Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, we are calling this meeting of the Hackinack City Council to order. It is Tuesday, April 21st, 2026. It is 5:31 p.m. If you can read the notice, please. This meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meeting act NJSA10 col4-6 at SEC notice of which was posted on the municipal website pursuant to public law 2025 chapter 72. Thank you. Roll call please. Mayor Gaines here. Deputy Mayor Tumi here. Councilman Carol here. Councilwoman Clark Collins here. Councilman Diaz here. We have a quorum.

Thank you. Please rise to the flag salute. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. We are going to um I'm going to ask for a motion to approve the minutes of the March 24th, 2026 council meeting and April 6, 2026 special council meeting. I'll offer. I'll second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Thank you. Okay. I'm going to ask for a resolution to go into executive session to discuss ongoing litigation. Greco Adal versus City of Hackinac, matters involving attorney client privilege, matters involving the purchase, lease or acquisition of real property, and any pending or anticipated litigation or contract negotiations. Can I have a motion to for a resolution to go into executive session? Second. All in favor? I

I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Great. We are going into executive session. We will be back anticipated about 6:30. So, please just sit tight. We'll be back as soon as possible. Thank you.

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Coming soon to Hackinack. Have you signed up for our Nixl alerts yet? Nixel keeps you up to date by text and email with instant updates from our office of emergency management so you can get important information when it matters most. Get alerts about severe weather, emergency situations, road closures, severe traffic, criminal activity, and local events. Signing up is quick and easy. Text 0761 to888777. That's 0761 to888777. Don't wait. Sign up for Nixl alerts today and stay connected to what's happening in Hackinack. Stay informed and connected with everything happening in the city of Hackinack by subscribing to the Hackinack weekly newsletter. Each week you'll get the latest updates on city services, events, important announcements, and more delivered right to your inbox. Signing up is quick and easy. Just visit the city website to join. And if you have something to share, the newsletter includes a community bulletin for local announcements and events. Send your submissions to news@hackansac.org.

Okay, thank you for your patience. We are out of executive session. Um, we do have two proclamations this evening. One is for Miss Dorothy Bulock Schroth who is celebrating who celebrated her 100th birthday here in the city of Hackinack yesterday. Uh we try to recognize our residents uh when they turn 100. That's everyone's incentive to live a nice long life. And um we have this proclamation that uh will be picked up tomorrow by her family. Whereas Dorothy Bullock Schroth was born on April 20th, 1926 in Bristol, Tennessee. And whereas despite an ironic early reluctance towards piano lessons, Dorothy developed a deep love for music that led her to earn a master's of arts in music from Teachers College at Columbia University. And whereas Dorothy's distinguished musical career includes performances at town hall recital, appearances at Carnegie Hall with members of the New York Filermonic, and many years of service as an organist for the St. Mary's Cathedral Choir in Trenton. And whereas Dorothy and her late husband Godfrey Schroth, an accomplished musician and composer who passed away in 2017, shared a life devoted to music, teaching, and artistic excellence. And whereas for more than 70 years, Dorothy has contributed to the fabric of the Hackasack community by teaching piano to students ranging in age from three to 80 in countless house calls and by opening her home as a place to educate and inspire generations of students. And whereas even at the age of a hundred, Dorothy continues to teach piano, finding joy and purpose in working with children, witnessing their growth, and celebrating the moment a student blossoms through perseverance and dedication. And whereas Dorothy's lifelong commitment to music education has enriched the cultural life of the city of Hackinack,

strengthened the arts within our community, and demonstrated the lasting impact one dedicated educator can have across generations. And whereas when reflecting on the life so fully lived, Dorothy reminds us that music, learning, and connection are keys to keeping the mind sharp, the spirit young, and the community strong there. Now therefore, I, Cassim Gaines, mayor of the city of Hackinack, along with members of the city council, the entire city council, do hereby congratulate Dorothy Bulock Schroth on her 100th birthday and thank her for her extraordinary legacy of music education, artistic excellence, and decades of devoted service to the culture of the Hackinack community. And for those who missed it yesterday, she was featured on the very first page of the record. So it's an amazing testament and honor as well and we will make sure that she receives this proclamation. Secondly, we have a proclamation in recognition of autism acceptance month. Whereas the month of April is globally acknowledged as Autism Acceptance Month, a time dedicated to celebrating the humanity, agency, and diverse talents of our neurodeivergent neighbors. And whereas autism is a vibrant spectrum, not a linear scale of ability, but a beautiful mosaic of different processing styles, communication methods, and sensory experiences that contribute to the rich neurodeiversity of our human family. And whereas individuals on the autism spectrum are woven into the very fabric of our city, serving as dedicated employees, talented artists, and cherished friends who make Hackinac a more vibrant and compassionate place to live. And whereas our community is a leader in fostering inclusive opportunities such as greens do good right here in Hackinack where autistic residents learn the way in sustainable vertical farming proving that innovation and neurodiversity go hand in hand. And whereas we celebrate the expansion of neuroinclusive businesses within our state, such as Spectrum Designs, a

premier apparel printer for global brands like Google and Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation, which demonstrates the immense value and highlevel skill of an autistic workforce. hand. Whereas, the city of Hackinac is committed to the dignity and safety of all its residents through initiatives like the police department's blue envelope program, which ensures clear, empathetic, and respectful communication between officers and neurodeivergent drivers. And whereas true true acceptance moves beyond clinical labels to affirm that every person deserves the autonomy and support to define their own path and life and live a full and fulfilling life on their own terms. Now therefore, I Kasim Gaines, mayor of the city of Hackinac, along with the entire city council, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as autism acceptance month in the city of Hackinack, New Jersey. We urge all residents to recognize the brilliance of our neurodeivergent community and to continue building a Hackinack that is not just aware, but truly inclusive where every individual is empowered to thrive. And we usually try and have people uh receive these proclamations whenever possible. I called in a favor. There's an amazing um actress and autism activist that um I asked for uh Holly Robinson Pete who you may know from 21 Jump Street and from the talk and from hanging with Mr. Cooper to um accept this on our behalf. So this is her message for us.

Hey Mayor Gains, it's Holly Robinson and I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to you and the entire council for recognizing Autism Awareness Month or even more importantly, Autism Acceptance Month. As a mother of a son on the spectrum and as an advocate, I can tell you that moments like this truly matter because when a city chooses to see and uplift individuals with autism, it sends a powerful message to families. You belong here. My R.J. has shown me that autism isn't a limitation. It's just a different way of experiencing the world. And I always say I wouldn't change R.J. for the world, but I would always try to change the world for R.J. Autism is a spectrum full of brilliance and challenges and possibilities and recognizing the fullness of those living with autism is how we move from awareness to acceptance. So, thank you for leading with compassion and inclusion. It truly makes a difference.

Thank you. And with that, I'm going to call up a presentation by the Main Street Business Alliance to present their 2026 budget.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Good evening. For those of you who may not be familiar with me, my name is John Peters and I serve as the executive director of the Main Street Business Alliance. The alliance is the managing entity for the city of Hackinac special improvement district, a public private partnership that has been in place for nearly two decades. The district encompasses Main Street generally from the courthouse green up north through the 7-Eleven and a couple of side streets downtown. Gets a little complicated, but that's a couple of side streets we have as well. From its inception, the Alliance mission has been to promote the revitalization of the Special Improvement District. This mission clearly aligns with that of the city to serve as a catalyst for positive change and to ensure that the main street remains an attractive, active, and economically viable place to visit, work, and conduct business. I'm here this evening to present the proposed 2026 budget for the Special Improvement District. But before I do that, it's important to clarify that the district is not funded through the city's general tax levy. Rather, our operations are funded entirely through the special assessments paid by property owners within the district. Accordingly, the city's general taxpayers do not bear the cost of the district's operation. Instead, the budget is supported by those property owners who directly benefit from the services provided. The proposed budget supports a comprehensive range of supplemental services including sanitation, landscaping, business retention and support, public relations, marketing, creative placemaking like the new Exol sculpture that's down in Atlanta Street Park, and the coordination of large public events and small. These initiatives are intended to enhance the overall appearance and vitality of the district, strengthening local businesses and encourage increased pedestrian activity throughout the downtown. For example, Hackinack Octoberfest last year, which many of you were able to come to when we thank you, attracted approximately 4,000 attendees. And our inaug in inaugural Sala Social,

with an event we had no idea how many people would show up, had approximately 500 participants. These family-friendly events continue to contribute a vibrant downtown atmosphere, increase foot traffic along Main Street, and provide tangible economic benefits to the businesses within the district. I'm happy to go through the the budget. I'm not going to go through line by line, but I'll go through categories. Um you'll see that the 2025 budget was 7 $78,021. What we did to try and keep it simple was keep the amount the same for this year with a modest 2.9% increase just for just for increases in prices. The administrative and systems uh at 267,000. the clean and green initiative uh which is anything from uh cleaning the garbage, the graffiti, the watering and the weeding. We were average able to get a a new deal this year and have switched over to one vendor and we saved a significant amount of money that would is helping us produce another couple of events. the visual improvements uh district. Visual improvement includes things like business recruitment and retention, but also the storefront improvement grant program, which allows us to go throughout the downtown and and see some of the signs that are really needed uh who really need some love and and attention and actually need to be replaced. And we can give a financial incentive to those store owners to help do that. Plus, we give some modest uh signed grant programs, signed grants to some of the new businesses that are coming onto Main Street. And then, of course, where we spending most of our time and effort is in our signature events and marketing and the promotion of those events. Everything from the Hackintoberfest and a Main Street music festival and a parade to the business expo which happens on May 14th. We hope to see

everybody there at the hackpack. uh the banter place salsa socials where we tested one last year. We hope to have four this year and that allows us to uh really address part of the community that I think think has been neglected for some time and event programming and and marketing and social and all the PR and all the web that goes along with it. It's a significant amount of work and that and that is is in the final uh uh portion for $240,500. And that is the end of it, but I'm happy to answer any questions that anybody may have. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks.

Okay, moving on to reports and presentations from professionals and department heads. We will have the public hearing on the uh Bergen County Trust Fund for Park Development Application. Baldwin Park splash pad.

At this time, we will open the public hearing concerning the city of Hackinac's proposed submission of an application to the 2026 Bergen County Open Space, Recreation, Flood, Plane Protection, Farmland, and Historic Preservation Trust Fund for improvements at Baldwin Park. The project under consideration is the construction of a new splash pad at Baldwin Park. The proposed splash pad would be located in the area of the park where the old basketball courts are currently situated. This portion of the park is presently an underutilized paved area and the city is seeking to repurpose it into a more active and familyoriented recreational amenity. The proposed project is intended to expand outdoor recreational opportunities for Hackinac residents, particularly children and families, by creating a safe, accessible, and engaging water play feature within Baldwin Park. The project is also intended to complement the park's existing amenities, including the nearby playground, and improve the overall functionality and attractiveness of the park. As currently envisioned, the project may include demolition and removal of the existing paved court surface, site preparation, installation of the splash pad and spray features, a recirculating water feature, drainage and utility improvements, ADA accessible surfacing and access improvements, walkways, seating, and a related site restoration work. This hearing is being held as part of the county's application requirements and is intended to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on the proposed park improvements before the mayor and council uh consider a resolution authorizing submission of the grant application this evening for the benefit of the public. I will briefly note that this is a matching grant program. The city is seeking Bergen County open space funding for the project and the city would be responsible for providing the required local matching share. The final grant request amount is based on the engineers's estimate prepared for the project. At this stage, tonight's hearing is for public input on the proposed improvement and the city's submission of the application. It is also important to note that this hearing

and the associated resolution authorized submission of the application only. Final project implementation remains subject to county review, possible award, final scope confirmation, and all applicable design, permitting, and procurement requirements. Residents may also wish to know whether the project will be accessible. The city's intent is that the project be designed and constructed in compliance with applicable ADA accessibility requirements so that the splash pad can be safely used by as many residents as possible. Residents may further wish to know why this project is being proposed at Baldwin Park. The city believes that this project is an appropriate improvement because it would convert an older paved area associated with former basketball courts into a modern recreational amenity in the neighboring park setting near existing family oriented park features and in proximity to Fairmont Elementary School. At this time, we'll be asking to open the floor for public comment. If anyone wishes to be heard on the proposed Baldwin Park Splashpad project or the city submission of the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund application, please come forward and state your name and address for the record.

