas. Start looking Council.
Gary Conkling
3:24 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
2012 WW budget police salaries & wages 3,426,360.00
2013 budget meeting next week. 4% increase down from 9%?? No road paving??
Some explaining is needed...