Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The Washington Township Council voted to withdraw a condition of the acting administrator's employment that will make her the business administrator until the end of 2013.
The Washington Township Council unanimously voted in favor of promoting the town's acting administrator to be business administrator during their meeting this week. The council appointed Catherine Navarro-Steinel the township's new acting administrator in January, about three weeks after the term of former acting administrator Lilly Chin ended. Since then, Navarro-Steinel has done "a heck of a job" according to Council Vice President Joseph D'Urso. "Over the last few months [with Navarro-Steinel] here, this town is on the verge of straightening out," D'Urso said. Mayor Janet Sobkowicz said she was not recommending Navarro-Steinel for the position, though she had recommended her for the acting administrator position. According to the New …
Saturday, June 16, 2012
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Saturday, June 16, 2012
This mayor is absolutely abusing the powers, that may be in question, that she thinks she has. I don't care who you are, what power you think you have, what entitlement you think you can have. It should not work this way. The municipal building is on pins and needles for no reason. Cutting off the ability to buy office supplies, sending back copier machines that were approved in the budget by the council so the town can operate properly, not paying approved council stipends to some municipal workers while paying others cut off the municipality's ability to function and make purchases that the council spent hours approving funds for in the budget sessions. We already have cut out $260,000 of her budget. Having them ask permission like …
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Washington Township's mayor said she wants to avoid going over budget and rebuild the surplus.
Washington Township Mayor Janet Sobkowicz is requiring all requests for purchases to have her written approval, as of 12:01 a.m. June 12. Sobkowicz said she was concerned about spending that was running higher this year than last year. She also said the township needs to be ready in case there are more storms like Hurricane Irene and the snowstorm last October which had expensive clean-ups. "I want to watch it more carefully," Sobkowicz said about spending. "I thought it was best to start now." At the council meeting Monday, Sobkowicz said she would not authorize township engineer Paul Azzolina to do an in-depth study of roads that need to be repaved. Councilman Fred Goetz expressed frustration about the mayor blocking the council's …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
A decrease in school taxes will counter a 1.5 percent increase in the municipal tax levy this year.
The Washington Township Council approved a $12.3 million budget for the year during their meeting Monday night. The budget comes with a $9.4 million tax levy, an increase of about 1.52 percent from last year, but council members cut about $260,000 between the time the budget was introduced and when it was approved, according to Council President Richard Hrbek. Hrbek credited Vice President Joseph D'Urso with making many of the cuts. "I didn't want to raise our taxes by more than $100 per household," D'Urso said. "I wish I could lower it more, but I'm happy with what we did." The average Washington Township home, assessed at $540,000, will see an increase of $54 in their municipal taxes this year. However, the average home will see a total …
Monday, April 2, 2012
Residents have debated whether or not the benefits are worth the cost.
Members of the township recreation board proposed switching to artificial turf as a solution to Memorial Field's maintenance problems at the council meeting last week. According to Scott Spezial, a representative of the recreation board, the field has ruts and goose droppings on its surface and there is netting sticking up from non-athletic grade sod. Spezial also said the field house needs repairs and the basketball court has a slick surface because clay from the softball field drains onto it, among other issues. Other residents have said they do not to pay the extra money for the artificial turf field. The plan suggested by members of the recreation board includes a walking path and a bocce court, so more residents could use the facility…
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Here's a look at what happened in Westwood and Washington Township this week.
The owners of The Iron Horse marked the restaurant's 40-year anniversary Wednesday morning. The restaurant officially reopened March 5, less than five months after a fire destroyed the kitchen. Dozens of family, friends, customers and employees packed into the restaurant Wednesday while local clergy blessed several rooms. The Westwood Regional Board of Education approved a $52 million budget for the 2012-13 school year during their meeting Thursday. The budget comes with a 1.38 increase to the overall tax levy, but Westwood and Washington Township residents will be affected differently by the budget. Washington Township residents voiced their concerns about Sky Trading's plan to knock down 5 Star Gas and replace it with a new eight-pump …
Friday, March 23, 2012
The 1.38 levy increase will raise taxes in the borough and lower them in the township.
The Westwood Regional Board of Education approved a $52 million budget for the 2012-13 school year during their meeting Thursday. "It allows us to maintain all of our core programming and continue to make positive momentum," Superintendent Geoffrey Zoeller said. The budget comes with a 1.38 increase to the overall tax levy, but Westwood and Washington Township residents will be affected differently by the budget. The average Westwood homeowner will see an increase of about $238 per year while the average township homeowner will see a decrease of about $62. Zoeller said the disparity is caused by changes in the assessed value of each municipality. Because Washington Township has fewer businesses, its value has been affected more by the …
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Borough officials said fees from HUMC will help keep taxes down.
The Westwood Council is scheduled to introduce a budget Tuesday that will not increase the tax levy by more than 1 percent, which was a goal set by the mayor and council at the beginning of the year. The proposed budget would have made a slightly larger increase, but the borough will be able to use a portion of the $183,000 in construction permit fees from Hackensack University Medical Center for work being done to the former Pascack Valley Hospital. Mayor John Birkner said there could still be more money collected in fees from the hospital, but the borough will only use what is needed this year to keep the tax levy down. Birkner said he expects the tax increase to be around $35 for the average Westwood homeowner. "We're in a favorable …
Monday, March 19, 2012
The proposed budget would increase the tax levy by about 1.4 percent.
The Westwood Regional Board of Education is scheduled to vote on a budget with a 1.39 percent tax levy increase Thursday. The total $52,191,950 budget would come with a tax levy of $47,196,516. If approved, Westwood taxpayers will see an increase in what they pay while Washington Township taxpayers will see a decrease because of a disparity in the assessments of the municipalities' values, according to district Business Administrator Keith Rosado. Westwood's assessed value has gone down about $4 million while the township's has decreased by about $10 million this year. This year, Westwood residents paid for about 52 percent of the budget and township residents paid for about 47 percent. If the proposed budget is approved, borough residents…
Friday, February 24, 2012
The district will receive about $1 million less in aid than it did in 2010.
The Westwood Regional Board of Education approved a preliminary budget of $52,191,950 at a meeting Thursday night, the same day the state Department of Education announced that the district will receive almost $300,000 more in aid for the 2012-13 school year than this year. Governor Chris Christie said that he was giving the highest increases for education aid in state history. Aid to Westwood Regional Schools next year will be up about 21 percent from this year. The total $1,652,524 the district will receive next year still falls short of the approximately $2,700,000 in state aid it received for the 2009-10 school year. "To make that claim that the district's finances are in significantly better shape than they've ever been because of […
Jeffrey Tammen
10:13 am on Sunday, July 1, 2012
Hey b@b well said we have a great town with great people who need to be on same page as rest . Change is needed, fresh blood and ideas to.These people have been put in by ex mayor wenzel and still there today after 25 plus years . And they forget who they are working for, the taxpayers. more ›