Thank you. Do we do we need a motion to open or is that sufficient? No. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Can we have a motion to open to the public on uh this matter and this matter only? I'll second. All in favor? I I

Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. So, we will ask um for you to come forward. As the clerk said, uh state your name, your municipality, and uh I will keep time for you. As we get to the 3minut mark, I will ask you to bring your point to a close, I just ask that you respectfully do that, and um we'll keep it moving. Anyone from the public who would like to speak on the application for the Baldwin Park grant. Hi, good evening. I'm Erin Messia. I'm at 229 Wilson Street. I attended the rec board meeting um I don't remember which one. It was the one before baseball and softball opened up. And um Miss Clark uh Collins, you commented that the splash pad was a no can do. So I'm just wondering if anything changed or

So wait, hold on a second. I'm going to ask you just to finish up your comment.

Okay. And then Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. Um, I speak for at least three um neighbors on Ross Avenue who have children um who don't feel like a splash pad would enrich their direct community, their neighborhood. I'm not so sure that a splash pad um belongs in that residential neighborhood right next to a school. Um I think it could complicate things after school. Um, if we're looking at, you know, revamping the park, I think there's a lot of great things that can be done, including the baseball field, um, repurposing that court into a turfed court or maybe some like, you know, open play structures. Um, so I guess that's it. I just wanted to make those comments because, um, I wanted to make sure that the splash pad's still on the table because I had heard that it was off the table at that meeting. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else from the public wishing to speak on the uh Baldwin Park grant application only? Thank you.

Good evening. Fred Miller, 134 Cedar Avenue with parents that live on 279 Ross Avenue and where I walked my kid from 279 to Baldwin. I was there yesterday when I read about the splash park. Um I was a little disappointed. I think it brings a lot of liability and things that could happen to kids when I think that money and attention would be better spent on the actual play structures. The stuff around the play structures allowing all the mud and the wood chips to flow out. If you look at the structure down at um uh Nelly K. Parker and all the grippy stuff coming off of it and the fact that it's very bouncy, the the metal. I think we have parks in disrepair and before we invest in splash pads, we should invest in keeping up what we have. That's my thoughts. Thank you. Anyone else from the public wishing to speak on the grant for Baldwin Park? The proposed grant for Baldwin Park. Okay, seeing none, motion to close to the public.

Second. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. So, Tim, just for a matter of formality, so we've closed on this. This is now a sealed thing and then we Okay, great. All right. Um, we are Yep. Nope. All right. So, um, Jim, we're going to call you up for the for the 2026 budget presentation, please. Thank you. Wasn't John fast with his budget? Wow. Good evening everybody. Okay, so we're here tonight to talk about the 2026 budget. Okay. Um the budget was introduced at the last council meeting on April 6th. It is scheduled for public hearing at the next council meeting on March 5th. Uh the public hearing is scheduled for 5:30 and uh scheduled for adoption assuming we get state approval by then. Haven't gotten state approval yet. Still waiting to hear from them. Uh but tonight we'll be talking about the budget itself. Now since this is the first budget that we're doing together. Okay. Uh before we get into the budget, I did just want to spend a little bit of time talking about um the financial condition of Hackinack today or the state of economy uh here in Hackinack and particularly uh where we are in the economy and how we got here and most importantly what we need to do to improve. Okay. Now to do that um I have this graph. Now the finance committee has seen this graph uh before.

I I use it a lot because I really think it illustrates uh where we are. This is Hackinac's net valuations. Now net valuations are the prop uh the value of all property in the city. When people talk about taxes, okay, they usually are referring to the tax levy, which is that portion of the budget that has to be paid for with taxes. And we're going to be talking about the budget in a second. But the other part of taxes are the valuations, the value of all of the property in the city. Now, this chart represents the last 20 years you beginning 2007 uh all the way to the left to 2026, which is all the way to the right where we are today. you see a large slope down followed by a slope up to where we are today which is u another short slope downward. Okay, right now with that slope downward we're currently in this period of economic decline and that needs to be reversed and I have to explain how we got here because that's that's very important for taxes. Okay. So that first slope down that was the period of recession that was 2007 to 2015 and the great recession was 28 uh was 2008 that affected everybody nationwide. We uh everybody's property values dropped. You know that happened throughout the entire country and but it was a recession. Recessions are short. Depressions are long. Recess recessions are short. The recession was over by the end of 2009, beginning of 2010, and that's when the recovery began. So in the area

around Hackinack, all the communities bordering on Hackinack in central Bergen County all started to recover at the end of 2009, beginning of 2010. But not Hackinac. Hackinac continued to drop in valuations. By 2011, all the other municipalities around us had all fully recovered. Hagasac kept dropping in valuations. Now, when valuations drop, the tax rate rises. That's the correlation between the two. And when car when the tax rate rises, businesses tend to either close, flee, or in some cases what they do is they knock their buildings down so they don't have to pay taxes on it. And that causes valuations to drop even more. They drop even more, the tax rate rises even more. So that brings us to 2015. And 2015 from 2015 to 2021 was this period of recovery. And this is what you can call the era of redevelopment. And it was seen then that the that pilots were going to be the main tool to try and attract development and grow the valuations by bringing in new properties. The theory being you give a tax break to a property in the hopes that it's going to attract 20 new properties and the 20 new properties are going to generate tax revenue to make up for the uh the tax break that the piloted property got. Okay. And during this period 2015 to 2021 it worked. valuations grew. Valuations increased uh by 1.9 billion during this period. City fully recovered what it had lost during

that first period and then some. And as valuations increase, the tax rate falls. Tax rate fell every single year from 2015 to 2021. And during this period, 18 pilot awards were granted. Okay, now that's up to 2021. Now 2022, valuations dropped. Okay, and it wasn't a big drop, but it was a drop. Okay, and it doesn't occur to anybody except for somebody like me. And it could be a one-time event. You know, it's nothing really to be concerned about until 2023 when they drop for a second time. Um, and that's a that's a concern. Okay, two years in a row is a problem. When they dropped three years in a row in 2024, that's an area for alarm. Okay, that's a cause for me to look at it and try and figure out what's happening here. We dropped three years in a row. Okay, in finance, when something's wrong, you got to look at it, find out where the problem is, and then figure out what needs to happen to fix it. So when I studied the three years of drops, I found that the drop is occurring in the commercial section uh sector. Commercial valuations were dropping. Why? Well, big reason was because of tax appeals. A business owner appeals his taxes, he wins. When he wins, the assessment is lowered. That brings the valuations down. That was a big part of the problem, but not the only part. The other part of the problem was when we award a pilot that commercial property comes off the tax roles completely. Now what I saw when I checked this was

commercial valuations were dropping. Okay that was tax appeals and you could say oh that was 100% tax appeals but at the same time taxexempt property rose. That's not tax appeals. That's pilots. That's property coming off the rolls and our valuations are dropping. Now during this period 2021 to 2026, 10 more pilots were awarded. Now the 10 pilots were awarded, three of them were rescended on the uh the first meeting of your administration. But during this period, we're not seeing any growth. We're not seeing any new ratables coming in. Okay. But there were seven net pilots that were awarded. So at this point in time, like I said, we're in this period of economic decline. It's obvious that pilots as a fiscal policy is not working. It's not attracting any growth. We haven't had growth since 2021. So what's needed now is not just a new policy. What's needed is an entirely new financial vision for the for the city. Something that looks at the entirety of Hackinach's uh economy. Okay. Pilots tend to laser in on municipal revenue. They're very good for municipal revenue. Okay. But when you look at the whole thing, okay, they are coming off the tax roles. All right. Now, if they're bringing in other ratables, well, that's great. But if they're not bringing in other ratables, then they're hurting. You know, kind of reminds me of when when my kid was young and got the flu and I took

him to the doctor. Doctor wrote a script for antibiotics and uh there were no refills. So, I tried to refill it and called the doctor, you know, I need a refill. Says, "No, you don't refill antibiotics." Yeah. Once he's cured, he's cured. you give them antibiot more you keep giving them antibiotics you're going to do more harm than good kind of the same analogy you know more harm than good so we need a a financial vision that looks at the entirety of the hackinac economy now your administration looking at a whole instead of pieces has been the vision of your administration since you took office uh you've been saying at every council meeting one way or another, you know, that that we are one city, one community, one set of problems. Uh, mayor, I've said, you know, you you've said it and I I just like the phrase that Hackinac is more than just one street. And I and I really do like that turn of a phrase. Um, so you need to apply that same vision of yours to the financial policy that you set. Now, let's get back to the budget for a second. Okay. What a budget is is the financial plan for the governing body to achieve their vision for the city. Okay. So, the 2026 budget seeks to put all of the city's resources to work all of the time. and for the benefit of all of the residents. 2026 budget needs to be completely consistent with the vision that the mayor and council has. Now, the budget has to it must include funding for the priorities that the mayor and council have identified. Has to do that. But at

the same time, it also has to address budget issues that affect the future financial health of the city. It's vital that the budget looks to the future. A budget can't be considered as a one-year event. When that happens, it causes trouble. All right? And part of the problem that we're trying to rectify today was caused by last year's budget not doing that. Okay, I'll speak more about that a little bit later, but it's very important to always remember that the budget always has to look to the future. And finally, the budget has to keep the tax increase as low as possible, but still not lose sight of those first two points. Okay. Now, the 2026 budget does hit all of those three points. The increase to the tax levy is, you know, as I said at the budget introduction, 10 and a quarter%. Okay. There are a number of different reasons for that I'll be getting into, but um that translates into the average home in Hackinack that comes out to $4648 per month. Now you as a governing body have every right to demand to know three things. Why is the increase that high? Has the administration done everything to keep it as low as possible? And what have we in the administration done to make sure that in the future we won't see a high increase like that? Okay. briefly. Um, in the budget, we're looking at a spending increase of $7.1 million over last year. Health benefits

are up $6.3 million. I'll talk about that. And uh, our bill from the Bergen County Utilities Authority is up 900,000. I'll talk about that. Okay. We haven't seen any uh, increase in non- tax revenue from last year. Okay. that that's not helping. And from last year, there's a drop of 1.6 million in local revenue um which I'll explain more about later, but um from a poor budget projection last year in the 2025 budget. As I said, the 2025 budget didn't look to the future. Poor budget decisions regarding local revenue in the 2025 budget. What that did was that postponed what should have been a 2025 tax increase, pushed it into a 2026 tax increase. In short, what should have happened was should have been a tax increase in 2025. should have been a I'm sorry should have been a larger tax increase in 2025 which would have translated to a smaller tax increase in 2026. The 2025 budget didn't look to the future. We're rectifying that in 2026 and again I'll speak more about that later. Okay. Now getting back to the spending increase which is uh which is the main driver in this budget and spending increase health benefits are up 6.3 million now. Health benefits have been an issue statewide for four years now. Okay. There's been a lot of talk about health benefits, health care costs, everything now. It would be well I'm sure that all across the state uh

there are CFOs telling their governing body well health benefits are up. Uh there's nothing you could do about it. It's out of our control. Okay. And that may be true for their municipalities but that that's not true in Hackinack. Okay. Other municipalities may belong to the state health benefits plan where they pay premiums and they're told what the premiums are and they have to pay those premiums. They have no choice. Okay? But in Hackinac, we're self-insured. Okay? We pay claims instead of premiums. And because of that, we do have the ability to look at our own claim data and like I said before about valuations, look at where the problem is, see what we can do, and actually take steps to fix it. Now, I've been looking at claim data since 2023, and we have been trying different things to try and uh and fix this problem. But last year, um from 2025 to now, our medical and RX claims are up $3.7 million, which is a 13% increase. All right. in the state health benefits plan, the uh the the premiums, which is kind of like the apples to apples comparison, those are up 36%. So, we're in better shape than the state health benefits plan. But our problem is that we have excess loss insurance. Okay? And what that is is we pay claims. Okay? But we can only pay so much if if there is a claim for something that's

extremely costly. Think uh an organ uh transplant is needed. Okay. Um we wouldn't have the money for that. We have insurance for that. So once it goes a claim goes over a certain amount, our insurance kicks in. Now in 2025, the claims were so high, okay, that we had a lot of these high claims, uh, high pre high claims that went against our insurance. So much so that it drove our premium for this year up $2.6 million, which was a 48% increase on that policy. Now, our policy has a clause that says you can't raise our premium more than 50%. So, they didn't raise it 50%. They raised it 40 48%. Okay? Now, it was these runaway medical claims in 2025 that formed the basis for the medical budget in 2026. and those same runaway medical claims in 2025 that set the premium for our excess loss insurance, our premium that's up 46% from last year. So we have to look at those runaway claims, find out what the problem is, all right, and take care of it. Okay, that's the job. Now, like I said, 6.3 million and we need to know what are we doing about that, okay? Because that's driving the increase and that can't stand. So, like I said, 2025 monthly medical claims were literally through the roof, higher than I've ever seen. Now, this chart shows monthly

claims. Now the first uh on the left side of the chart on the left side of the red line is January to June of last year. The blue bar shows monthly claims for 2024. Whoops. And there we go. Okay. So the blue bar on the left side are monthly claims for 2024. The gold bar are the monthly claims for 2025. So you can see how much higher 2025 was from 2024. If you look at March, 2025 claims were more than double what 2024 was. April was almost double what 2024 was. May was way more than double what 2024 was. This is what we were looking at last year. you know, claims were up an average of 94% per month. Okay, this is this is what I was doing pretty much every day uh for the first part of of last year. So, we had numerous meetings with Blue Cross trying to figure out what we were doing, meeting with our insurance broker, and we took a number of steps. We put a number of measures in. All right. And then beginning in July, we started to see relief. So the right side of that red line, same thing. There are monthly claims. Same blue bar represents 2024 and the gold bar represents 2025. And you see what a difference it made after July. Okay? We went from averaging 94% increases to averaging only 5%

increases. Okay, that's the good news. Now, when we found out last December that because the claims were so high in the beginning part of the year, they were raising our insurance by 48%. You you recall, mayor, we reported that at the finance committee. Didn't go over too well. All right. Um, you convened a special meeting of the entire council. We talked about it. You wanted additional measures taken to try and put a lid on this. So, beginning in January of 2026, we had Blue Cross put in another another layer. Okay. What they did was at their own cost, no cost to us, they put in another uh stopped gap measure where they put another level of of overseeing uh certain out of network claims, the claims that some claims that were driving up our high increases. Okay, now that is on the left side of this chart. That's the green for January, February, and March. So, you see, so far this year in 2026, we're running pretty far below last year. Now, I don't know this for a fact because I don't have the data, but judging by what I read and everything else, I it wouldn't surprise me if we're the only municipality in New Jersey whose medical claims right now in 2026 are running less than 2025. medical claims, medical costs don't go down, okay? They do go up. All of this is good news for us for 2027. Okay? It can't change 20 the 2026

budget. 2026 budget is based on claim data from 2025. Okay? to to not budget based on the 2025 data would be irresponsible. We would be gambling with public money. Okay? And that would not be good sound budgeting practices. But it does look good for 2027. the claim activity that we're looking at at least for definitely the last nine months is definitely going to translate into a much much lower insurance premium for 2027. So all in all, bad news for the 2026 budget. You know that we're doing as much as we can, but it does look it does look well for 2027. Okay. All right. So, back to the spending increase. 7.1 million of that 6.3 million are the health benefits and our bill from the Bergen County Utilities Authority, which handles all of the sewage in the city. Okay. All the sewage gets collected in our sanitary sewer system and it gets piped to the BCUA treatment plant in Little Ferry. That bill is up uh $900,000. That's from a rate increase from the BCUA. Our actual usage is down from last year, but that's a a massive rate increase. Okay. Other other municipalities in Bergen County are feeling the same thing. That is actually out of our control. Okay, but those two items, health benefits and the

surge bill, okay, um, add up to 7.2 million. Our total spending is up 7.1 million. That means the entire rest of the budget, all of the other spending that's within our control is actually down $100,000. Okay, that's the spending that's within our control. We tried to cut spending wherever we could to try and mitigate that increase as much as we could. And you'll note down in the lower corner, okay, um that's the uh that's the transfer the emergency transfer to the board of education, which is not part of that $7.1 million increase. Okay. Now we cut where we could still keeping in mind that we still have to include in the budget the areas that you wanted to see. Now there are since you've come in office there has been a change in city government. Okay. Um there are priorities uh there's a shift in priorities and areas of the government have been shifted and there have been a number of areas that have been neglected for years. Okay, that were now taken care of should have been taken care of a long time ago. Okay, for example, snow removal. Okay. Now, fortunately, we had a big snowstorm this year and we were able to use the snow removal trust, but over the last, I'd say six or seven years, we've been cutting the snow removal budget, and we haven't been replenishing the trust. So, right now, the trust is is lower than it's uncomfortably low. Let me put it that way. We need to fix that by starting to increase the snow

removal budget. Should have happened years ago. Similarly, we put a lot of money recently, the last few years into our pump stations. Okay. Our project manager has been recommending for the last few years that we increase the budget for maintenance and monitoring, protect our investment. um project manager wasn't in charge of his department until recently and so we've increased uh we've granted his budget request because he's right we do need to protect that investment. Okay. Um we're investing in his budget in DPW heavyduty vehicles. We bought but uh garbage trucks this past um this past December. Um the library donation city donates every year to the library. We haven't increased the in fact we've decreased the donation to the library pretty much every year for at least the last 10 years or kept it flat. At least the last 10 years possibly longer. And I don't remember I I should know this but I don't remember the last time the library donation was ever increased. But the library does a great job and the library does an excellent job of using their own money for the many renovations that they're doing. They don't rely on city money and and that's excellent. Okay. And this year, for the first time, and I don't know how many years, I wish I did, they're seeing an increase in their donation. The police department, the police department has been operating for the last few years with an operational structural deficit. And that needs an explanation. A structural deficit occurs when

if something doesn't change in the police budget. At some point, the money's not going to be there to handle something in the budget, and the structure is going to collapse. And what's going to be needed is a massive infusion of cash that could only come from one place and that's taxes. So it needs to be addressed now. It's one of those pay me now or pay me later. And you need to pay now because if you pay later, it's going to be huge. Now I recognized this a few years ago but wasn't able to take care of it. And as it turned out, the chief recognized it years ago and he wasn't able to take care of it. When we got together this year, we both agreed that this has to be taken care of. Now, the reason for it is that in the last few years, we've made a huge investment in technology equipment in the police department. It's it's impressive. uh a lot of uh computers, surveillance equipment, uh drones, bodywn cameras, a lot of technology equipment purchased with federal forefeite money, money that comes from the federal government when they when they make a drug bust, they seize the money and then they distribute it to local governments. Okay, we took advantage of that money and we bought a lot of technology equipment. Great. Didn't hit our budget. That's excellent. But that equipment needs to be maintained. Okay, to maintain it, you need maintenance contracts. You have to have maintenance contracts. Okay, we need a budget for that. Okay, that and the budget for that is large. Okay, that has to be put in. Okay, also there there

has never been a plan to improve the police building. Okay, so the chief and I met. We talked about amending the capital plan um to make improvements to the police building similar to a plan that city manager and I did with the firehouses back in 2016 I think it was. Okay. We'll be amending the 20 the capital plan to start taking care of that this year. And then finally we need to do something about police vehicles. Okay. The fleet is old. It's small. We need more cars. We need them modernized. And we need something in place that this happens on a regular basis. We put money in the budget 10 years ago for police cars. And the budget has never kept up with the rising cost of police cars. So what's happened? The number of cars on the road every year gets smaller and the cars get older. as if that keeps happening eventually eventually there's going to be one old car driving around town. So So I met with the chief and Captain Ziza and to fix that uh what we're going to do is we implemented a lease to own program. All right. We're going to lease cars. All right. And the way it works just quickly it's on a seven-year cycle. Uh we're going to start off by leasing 10 cars and then pretty much every year in this cycle we're going to replenish it with five new cars every year. Okay? And they'll constantly bringing in new cars and retiring the old ones. Okay? By the end of 2032, which is only six years from now, we'll have 35 cars that are less than six years old. and that'll address finally the uh the issues we have with

police cars. Now, in addition to the cuts that we've made to try and uh keep the tax increase down as much as possible, there are other operational savings. Okay. The um um the position of the police director has been eliminated. um very large savings in the police salary and wage budget because that was a very large salary. Similarly, in the DPW department, the DPW superintendent position was changed from full-time from one full-time to two part-time positions, which saves us on health benefits. And given the cost of health benefits, that's now a significant savings. Anytime we can uh change a position from one full-time to part-time and save on the health benefits, it's going to be significant. Okay. There was always a duty overlap of field maintenance between recreation and DPW. We have a new recreation superintendent. So, we've worked out that duty overlap. And right now we're doing a very closer monitoring of of legal bills, including legal bills that are paid for uh by our insurance broker, which believe it or not has never happened before. Okay, that's happening. And I always say when people know that you're looking, uh, they tend to get a little sharper with their pencil. Okay, all of that is going on right now. All right, speaking of the rest of the budget, okay, our salaries and wages, okay, um 48.3 million, okay, which is a 3.1% increase from last year. That percentage is a little bit higher than it usually is. And the reason for that is because for the last three years uh

we've been operating with um a safer grant that we got in 2022 which paid for the salaries of five firefighters. It was a three-year grant. So these five firefighters were paid for in the 2023 budget 2024 2025. That grant has expired. So now the full salary of those five firefighters has to be absorbed in the 2026 budget and that's the reason why that percentage is a little bit high. The department other expenses which is the area where we have the most control is down 5% from last year. Okay. And this is this is where we made the most cuts. And typically this is where our department heads are very good at holding the line on spending. Okay, year after year um they do very good at holding their spending in this area. Okay, statutory expenses is uh is a large part of the budget 14.3 million. These are expenses we have to make this pension, social security and unemployment. Um few years ago we used to see huge increases in that in this that we don't have control over but fortunately for the last three years including this year uh we haven't seen large increases this this year it's relatively flat from last year. Okay, so to sum up, okay, with the 2026 budget, okay, the tax increase does translate on the average home in Hackinack would be about $48.13 per month. All right, the budget, the reason for it spending is up 7.1 million and that's because our health benefits are up 6.3 million and our BCUA bill is

up 900,000. But the rest of the budget is down 100,000. Okay. Um along with that, poor budget decisions from last year led to a missed revenue projection of 1.6 million. Now, you miss a revenue projection that has to be made up in the following year budget. There's only one way you can make up revenue and that's there's only one way you can make up non- tax revenue and that's with tax revenue and that has to happen in the 2026 budget. Uh and that is extremely unfortunate. Okay. And finally, in the 2026 budget, proper fiscally conservative budgeting practices are now back in place, which will prevent that problem, which happened from 2025 and impacted 2026. That'll prevent that from happening in 2027. And if I could just say on a somewhat personal note, this is my 13th budget with the city. And over the years, I haven't I've spent more I I haven't spent more time talking about anything more than tax stabilization. Okay. I I've gone back and actually sometimes watched my presentation and actually taken a drink every time I said tax stabilization that the thing to avoid to always avoid are wide fluctuations from one year to the other. And the way to do that is by always looking ahead in your budget to the next year. And that didn't happen last year.

And I commend you as a council for doing that this year and bringing us back to those proper fiscally conservative budgeting practices and putting us back on track. Okay? And that is how we will hold the line on tax increases next year. Okay. Okay. That's the budget. Um the as I said the public hearing is scheduled for the next council meeting which is May 5th um at 5:30 and uh assuming we receive state approval by then um after the public hearing later that night we'll be voting to adopt. Okay. And this point be happy to answer any questions at all. How much

Mr. Bangan? How much is in the police uh for forfeite fund? Um our police forfeite fund. Yeah. Um I'm not exactly sure. Give me a number. It could be. It's It's probably at least 4 million. 4 million. Yeah. And you want us to pay for new police cars? Yes. Really? The reason for that is because it's 4 million today. It won't always be 4 million, but it's 4 million. It's 4 million today. Yes, that's all.

Sure. So basically what I kept hearing it you say is that things should have been done a certain way but weren't. Um and since we got in things have been improving. Correct. So why why so for example when you gave the example that in 2022 2023 years in a row evaluations dropped Mhm.

why when it dropped a third year why continue on the same pattern of the pilots let's say if it wasn't working. Mhm. Yeah. Excellent question. Um, uh, Deputy Mayor, I'm not or I haven't been part of the redevelopment discussions. Okay. Um, so, but you're you were the CFO.

Yeah. And similar to you're on the finance committee and I reported to the finance committee and I would report every year of a drop in valuations. Okay. Um, but I wasn't part of the redevelopment discussions, you know, but I would report to the finance committee. I wonder why why weren't you part of those important discussions? Now, you can draw your own conclusions, but um the um but you're you're exactly right. Um that is a failed polic if your valuations are dropping, why do a policy that drops your valuations?

Excellent question. Okay. Also, poor budget decisions regarding local revenue from the 2025 budget postponed a 2025 increase to 2026. Mhm. So, poor decisions were made and by whom and why were poor decisions made? Okay. Well, obviously, you know, I I do the budget. Okay. Mhm.

And but a budget is policy, okay? And I'm not lying. I have a lot to do with the budget, okay? But I don't have the final say on the budget. For example, if you wanted me to, if you were to say to me, we don't want a 10 quarter tax increase, you know, cut it. Well, I could cut it

in the areas where, like I said, we would have to cut and not be able to do the things that you want. Okay. Um because ultimately it is your decision. Okay. Now, last year, okay, here's a budget. Here's a tax increase. All right. Ultimately, it is the council's decision. If that tax increase is too high, go back and and cut either cut appropriations or increase revenue. Either one will lower the tax levy. Okay.

Can I ask a question? Sure. So going off the the deputy mayor's question, so last year there was $1.6 million in missed revenue projections. So I'm curious about in this this I'll call it draft process where you're having conversations with the previous iteration of the finance committee which is a part of the previous council and administration.

Can you can you illuminate um what contributed to those missed projections? Was there was there a more responsible budget that was presented and that got whittleled away into a more irresponsible budget or or what what assurances do does the public have that this is not going to happen again?

On the on the last bullet, you know, I had said that this budget is a return to proper fiscally conservative budgeting practices. Now, proper budgeting practice or proper fiscally conservative budgeting practices would be that when you project revenue, you project how much revenue is coming in. All right? What you want to do is you want to project your revenue to be a little bit less than what you actually think them is going to come in because if you miss that projection, you're impacting next year. Okay? So, what you want to do is you want to make sure that you you lowball that number. Now, under the law, you're allowed to anticipate exactly as much as came in the year before. That's not a good practice. That is not fiscally conservative budgeting. You want to come in much lower. Now, in certain areas like fees and permits or construction revenue, you really want to come in lower because you don't know why that number was up there. There could be a one-time event. So, you want to make sure that you really do lowball that number. That's proper budgeting. That's not what happened last year. Those two areas, fees and permits and construction revenue, which are substantial revenue sources for substantial non- tax revenue sources,

were brought up to the absolute maximum. And then like I said, the numbers didn't come in. All right? To the tune of 1.6 million. So now in this budget now what we have to do is we have to uh anticipate not only anticipate less to the tune of 1.6 million but now reinstitute proper fiscally conservative budgeting practices and lower it even more to get us back on track. So, I I just want to make this point because it sounds to me like there was a desire to get to a certain number optically as opposed to a desire to properly budget and fund the city government. Um, and it also sounds to me, you you're welcome to correct me if I'm wrong here, but it sounds to me like there was data that was presented. Um, you can see the health care costs, you can see that evaluations were going down, you can see that ratables were coming off the tax rules. And yet the body, the governing body, the people that voted on the budget, insisted on living in a sort of La La Land and ignoring that health care costs were rising, ignoring that ratables were going down and sticking to this policy of issuing 30-year pilots that did not actually attract ratables. All they seemed to

attract was more 30-year pilots. And so it seems like now that we have the things that are are within the city's control in terms of taking $100,000 out of the budget in terms of spend while also funding the things that need to be funded and not letting things atrophy like have been done for the last however many years. There's a price that's being paid now for last year's budget, which if my memory serves, was an election year. Oh, really? By coincidence.

Mhm. And I don't remember the alarm ever being sounded that health care costs were climbing by 94 94% in the run-up to a municipal election. I don't remember anyone sitting up here saying that. Everything was wonderful. And then Frank, can you do me a favor for a quick second? Can you go back to the the the Thank you. Yep. the the bar graph with the healthcare costs. Yeah. And then that red line is when we're here. And that's when things start trending downward.

Coincidentally. Coincidentally. Right. So, and I I don't want anyone to be confused on hacking happenings. Not coincidentally, actually, because things have been put in place. I know you're joking, but people I was sorry. And so, I I just want to make clear that and again, if I'm if I'm misunderstanding anything, if you are, I'll jump in. Great. I haven't jumped in yet.

Great. So I I just want to be clear about what is contributing to this that this is based on 2025's spend and it's not even all of 2025 because we were able to collectively put things in place to rein in the things that technically should be outside of our control.

Yeah. The first 6 months of 2025, the first six months were so bad, that's what impacted our increase in our premium. That's how bad uh that was. Now, had they looked at the entire year of 2025, I I truly believe that they looked at the first half of 2025 and said, "How high can we raise this premium?" And somebody said, you know, well, you know, raise it 75%. They, oh, no, no, their contract says they can only go 50%. Because our contract says that. And they said, okay, well, 48%. I really believe that's what happened.

I just want to just, you mentioned this in your presentation, but I just want to make sure I'm clear on this regarding the pilots because the pilots come off the tax role. They're really a double whammy. Number one, they're bringing down the commercial valuations because you have big properties, credit union site, Bruce the Bed King. You have these large taxpaying entities that now come off the rolls and hurt valuations. Sears come off the rolls and hurt valuations, but then also because of their payment schedule, they're a fixed cost. Mhm.

So when you have these increases in healthcare, I get what you're saying. Mhm. The increases are borne by everyone else who's in the tax pool, they get a built-in tax freeze. They get a built-in tax freeze. Yeah. Yeah. The ones that the pilots that were issued say two years ago that are still being built. Yeah. They're paying 2023 tax rates based on negotiated 2018 2019 numbers,

right? Well, they they're paying the taxes from the year before the exemption was granted. But yeah, they're going to keep paying those taxes until they start leasing. You're right. That's what I'm saying, Mayor, when I said you got to look at the entirety and not just not just laser in on the revenue. Not just look at that revenue number. Look at the whole thing. We are.

Oh, no. You're right, Phil. You certainly are. And what we've said before about the way pilots are built is is another example. Okay. The way pilots are built, we're changing the way pilots are built. And and I I yeah, I believe we talked about this at the intro. the way that we're changing the way that pilots are built, okay? Which will bring in more revenue in 2026, which will help our surplus, which will help the 2027 budget, but it can't help the 2026 budget because we can only anticipate what came in last year. But yeah, Phil, you're exactly right. Look at look at everything. Roberto, uh,

Mr. Mang, thank you, Mayor. Excuse me, but I'm not quite clear yet. Uh, and please correct me if I'm wrong. You said that the monthly medical claims were skyhigh on the first six months of the year and you saw the uh that it was necessary to implement some measured you know for the second part of the year and it went down. Am I correct? Yeah, that's correct. Okay. So what did you implement on the second half of the year that couldn't be implemented on the first half?

Well, it's if you see the the the claims January, February, March, you know, it was it was in March when we sounded the alarm bells, you know, um it was in April when we started meeting regularly and then in May is when we started meeting regularly with Blue Cross. Okay, we couldn't go back to the first of the year. But uh in terms of what we implemented, now remember, we can't change coverage. Okay, that all has to be negotiated. All right, and when I looked at the claims, okay, it wasn't the in network claims that were the problem because in network all those costs are negotiated, okay? So they weren't the problem, okay? It was the out of network claims and we zeroed in on where the problem was and working with Blue Cross that's what we targeted.

Yes. But still I see here January, February and March it went up then it came down in April but no in in the yellow is is 202 in in 25 but then it went up again in May. Yes. Yes, the changes didn't kick in until July. So it so that means that in March we still didn't know for sure what exactly what was going on that we couldn't avoid like a whatever happened in May. Right. Right. All we knew is it was going up. In March it went up huge. Well May it went up really big.

We we was there at that time. I just want to be clear. We in March of 2025 was the city. It was not us sitting up here. I just want to be clear.

So, I have a question. I'm sorry. Finishing up with this medical claims. Typically, I still don't understand exactly what drove all these claims like in that particular period of time, you know, January through June. But typically, don't you get more medical claims towards the end of the year because, you know, usually January, people are trying to meet their deductible, right? And then towards the end of the year, people try to get all their medical appointments done by the end of the year so they don't have, you know,

I'll be perfectly honest, I thought the exact same thing. And I talked to our broker

and I said, uh, you know, cuz I said, well, we got the data. I said, yeah, well, things should taper off now because it's January. And he said, oh, no. He said, claims shoot up in January. I said, well, that doesn't make sense. I said, because people have to meet their deductible, right? So I would think that once the deductible is met, yeah, then they're going to start going with more frequency. And he said, "No, what we see is that to meet their deductible, they go with more frequency." That's surprised me. Okay. I I I can't look at I can't see that in the data, you know, but I thought the exact same thing. and and I and I go in network so you you can't go by me.

Um Mr. Mang, could you explain to us how the 10.25% uh increase is going to be applied to taxpayers because um it's not just a matter of taking your total tax bill and multiplying it by 10%. Correct.

Yeah. It's the 10.25% 25% is the increase to the levy. Okay. And okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. Now, you can you can credit the city attorney for this. All right. When you do a budget, you start with how much money do you need to spend. And in our case, the total budget's 146 million. Okay? That's how much money we have to spend. Okay? And then what you do is you take in how much money is coming in that's not taxes from everything. You know, fees, permits, court costs, everything. Everything that's not taxes. You take all of that money that's coming in and that's $44 million, all right, and you subtract that from the budget and that leaves $101 million. That's the tax levy. Okay? Now, that tax levy is 10 and a4% higher than what it was last year. That doesn't mean that anybody's tax bill is going up 10 and a quarter%. It just means that that levy, that portion of the of the budget that's paid for with taxes is 10% higher than last year. Now, what'll happen is that levy, that $101 million will then get divided into our total valuations, which was on that first uh that first slide. And that'll generate a tax rate, which I am projecting to be 3.518.

Um and that becomes again my projection is the new tax rate. You take your home and its assessment and you would apply the tax rate and that would be your tax bill. Okay. Now, next next month, next month, uh, in May, we'll be doing a resolution for estimated tax bills. And when we do the resolution for estimated tax bills, I'll be projecting just that, an estimated tax rate. Don't go by my rate. This is my my notes, but next month I'll be doing that whole exercise.

And so, normally the final bill comes out in August, correct? the estimated bill comes out in August because because the county is always late. They're always the ones that we're waiting for. So then the county comes out with their final they finally come out in August. So then in September, what we do is we send what's called the final bill. We make the adjustment to the estimate. Okay? And we fix it in the fourth quarter. All right? And that's what comes out. And that's called the final bill. Okay. Okay. So, going back to your um poor budget decisions. Mhm.

Um you had said that because of miss revenue which um would be the non- tax revenue. Correct. Correct. That's correct. Okay. So, um and that non- tax revenue is fees, permits, construction costs, etc. Correct. Mhm. Uh and also the would be the health benefits but you had already um explained how you you've corrected the health benefit problem. Can you please explain to us how you plan to correct the fees and permits and construction cost and so on?

Okay. So because of what happened last year, now our hands are tied on what we can anticipate in 2026. We can only anticipate what comes in. All right. But to again to restore proper budgeting practices, we're going to deliberately lower that number. Okay? So to a number that we know is going to come in, a number that we know that we're going to hit so that we don't have this same problem next year. And that's how we're going to fix that problem. That's what should have happened last year.

But let me ask you this. Are we doing any type of evaluation on our fees and permits and construction costs to see if maybe they're in alignment with other municipalities? Yeah. Yeah. Earlier this year, the city manager at a department head meeting ordered all the department heads to review their fees, look at all the surrounding communities, make recommendations to change our fee ordinance wherever possible, and that should be done every year. Is there anything else um that we can look at um the same way?

We're we're always on the lookout for new revenue. New revenue is great. Okay. Um cannabis revenue goes up every year. That's good. Okay. And then we're always trying to look for anywhere we can get new revenue. Anywhere we can get a fee, we can get a fee. You know, that's I'm always looking for any crazy place to get a fee. Okay. Thank you. So, I think we're going to I think we're going to um move on a moment, but I just want to make very clear for everyone before we move on with the agenda. And thank you, Jim, by the way. Thank you.

Um that the the number the uh 10 and a quarter number is not it's not take your bill and multiply that by 10 and a quarter. That is not what that number is representing. There is a number in the presentation. I believe that number is uh about 48 was 19 something like that. what I don't want to say the 4813 4813 thank you um for for the municipal portion of your bill and um that's on the average home

on the average home on the average home so it is not the the same level of um it's not the same impact that that number might purport that's a number on the tax levy um and I just want to make that clear for for everyone okay thank you Mr. Mr. Mangan, um I am going to ask for a motion to open up to public comment on agenda items only. Before I do that, um this is just on anything that appears on the agenda. If you have another thing that you'd like to discuss or raise, I'm going to ask you to hold it for some subsequent time, but anything that is on the agenda, please make reference to what item on the agenda you are referencing. Um please state your name and your municipality for the record. You will have time three minutes. I will let you know when that time has expired. Can I have a motion to open to the public on agenda items only?

Second. Okay. All in favor? I I Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay, please. Good evening everybody. Um name is Sergey Toys Hackinack. And this is in response to uh Mr. Magnum's uh budget preparation. Sorry. Can you hold up? Can you crane see if that will crane up a little bit higher? Yeah, that's great. Thank you.

So, the division of local government services is now reviewing what the new mayor of Jersey City asks all his departments to cut 10% of their budget. They held community meetings in each ward to discuss the budget and welcome a fiscal monitor that would come with transitional aid, saying, "We have assembled a broad unified coalition of elected leaders from across Hudson County, business leaders, union leaders, and community leaders. We're asking the state to provide at least $150 million in transitional aid to Jersey City's 2026 budget. And he said, "We view this as a bridge to unbburden the Jersey City taxpayers, the residents." Patterson has gotten from the state in any of the previous 15 years. In the past three years, the city has received between$25 million to $29 million in transitional aid from the state. Patterson state aid application listed the budget line items with the largest increases. 24 million for health insurance, 4.7 for fire department salaries, four for the police salaries, and a million for the solid waste disposal, and about a half a million for workman's comp claims. The city, he said, would face an untenable choice. either impose

tax levy increases or pursue reductions to that severely would compromise the public safety and essential operations. So I ask that basically we look at these things that is provided for in the state statues and use them effectively rather than doing anything to burden a hackin sack residents. Thank you.

Thank you. Morning. Fred Miller back up here again. 134 Cedar Avenue. Looking over the budget, I saw that there's 135 roughly million dollar in debt with $16 million roughly in anticipated interest for an annual interest rate of 11.8%. 8% which I think is gross to the taxpayer for the debt that we pay. And should we look at restructuring our debt to a more favorable rate in one way or another? Even if we got a rate around 6% that would be $8 million in realized savings. Looking at other areas to bring in revenue outside of the pilots, which we always talk about. The county has their hands in our pockets like none other. The jail and the homeless shelter contribute nothing. If you have a hotel, you pay an occupancy tax and it goes to the city. Pake sends at $122 a day inmates to our jail. Those inmates when they're released are released on our streets. There is something that should come back to the city as a revenue to us for this trouble. looking at salaries and benefits. I work in the private sector. I pay a lot. So, I don't care that it's only $50 a month. We're anticipating county taxes, utilities, insurance, and other areas, auto and life, and whatever it may be. Everything's going up. Every penny counts. looking at what our employees of the city contribute and what people

people in the private sector contribute. If there's such an increase in health care, are they contributing accordingly? The median income for a household with a family in Hackinack is 108,000. Many of our public servants make twice the median family income. I propose that there is no cost of living living adjustments until that comes in line with reality of the people around us. Outside of that, services provided to the city, if you're going to raise taxes and provide these exorbitant salaries, need to be better. Our school districts, when you look at realtor.com, need to be bu above a four out of 10. When you look at police on their details, they should not be in their car on their phone. They should be out directing traffic. I don't care if it is a side street or a busy street. It is a slap in the face. And there's a lot of problems that I see commuting around town. We got new garbage trucks. I could show you pictures on my phone every week recycling. Could you please not spill it in the street? And if you do, pick it up. That's not acceptable to me with the taxes that I pay. So with that, I ask that we figure ways to do better and not burden us when we're already the highest paying taxpayers in the country. Good evening everybody. Thank you. First of all, let me give my comments to the uh to the administration and also to the CFA CFO that bravely stood here and took all of that.

I'm sorry to interrupt you. Just your name.

I'm sorry. My name my name is Reverend Robert Kohl's. I'm a 30-year member of this uh community. Uh I've lived here for 30 years plus. So, I just want to talk about or address the professional presentation part of the agenda. Okay. Um, and I'm just going to read through some things, some just notes, and some of them you've already covered, which were pretty obvious to me. One thing I would say, I would hope that this administration would give this man a lot more power than he appeared to have in the previous administration because some of the questions that were asked, he should have been able to answer. And it seemed like he wasn't or if he he didn't know or he if he he couldn't say, I don't know. But he should be telling us this is what we should be do. If this budget is short here, this make it known to them so that they can see it. Then if they still choose to go on, then that's off of your you. But right now, I'm not sure how much power you really had. Okay? We have pilot programs. Pilot programs can be good if they're managed correctly. I have a church in Montlair. Oh my god, they're going through the same kind of thing. But you have to be wise in how you use them. If you have 3,000 new uh uh places for people to come and live in your town, obviously you're going to need more police. You're gonna need more fire. You can't be cutting police. You can't be cutting I'm 30-year resident here. Never have I remember in my 30 years somebody getting shot around the corner from my house. Never do I remember somebody getting stabbed in front of the police station. Never do I remember um the situations where uh people can't walk the streets safely. Okay, these houses are going to bring places of staying. I won't even call them houses. They're mostly apartments. They'll bring in an influx of people. Okay, I'm just going to run down I I only have three minutes, so let me just run down some of my notes, which some of you already covered greatly. Okay. Um what are some causes of the spending increases? Okay, I'm going to just review. Medical insurance budgets. Okay. highest health care expenses. What

group? What group offers the highest health care expenses? That's what I want to know. I would think it would be the police and fire, but maybe not. So, I'd like to know is it is it the the garbage men? I'm not sure. Who is it? That's what I'd like to know from this meeting. Do our healthc care contracts contain claim limits? How can you have runaway claims? The rule is there's a claim limit. You go to that limit. And if it's above that limit, you got to pay. Why reduction in claim growth around period when we know administration took over? Deputy mayor, God bless you. Thank you for asking that question. It was it was eating me up. Okay. The first four years we saw a revenue increase for us. It was an advantage. After that, why go to 6 7 8 9 and even 10. When you see obviously it was you recognize a negative revenue relationship between the pilot growth and the revenue benefit also with all of this construction. Why is why are we lowering the budget of the extra revenue incre uh uh charges to people who are building in our town? Uh how can we be lowering the we should be raising the budget and the revenue increase from that from that that experience should be getting higher. So we shouldn't be lowering the budget. Those are the questions that kind of worried me. Hopefully you guys I app I I I really appla applaud you for your fiscal prudence in in doing this and I think and hope that you will take an you know a a bigger I don't know a bigger uh part in the budget process and making it giving us some transparency on what your plan is. Okay, but we can't be talking about cutting police or cutting. Okay, so maybe we got to make some adjustments to healthcare. I'll give you an example. 25 years I have.

Sorry, I don't want to interrupt you, but I I thought you were I thought you were closing. I am. So, it's okay. It is. We're over to all. Thank you very much. No problem. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you.

Uh good evening, Josh Cohen in Hackinack. Uh I had some questions, comments about the uh Baldwin Park project. Um, you know, I I live very close to there. I walk my son my son both my son my son goes to school in Fairmont. We walk through that park twice a day on the way to school, on the way home. Um, we often take uh nighttime walks during the summer to go through there. So, we're really familiar with it. If there is a splash pad going in, I could see us as, you know, potentially making use of that. Um, but my questions were about why a splash pad over other projects and how is a splash pad rooted in in the community? And I'm not sure I heard any any of that. So, I looked through the open space plan on Baldwin Park, right? And so, this uh census track that we're in, we we have um less than 3 acres of open space, right, in that area. You think of Fairmont area, it's a little more green. We have um treeline streets, but we don't we don't have open space. It's Baldwin Park uh and Fairmont. And Fairmont is listing the open plan as passive park. Uh Baldwin is your active park. Um so you have 14% of residents are under 18. 15% are over the age of 65. That's the highest senior population in the city. And you have a significant Spanish- speakaking population. Um, we know that we have a uh I think it's called a a foosball or or or uh you know the the court that's there. It's very used in the evening. Um and so I was just I'm curious like have we reached out to the people that really use this space to understand how they want it to be used? Um I think you'd be taking away that um uh court which would be one less field available to people. I know we're short on fields anyway as stated in the open space plan. Um, so I'm just not sure how it all fits together, right? And the open space plan also had like pretty specific benefit um suggestions on what

to do there. It said, you know, um uh make it accessible to older people by putting in benches with backs, more seating, more shade. Um there's really not much seating at that park at all. It did say to replace the uh or improve the uh um pavement for walking and make a walking path. You are doing that right now. That's great. I love that. Um, it also suggested even doing um some kind of a green uh green link between the two parks there so you could, you know, connect them two and and bring more people between both and make a safe way to walk because we we do often walk from our house through the park to stop at the playground and then go get ice cream at the other park. And so having a nice way to do that would would uh really link things together. Um again, yeah, I just all my questions are, you know, oh, and the school, my son is always in that um park during the day for um outdoor space. Fairmont doesn't have green space. They they do all their events in Baldwin. Have you considered the school in any of this? Have you gotten feedback from the PTA? Um have you gotten any feedback from the community on it? Those are my questions around it. So, thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else from the public wishing? Yes, please. Hello, my name is Al Gulino. I received in 138 Cedar Avenue and is uh one thing that I don't understand. I'm 82 years old. My wife is 76. And the part that we don't understand is why we still have to pay school taxes. I don't have any kids in the school making it. I understand I had to pay the garbage. There's no removal. And by the way, the snow removal this year and the year previous for the last 22 years since I live on Hackina, they clean the snow in some way to annoy everyone. I clean my driveway, five minutes later, they pass the truck, they they they lock the the driveway. The crosswalk is same thing. It's my responsibility. the crosswalk because if somebody falls on my sidewalk, I have problems. I have to go every 20 minutes, half hour to clean that. I mean, it's a few things, but the most the part the most most annoying part is the school taxes that we have to pay. I don't have any kids. My kids are big, very big. after 82 years old. My kids are older than most of the people over here. So, uh it's something that we like to see if they can look after this. Okay. I thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. Anyone else from the public wishing to speak on any agenda item? Okay. Seeing none, seeing none, motion to close to the public on agenda items only. All second. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. Uh we are moving on to ordinances for second reading. Uh new business resolution 106-26. Resolution 106-26 is the final adoption of ordinance 05-2026, an ordinance to amend chapter 170 of the code of the city of Hackinack, vehicles and traffic to update various parking regulations. This ordinance has been published according to law and now calls for a public hearing. Thank you. Um, is there a motion to open to the public on this ordinance on Oh, I'm sorry. Wait a second. Motion to adopt resolution 106-26. Oh, open to the public.

Oh, open to the public. Okay, we're good. Okay, thank you. Okay, I'm starting to expire. Okay. Um um motion to open to the public on this mo uh this resolution and this resolution only. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Anyone from the public wishing to speak on this ordinance and this ordinance only? Seeing none, motion to close to the public on this ordinance? Second. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Resolution 107-26. Now we need a a roll call vote.

Oh, I'm so sorry. You know. All right. So, um, yes. Call the role, please. Uh we um we need an intro somebody to motion to introduce. Motion to introduce. That's right. Okay. Yes. Motion to introduce. I'll offer a second. Roll call, please. Deputy Mayor Tumi. I. Council member Clark Collins. I. Council member Carol. Hi. Council member Diaz. I. Mayor Gates. I. Be it resolved by the city council of the city of Hackinack, county of Bergen and state of New Jersey that ordinance number 05-2026 has passed its second and final reading and is hereby adopted.

Thank you. Resolution 107-26. Resolution 107-26 is the final adoption of ordinance 06-2026, an ordinance to to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank. This ordinance has been published according to law and now calls for a public hearing. Thank you. A motion. Can I get a motion to all open to the public on this ordinance? Who wants Who wants it? A second. Okay. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. Anyone from the public wishing to speak on this ordinance and this ordinance only?

Seeing none. Motion to close to the public. I'll make a motion. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion to adopt resolution 107-26. I'll make a motion. Second. Uh, can you call the role, please? Deputy Mayor Tumi. I. Councilwoman Clark Collins. I. Councilman Carroll. I. Councilman Diaz. I. Mayor Gaines. I. Be it resolved by the city council of the city of Hackinac, county of Bergen, and state of New Jersey that ordinance number 06-2026 has passed its second and final reading and is hereby adopted.

Thank you. Ordinance for first reading, resolution 108-26. Resolution 108-26 is an introduction of ordinance 07-2026, an ordinance to amend chapter 148 of the code of the city of Hackinac, streets and sidewalks, article 2, general regulations and restrictions to clarify the obstruction of fire hydrants. Thank you. Um, can I have a motion, please? A motion to adopt resolution 108. Second. Okay. Roll call, please. Deputy Mayor Tumi, I. Councilwoman Clark Collins. I, Councilman Carol, hi. Council Councilman Diaz, I. Mayor Gaines,

I. Be it resolved that the above ordinance being ordinance 07-2026 as introduced does now pass on first reading and that said ordinance shall be considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on May 5th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time and place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning concerning said ordinance and that the clerk be and he is hereby authorized and directed to publish said ordinance according to law with a notice of its introduction and passage on first reading and of the time and place when and where said ordinance will be further considered for final passage.

Thank you. Moving on to the consent agenda, please.

The following items are considered to be routine in nature and will be enacted in one motion. Any items requiring expenditure are supported by a certification of availability of funds. Any item requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda, and consent agenda items will be reflected in full in the minutes, including any exceptions and/or additions. The consent agenda includes resolution number 109-26, resolution authorizing the payment of bills. Resolution 110-26, resolution authorizing tax refunds. Resolution 111-26, resolution authorizing tax appeal attorney to settle the cases on the attached list dated March 20th, 2026 that were scheduled for trial or settlement. Resolution 112-26, resolution authorizing 100% veteran tax exemption for 60 Vanderbeck Place unit 3B. Resolution 113-26, resolution authorizing grant agreement between the city of Hackinac and the state of New Jersey D for green communities forest management plan development. Resolution 114-26, resolution authorizing the approval to submit a grant application and execute a grant contract with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for the Hackinac Pedestrian Safety Project. Resolution 115-26, resolution authorizing the submission of a 2026 Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund grant application for the Baldwin Park Splash Pad Project. Just got a little my apologies missing a page.

asking for.

After 115-26, we have resolution 116-26, which is a resolution authorizing the introduction of the Main Street Business Alliance Incorporated 2026 budget. We have resolution 117-26, resolution authorizing raffle licenses. Resolution 118-26, resolution authorizing temporary adjustment to the city park hours from April 1st, 2026 through November 20 November 30th, 2026. Resolution 119-26, resolution authorizing the award of a co-op contract for the purchase of infrared heaters for the Department of Public Works garage. Resolution 120-26, resolution authorizing the award of a co-op contract for the purchase of two bar rake assemblies for the axial flow pumps located at the East Kennedy pump station. Resolution 121-26, resolution authorizing the settlement of the workers compensation matter filed by James Luther pending in New Jersey Division of Workers Compensation case number 2021-8394. Resolution 122-26, resolution authorizing the settlement of the workers compensation matter filed by Michael Broncado, pending in the New Jersey Division of Workers Compensation case number 2024-12553. Resolution 123-26, resolution authorizing the purchase of a used tower ladder truck from the Burough Ferlon as a reserve backup. Resolution 124-26, resolution of need for affordable housing pursuant to the provisions of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency law of 1983 as amended and the rules promulgated thereafter. Resolution 125-26, resolution authorizing tax appeal attorney to settle the cases on the attached list dated April 20th, 26, 2026 that were scheduled for trial or settlement. That's the consent agenda.

Thank you. Thank you. Um before we before we do that, um I'm asking the city clerk to please pull item 10, resolution number 115-26 for the ball and back splash pad project. Please pull it. Okay. So, we'll call that separately. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Great. All right. Anyone else need anything pulled or want anything pulled? Okay. All right. So, um motion. Can I get a motion to adopt the consent agenda um with the exception of resolution 115-26?

I'll offer. I'll second. Um roll call, please. Deputy Mayor Tumi. I. Councilwoman Clark Collins, I. Council Councilman Carol, I. Councilman Diaz, I. Mayor Gates, I. Consent agenda passes. Okay. Thank you. Um motion to Yes. Okay. Motion to Can I get a motion to adopt resolution 115-26? Once we have the motion and we get a second, we'll pause for some discussion in case people want to discuss. Okay. Um can I get a motion to adopt resolution 115-26?

I second. Okay. Um, just checking any any discussion on resolution 115-26. Okay, you want to Here you go.

I asked that the um splash uh be pulled uh because um it needs more discussion. um as the council as the council representative for um the recreation department. The recreation department uh uh recreation board rather uh is the one who recommended the splash park. We had discussed several options for the area that is in discussion is a closedin area that right now has nothing in it. So um the board discussed what can we put there and we thought that the splash park would be a good idea. Um but apparently there are concerns and justifiable Um, I want to take this time to to make clear one thing um that has been said that um we uh need to fix the things we already have. Well, the splash pad was part of an additional grant. There is a grant in place that is fixing uh Baldwin Park. So, I just wanted to make that clear. This is an addition to what's already being planned for uh Baldwin Park. Um I want to pull it because we have a meeting coming up in what two weeks uh for the we meet every um

first Wednesday of each month, the recreation board. And I would like to invite everyone to that meeting. It's open to the public just like every other meeting. It's at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday the 6th and we can revisit the splash pad. Um, one thing I did um realize because of a letter that was sent uh from a resident is that there is no bathroom facility in that park, which would probably be needed for a splash park. Um, but it's we have splash parks in other um um parks. Do you know exactly how many? I know there's one in Carver.

There's one in Columbus, I think. Yes, in Columbus. We have one at Palifly Park, which services the south end of the city. We have one at um Carver Park, which services the center of the city. And that's why it was believed that one in the northern part of the city would service the uh rest of the residents. Correct. Equally. Um, and as far as I know, there have been no um legal incidents. Is that correct? Okay. Just want to make that clear as well. As far as far as I know. Yes. Um, so with that said,

yeah, and and I'll just add this was not looking to ram something down the neighborhood's votes. This was really what was perceived as to be a positive. That's something they could use. That's not the case. We certainly as the council woman says direct we'll revisit that. Correct.

So can I ask before we unilaterally make a decision here is there any um is there any deadline? Is there any limitation to this grant? Is there any reason why we need to take action or should take action on this now? or is this something that in terms of the specs of the grant we can table it and then and then revisit it? I'm not familiar. I know there was a deadline, Tim, you you might be more familiar. You should paperwork. Yeah, there's an application deadline of uh the 24th of April in order to submit for this grant um with with this opportunity. Yeah. But beyond that, I don't know if there's future opportunities

specific deadline for this particular grant. So specific to the splashad, I'm sorry. The notification for the public hearing was specific to the splash pad. So we'd kind of have to start over again and if you change the scope of the and then the deadline would not correct. And then how much can I ask how much the I don't know if these are answers people have at the ready, but how much is the grant that we're that we're talking about? 295,000. 295,000. Well, it was a in total 498,000 but it was the overall project and we were half. So, it was 248,000 um roughly would be approved as part of the but um grant application.

Okay. So, what I'm what I'm going to Oh, I'm sorry. Mer, were you going to say something? I just wanted to ask um it's my understanding that we could apply and then ultimately reject the grant. Is that accurate? I believe that's the case. Yeah. And there's no there's no guarantee we get awarded the grant either. And even if you got it and didn't want it, you could reject it. Is that accurate? I believe so. But I believe that's you're the attorney. So, can I just to make sure I'm clear also because of the because of the noticing requirement, we have to notice and have a public hearing, but because of the deadline to file for the grant that it sounds like, putting it frankly, there isn't really the ability to even have a plan B because we wouldn't be able to notice and we wouldn't be able to

I believe that's correct. Yeah. But but I I I I believe the prudent thing would be to pass this section of it. If if the public decides and the wreck advisory committee decides to go a different route, we can just withdraw our application, I believe. Does that make sense? Yes, Mr. Malager. Makes sense. So, okay. Um, anyone else from the public? I'm not from public. It has been a long day, everyone. Anyone else from Anyone else from the uh the council have any questions, concerns? No. Okay. So, there was a motion um to adopt. There was a second. So, if you can call the role, please. Deputy Mayor Tumi. I. Councilwoman Clark Collins.

I. Councilman Carroll. I. Councilman Diaz. I. Mayor Gaines. I. Resolution passes. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to And thank you for for It's a good conversation to have. Thank you. Um, moving on to public comment. This is public comment on anything that you'd like to raise. Again, you have three minutes. Please state your name, your municipality when you come forward. And once again, I will do my best to stop you at three minutes, please. Um, motion open to the public. Second.

All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. Um Dorene Fraga, Saddlebrook, New Jersey. I'm with Animal Protection League of New Jersey. And it was brought to our attention that 20 geese um were rounded up last year on the city property during the mold period when geese are flightless. Someone granted permission to the USDA to access the city's property to round up the geese and lethally kill them by gassing them. Our wildlife mitigation team met with Fred from DPW. We passed a packet of information. He was supposed to speak with I'm not sure maybe the mayor and the council members and he was going to um address the situation. We had recently met with him not too long ago and he said that the burrow administrator had signed off on the USDA contract and so they're going to kill the geese again this year by actually putting putting them into a gas chamber and gassing them to death. So, you know, we were asking if you could cancel the USDA contract, work with us on non-lethal solutions. There are a whole bunch of non-lethal solutions that work and we have, you know, used them in Elwood Park. We used them in Garfield and just recently Grand Manor Condominiums, they canled the USDA. They were also part of this. Um, I do have the reports. They were part of this last year and I just found out on Saturday that they canled the USDA. So, we're actually hoping that the city of Hackinac would do the same and work with us. and it's of no cost to you. And this was the report, the foyer report where Hackinack, the amount of geese that were killed and Grand Manor, the amount that they killed last year that are no longer being killed because they canceled the USDA. And all it would take is a phone call to Aaron who is the state director

of the USDA and then just tell them that you don't want the geese, you know, killed and you don't want access to their property, to your property. And I also have the letter that Grand Manor had sent to the USDA and the response back from the USDA where they are not going to kill the geese. So, and I think she

uh Valerie Divine uh Mars County uh continuation here. Our wildlife mitigation team specializes in working with mu municipalities, lake communities, corporations, and developers. We have enclosed a list of non-lethal methods in this packet along with the Bergen County ordinance passed by the Bergen County Commissioners stopping all lethal roundups with the USDA in all Bergen County parks and municipal lands. We hope the city of Hackinack will cancel the USDA and their lethal roundups. please and work with our team on non-lethal alternatives. Thank you for your time and allowing me to speak tonight.

Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. If you can leave that information with the clerk, please. And that data that you have that's from last from 2025. Yeah, because the US the foyer reports um the freedom of information act they're always like a year behind since 2026 didn't happen yet. It happens. Um, the geese lose their flight feathers at the end of May and they're and they're in complete malt in June. So, they can't fly. So, they're able to be rounded up. The USDA comes in. They do it one day during that mol period. The malt period will go from say the Father's Day week all the way into probably the first week of July, maybe the second week of July.

I don't want to cut you off. I'm sorry. There are people waiting behind you, but I just wanted to But we have the info. And also I just want to make sure that um that everything that's included in there. But yes, is there someone that I can follow up with? So what I'm going to do is if you stick around to the end of the meeting, I'm going to refer you to uh Tom Freeman, our city manager, to give your information and take his information and then we can you can leers with him. He'll get back to you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Sergey Toys Sto. I'd like to have a five second moment of silence for the two individuals killed in the Bronx fire today. I'd like to commend the uh city council and Red Cross for doing their due diligence and implementing a free fire detector program in the city of Hackinat. something that every municipality should be doing. Senseless debts are happening and we need to stop it. Uh it was like four years ago that I stood before the previous council who ran on a record of of election of building a brighter future for all residents. It was an employee of a medical company, a former employee of a home comfort equipment maker, a teacher, and a youth coach, and a homemaker that they worked to establish a cannabis zone in Hackinack, except in lie of taxes payments, provide minimum government support, during tropical storm Ida and start and push a coal indifferent of clustered living environments. So I say today, whereas New Jersey state statutes 40.48-2 48-2 authorizes a municipality in New Jersey to make an amend and

repeal and enforce ordinances as it may deem necessary and proper for the good government, order and protection of persons and property and for the preservation of public health, safety and welfare. of the municipality and its inhabitants. So section 31 of the cream act has what we call a five-year reconsideration window which at the end of August 2026 would be make it become necessary that every 5 years thereafter municipalities have a new 180day period to pass an ordinance prohibiting one or more classes of the cali cannabis establishments. It was the previous council and their narrative of vices upon the city of Hackasac, New Jersey, the county seat of Bergen County to implement chaos into the lives of users of such and the children, the families, and the community. We need to

Mr. Tulsa, I'm just going to ask you. We need to only ask the relatives, the social workers and the Hackinack PD and the area hospital group hospital workers of the courage that is needed by this present council to correct this injustice. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm Rich Serbo, Spring Valley Avenue, and uh the traffic continues unabated. It's ridiculous on that road. Okay, just if somebody would come and spend the day there, you could sit on my porch, okay? Spend the day about uh looking over what's going on. The buses are just incredibly disturbing. Okay, they're speeding. They're huge. They're too heavy for that road, by the way. Uh that was previously posted. I mean, a generation ago, they posted that road for nothing over what is it? Four tons. Those buses are too heavy for those for that road. Okay. And and when they go by and they speed by, they shake every glass on the shelves in my house. So, it's like it's insane. Okay, just a couple of things. Um, education. Okay, we we were um talking about it the other day and I think Jersey has reached the lowest point this this coming uh uh this this recent year and it's gone below uh states like Mississippi and Alabama which were traditionally always lower than we were but we spend the most money here on education and we're not getting our money's worth. Okay. Same thing with taxes. We spend the most here on freaking taxes, but we don't we don't get what anything. What do we get? What are we getting for what we pay for? And that's the uh the gist of my thought tonight is why can't we start getting

our money's worth? We're paying so much for so little. Okay. And people are are getting generously paid. uh they're getting generous benefits and I think it's time to uh question that. All right. Let's let's question taxes. Let's question education because we pay for that too. The education we're not getting our money's worth. We pay and you would know more about that than I do, Mr. Gaines, that we're not getting our money's worth from uh spending so much on everything. So, uh let's cut back. Let's let's not spend so much. Let's spend less. Uh government costs too much. Okay. Thank you. I'm back again. Fred Miller. But uh I wanted to say thank you to these two ladies. I didn't know about the USDA roundup, but as an animal lover, uh, I would support non-lethal means as a resident. So, I would ask you to take them seriously and consider what they have to say. And piggybacking off of that, maybe working with Bergen County Animal Control, taking a walk behind the houses on Kohl's, which uh you go through Lakewood, you could walk behind and get to Sty Park that way. Uh, along the river, there is no shortage of housing and residents feeding feral cats. So maybe getting them to look at um non-lethal but maybe sterilization so that they're not repopulating as crazy as they are. It's worth a look back there.

Thank you. Thank you. And Berg County does not do um the geese control anymore.

Good evening. Marty Smith, Prospect Avenue. I'm a member of the condo co-op advisory board's traffic safety committee. Mayor, can you tell me if the council has reached a decision on the recommendation that we made to enact a traffic safety ordinance that would make it illegal for a pedestrian to talk or text on a cell phone while crossing a street? Many communities throughout the country have already done this with very positive results and seeing reductions in their pedestrian accidents.

I pro I promise you I will give you an answer. But can you can you finish up your comment? But I promise I'll give you an answer unless that's it. You haven't come to a decision yet. That's not what I'm I will I'll answer I'll answer your question, but I just want to make sure that you use your time.

Okay. Thank you. Uh second item, Mr. Freeman, can you tell me if your office has been in contact with Bergen County traffic in the suggestion that we made to you concerning the elimination of the merge points on Summit Avenue at Essex Street for northbound traffic and also at Polifly Road and Essex Street for northbound traffic where there are merge points on the north side of Essex Street with a reconfiguration of the traffic lanes that are available.

I did not talk to the county yet. We're still talking internally, but I do recognize your concern and I agree with your concern. So, we will be following up on it.

Okay. Um, the next thing I'd like to visit is the thing we brought up several years ago to the previous council and that was reducing the speed limit on Summit Avenue between Spring Valley and Pose. In 2024, there was a survey done by the Bergen County Sheriff's Department for a week's period of time in which they surveyed 88,000 vehicles traveling that section of Summit Avenue. The posted speed limit is 35 m an hour and the average speed of all vehicles surveyed was 38 m an hour. That speed is too fast for a residential street. The intersections between Poseek and Spring Valley Avenue. Of the nine intersections, seven of them have no crosswalks. All seven happen to be T intersections. The only two with crosswalks are through intersections at Anderson Street and one street further north. The other thing I'd like to bring up, if I have any time left,

you have about uh 20 seconds left, so go. You can try it. Go. Not enough time. No. Okay. Okay. All right. Mr. Smith, thank you. Thank you. But I will, if you have a seat, I promise you will get an answer. I promise you will get an answer. But I'm going to call up um once public comments are done. Okay. Thanks. Hello. Hello.

Gerald Francis Jr., 268 First Street. Um, I'm not complaining about anything. Uh, I just wanted to let you guys know that um I've I've had the privilege of uh cuz I do Uber. So, um, when I do Uber around town, um, I always ask the people I pick up in Hackinack, um, who are not from here, um, because obviously, um, we know, we all know that the city has swelled a lot. We have a lot of people from New York moving over here and, you know, things of that nature. But every time they come in my car, um, the first question I ask them is, um, where are you from? And they tell me where they're from. And then I asked him, "So, what do you think about Hackasack? How do you feel about Hackasack?" I get the same answer all the time. It's quiet and it's safe. And that kind of makes me feel good because I mean I I feel like even though the city is swelling, we we had incident incences incidences that that have hap um happened um weeks ago and stuff like that. Um but I really feel like that can happen anywhere, right? Um, not not to throw any shade on that because I'm not throwing shade on that at all because that's very serious. Um, but to have people that that that that come into your city, into our city, um, who are who are not from here and they they they uh, you know, just feel very um, um, homely and, you know, they feel very welcomed. Um, I think that's a good thing. But I really feel like us that are from here because I'm born and raised here. Um, and I know several, you know, of of you that's up here are from Hackinack and um, I just really feel like we need to kind of share the love a little bit. I was one that was complaining about a lot of things around Hackinack. I kind of try, you know, change the tide within myself to actually just kind of just welcome

certain things. um like the the the the downtown main street. Um maybe it's not the best downtown, you know, because everybody has their own opinion, but I kind of find it, you know, very, you know, nice. It's cool, you know, it's good eeries, good restaurants, small businesses. You should support, you know, you live here, this, you know, let's get out there and, you know, get a get a good bite to eat. There's good places out there. Um, and if you want to follow me on Hackasack Talks, follow me on Hackinack Talks. I do food reviews. I do a lot of things, but um, I just wanted to share with you guys the good side of um, you know, things that's going on in Hackin Sack because there are there are a lot of good things that's happening and I think we all need to acknowledge that and be grateful for that. So, that's all.

Before you leave yourself a little bit of time, quick question, rapid fire. If you were going to recommend one place to get a bite to eat on Main Street, what's the place? Your time's expiring, so you got to go. Paul is not Oh, I'm on TV, right? Damn. I can't say like that. All right, that's it. But no, I I would I would tell you. I would tell you. I would tell you. Um and I I I was just there um two weeks ago. It's called Guac Time. Oh, yeah. Delicious. That place is fire. Delicious. Good. All right. Thank you. All right. Anyone else from the public?

That's true. They didn't sponsor the meeting. It's a good meal there. Gu time. All right. Motion to close the public. I offer. Second. All in favor? I I. Any oppose? Any abstensions? I have to apologize. I missed the city manager's report. I was so excited by the budget that I missed the city manager report on the agenda. So, before we go, I'm going to give you an opportunity. Sorry about that, Tom.

That's that's perfectly fine. And I really didn't want to follow up Jim's act anyway. So, um, and I I have just a couple of quick things. Uh, just an FYI, this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. we have opening day for Hackinack baseball and softball down at Fashini Park. It's always a great day and uh, kids are looking forward to it and uh, please show your support if you can. Um, another item is our rent stabilization board uh, is in need of some members. Um, if you go on the website, you'll see the application for membership. There's different levels of membership that that are uh needed, but if you are interested, please uh go on the site and uh submit an application. And lastly, I did want to just acknowledge, although I know there's going to be something coming further, the uh Johnson Public Library uh they received the 2026 Historic Preservation Award from the county. It was quite an undertaking. They actually took manh hours, I don't know how many, but they took all of the newspapers spanning 1858 to 1938, such as the Hackinack Republican, the Bergen County Democrat, and the Bergen Index, and they scanned them all, digitized them all, and they're now all searchable and printable and preserved for future generations. So, that was quite a task that they undertook, and it was great of the county to recognize them for that, and they do a great job of the library, as I'm sure all of you will agree. Um, and lastly, uh, part of this, the commitment of this administration was to address resident parking concerns in the city. And just a quick update on that, we do have a new traffic enforcement officer that works midnights now, the overnight shift. And it's, uh, proven to be very, very productive uh, as far as policing illegal parking uh, in the overnight. So, that's that was a really nice positive to hear. That's all.

Thank you, Tom. And before we go, I'm going to ask for Captain Weber to come forward just to address some of the traffic concerns that were raised um this evening.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening, Mr. Smith. I I spoke to you on the phone before and I know you spoke to Lieutenant Capidana from my my bureau. Uh as far as um as far as the summit, we did get another study from the from the county. It's on and it's under review. The new study was done in the beginning of April. So, that's under review. We'll get back to you with that. Um, as far as the uh the the comments about talking to the county, I did speak to the county if you I could I can speak on that if you'd like.

Um, so with the uh the county suggested, well, I told him about I told him about your concerns about the um the merge on Summit. Basically heading north on Summit just uh south of Essex Street. you're concerned about how uh one lane goes left and two lanes go straight and there's a merge on the other side of the thing that they don't think that they they believe that that should stay the way it is because there's such a backlog of traffic as it is with the with the two lanes going north that they think that creating just one lane going north that would create a more of a more of a traffic jam. But they did say that they're going to install a merge sign to to let people know that there's a merge up ahead. So, that's one thing they they did say they're going to do. Um, the the one on Palifly. Um, I they I told them about that. I believe that that left lane that left lane is probably used the most on headingly north south of Essex Street. That left lane going on to Essex Street. They're going to look into that because I I believe that that was a good suggestion that that left lane should be a left turn only lane and one lane should be going north on uh uh First Street and then the right lane to East Essex Street. they they were going to look into that further and they get back get back to us. Um and as far as the um the distracted walking type concerns, uh we all know that that's an issue that people, you know, look down on their cell phones and don't pay attention. I think us as well as other police departments in in Bern County and New Jersey uh mainly feel like we we we feel like we want to target more the sector drivers because even even if somebody is looking at their phone and they're in the crosswalk, they still have the right away over the over the cars. So, we believe that and we are we have been uh we we do get a weekly uh safety bulletin from the division of highway traffic safety and we put that out in our social media every week and uh it does it does uh some of them have uh talked about distracted walking and and and pedestrians. Um so we believe it's more of a we want to take more of an education campaign against for

pedestrians and let them and kind of keep them aware about what about that concern about distracted walking. Um but we are in May and I think they just that was part of the um the um one of the things that passed was that we got a grant for uh pedestrian grant pedestrian safety grant in May and June. So we'll be out there enforcing uh vehicles crossing through the the the pedestrian the crosswalks as well as jaywalking and and and pedestrian concerns. So we are getting a grant to do that. Um so yeah I think that's I think that covers it. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that. All right. Um, Deputy Mayor.

Okay.

Okay then. Good evening everyone and thank you for coming out and I'd like to thank everyone for their presentations tonight. And um I'd like to say and I'd like to be clear that we would like nothing better than nothing more than to dwell on the past or repeatedly point to prior administrations. However, um there are things that come up like tonight's budget presentation by Mr. Mangan and thank you Mr. Mangan for the uh for the uh extensive explanation on things. And I still I'm a I'm still a little perplexed on some of the um ways that our city was run uh by the prior administration. There I said it. Um I sorry

you lasted 90 seconds. So with that being said, we are in our first year and we're almost coming to full circle July 1st and we've come upon a a bunch of um um stepping stones, some bigger than others. Um but our focus is on addressing the challenges that come in front of us as they arise. Hopefully, they'll start getting less and less because, like I said, we're coming full circle and we've we've met up with everything that happens during the year, including our first budget. So, this is our first budget. Not happy about it much, but we're managing as responsibly as we possibly can. We're trying to be as um clear to everyone as we possibly can. Um Given the circumstances that we've inherited, I said it again. We understand the concerns that have been raised. These concerns we share. We live here, too. We own homes here, too. And we are directly impacted by the same tax burdens as every resident in this community. So, we hear you, and we're as frustrated as you are. Um, but once again, we're committed to correcting these issues and ensuring stronger oversight moving forward. Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work through these challenging circumstances together. Again, thank you for coming out and have a good evening.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, Councilwoman.

Again, I want to invite you to the recreation uh meeting. um well the recreation board meeting that will be held on May 6 at 6 o'clock. Uh please come out and uh invite your friends and again we can have that discussion about the uh splash pad. Um and of course if the majority feels that it should not be part of Baldwin Park then majority rules. Um, I also wanted to say that I believe in I love geese and I also believe in non-lethal ways. So, you have my full support there. Um, I wanted to address the comment of tell it like it is. Well, I just wanted to say that it's really easy to come up and make comments and things don't always work as you think they do. It's not always black and white, so to speak. Uh there's a lot more involved in processes than you know. Um I'll give you an example. I have people a lot of times say to me, "Oh, there's still more buildings going up. I thought we were past that. Why are there still more buildings being built? Well, it things that have passed that were passed cannot just be undone for legal reasons because if you tried to do that, then we'd be in major lawsuits. So my point is is that you you got to be patient. You you have to be patient. We hear you. We hear what you're saying. And we're trying our best to work on a lot of

things uh to correct a lot of things um that was previously done or wasn't done. So, I also like to commend Gerald uh for coming out and saying something positive because it's nice to hear something positive every now and then other than complaints, complaints, and negativity. And I have to tell you, the years that the past administration was there, I did not see as many people as I see now. and I was part of the work group and we used to always come out and sit at these at the meetings and there were hardly ever anybody there. So I am happy to see you. I am happy to see more more and more people getting involved but just remember be patient. Thank you

Councilman.

I'll keep it short. Um Mr. Banging. Thank you for that report. Um, again, we could only make it better. You have to remember also, uh, there were pilot programs before us. Um, we came in, we immediately put a stop to them. um a temporary hold I should say not stopped because they had contracts and we had to go through them and make sure that know what they were about. So um we did do that. Um I don't think there's anything in front of us at this point right um since we've been as far as a building project. I think we have enough. So, the next project hopefully is B uh Baldwin Park. Now, thank you for coming out.

That's all. Thank you. Hey, mayor. Thank you. Hi, Councilman. How are you? Go ahead.

H good evening. Um thank you. Thank you all for being here tonight and and engaged in this uh great discussion about the budget. Uh thank you Mr. Mangin for your presentation. I think uh if there is one thing that I like about this budget is the fact that you were able to probably clarify to to some of the audience and and all of us about why this budget. Okay. So, thank you again. Uh we tackle some tough topics and though our perspective on the how may defer, I know our hearts are all in the same place. Working for the good of the community. We realize increases are difficult to hear, but at times they are unavoidable. I want to reassure that this council is dedicated to doing the work required to get us where we need to be. We hear your concerns and we ask for you by for your patience as these solutions take shape. So, let's turn tonight's uh energy into prog into progress. There is plenty of work to do, but I truly believe that we are on the right path. So, thank you again for being here and have a good one.

Thank you. So, if you are one of those people like I used to be who just skipped a lot of the meeting and went to the council comments to see what people have to say, I'm going to encourage you to go back and watch the budget presentation. But the key takeaway is that this is a budget that is based on the 2025 spend. And the takeaway that I have is that facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. That's a quote from Aldis Huxley. As I trust Mr. Serbo in the audience knows, he's talking about literature and education quite often. So, I hope that you caught that one. But you can't just turn a blind eye to issues and will them away. Facts are pesky things. They don't care so much about whether it's an election year. They don't care about how much money you spend on your campaign literature. They don't care about all those sorts of things because facts have a way of as someone I know likes to say all knots eventually come to the comb and now we are at the comb and the deputy mayor mentioned that she is frustrated. I I will tell you what I am frustrated by. I'm frustrated that in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, there were clear signs that we were trending in the wrong direction economically. I am frustrated that for all of those years, all that we heard was that everything was going great in the city

of Hackinack. And that as I watched rusted out garbage trucks and plows go down my street, and I got quarterly mailers of luxury buildings that I can never go in. that we were told that the financial situation in the city of Hackinack was great. That's what I'm frustrated by. I'm not frustrated by this budget because we're being responsible in doing what should have been done. I'm frustrated that we were sold a bag of goods for a long time and now we have this spike that is a thing that we should be trying to avoid all along. And when I say we, I don't mean the five of us. We I mean we the city, the previous folks that were sitting here that like to condescend and school everyone about how we were all wrong to see what we were seeing when this is the reality now and it was always the reality. That's what I'm frustrated by. And so this budget and I have full faith and confidence in the people that are sitting here in our ability to ask questions of our professionals, of our employees to make sure that we do our diligence and that we are honest and that we communicate with you as we have done since We've been sworn in in good times and in bad times. We have sent out some messages to say we can do better. And we have sent out some messages to

say we think we're doing okay. Today I'm going to say very clearly they should have done better. They should have done better regarding seniors who would like to freeze their tax contributions. Um there is a program through the state NJ I believe. So you can go on to the state website

senior freeze and you can freeze that. Um, and for anyone who is out there who is not a senior who's thinking, "Now my taxes are going to go up." The state covers the cost. So the municipality still gets their taxes. The state covers it. So if you are a senior and you are saying, "Why am I paying taxes for this?" I want to freeze. Then freeze if you haven't done that. And that's not just for the folks who spoke. That's for that's for everyone. Um, but I just want to make that clear as well. I think I'm going to I think I'm going to end it there. Um I'm going to say thank you to everyone for coming out again. We appreciate your engagement. It is important. This is our city. We are five people up here for you, but there are 47,000 of us. So, thank you for speaking. And with that, I'm going to ask for a motion to adjurnn.

Second. All in favor? I I. Any oppose? Any abstensions? Thank you.