Council - Regular Meeting

That's why I figured you were the hold up.

you know retired cops they're just like us so all right okay here we go we're not rolling right Frank all right great all right so here we go all right Frank we're good calling this meeting of the Hackensack City Council to order it is Tuesday July 28th 2026 is 5 32 p.m if you can read the notice please

This meeting is being held in accordance with the Open Public Meeting Act, NJSA 10-4-6 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 Toomey.

Here.

Councilman Carroll. Councilwoman Clark-Collins.

Here.

Councilman Diaz. Here. We have a quorum.

Thank you. If everyone can please rise to the flag salute. 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 okay if I can have a motion to approve the minutes of the July 14th 2026 council meeting I'll offer second All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Okay, I'm going to ask for a motion for a resolution to go into executive session to discuss ongoing litigation, matters involving attorney-client privilege, matters involving the purchase, lease, or acquisition of real property, and or any pending or anticipated litigation or contract negotiations. Can I have a motion, please?

I'll offer.

Second. Okay, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Okay, we will aim to return by 6.30.

Thank you. Coming soon to Hackensack.

We will be perfect.

Can't do it. I'm not good enough.

I'm a baseball player now. You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You fumble the football, you will run a mile.

Perfection. This summer, champions rise under the stars. Let's go to work. From the slam-dunk action of Space Jam to the emotional journey of Inside Out 2, the inspiring story of Remember the Titans, and the ultimate underdog story, Rocky, don't miss Movies Under the Stars at Atlantic Street Park.

Join us for sunset yoga.

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Coming soon to Hackensack.

We will be perfect. Can't do it.

I'm not good enough.

I'm a baseball player now. You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You fumble the football, you will run a mile.

Perfection. This summer, champions rise under the stars. Let's go to work. From the slam dunk action of Space Jam, to the emotional journey of Inside Out 2, the inspiring story of Remember the Titans, and the ultimate underdog story, Rocky. Don't miss movies under the stars at Atlantic Street Park.

Join us for sunset yoga.

Have you signed up for our Nixle alerts yet? Nixle 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 07601 to 888777. That's 07601 to 888777. Don't wait. Sign up for Nixle Alerts today and stay connected to what's happening in Hackensack.

Stay informed and connected with everything happening in the City of Hackensack by subscribing to the Hackensack 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 at hackensack.org.

All right, thank you for your patience. We are out of executive session. We are going to start the public portion of today's meeting with some proclamations or some acknowledgments of our 4th of July sponsors. So let me go down and award these. We would have done this at the 4th of July, but we were rained out a little bit.

Frank, this works, yes?

Great, all right. Okay, so I don't know if anyone's here to receive these, but just in case I will acknowledge. So we have a acknowledgement of Incera Supermarkets Incorporated with sincere appreciation for your generous support of our community and our 4th of July celebration. Eastwood College with sincere appreciation for your generous support of our community and our 4th of July celebration. Remington and Vernick Engineers, with sincere appreciation for your generous support of our community and our 4th of July celebration. Hackensack Meridian, Hackensack University Medical Center, with sincere appreciation for your generous support of our community and our 4th of July celebration. And our gold sponsor for this year was Boswell Engineering, with sincere appreciation for your generous support of our community and our 4th of July fireworks celebration. And we'll make sure that they get these. Thank you. Okay, with that, we're going to move on to our city manager's report.

Okay, good evening. Just a couple follow ups from last meeting. These were some resident concerns. Excuse me, sir. um marty smith advised that the uh pedestrian crossing light at prospect and golf was out of service and i followed up with traffic this afternoon and i didn't check my emails to see if the final report was on that but i hadn't gotten it back prior to the meeting but i will check and get back to you on that mr smith mr smith also asked for confirmation that we contacted bergen county about the merged pinpoints at Polifly and Essex and Prospect and Passaic. And I can report that the police department Police Department said that they did speak with Nancy Darvis from the County Engineering Department. She was contacted shortly after Mr. Smith's complaints about Palafly Road. They followed up in April, again in June. In our last follow-up, the county stated that we are seventh in line for a study. HPD reached back and asked if we could use our own new equipment that we have to do the study and provide them the information. But she said that the county needs to do the study, and it is slated for the fall. as far as per se can prospect they're putting that on their list as well to do a study and some community updates bear with me I'm sorry uh once again just a reminder we have extended summer hours on tuesday evenings customer facing departments stay open until 6 p.m every tuesday in july and august recreation special weather updates unfortunately due to heavy rain and thunderstorms expected tomorrow all campsites summer campsites except carver and theater will be relocated to the rec center also the splashdown park trip for 729 has been rescheduled for 731. parents have been notified via email flyers nixel social media the city website and direct outreach tuesday's summer concerts on the green tonight's concert featuring last child has been relocated into the side to the hack pack and the uh shakespeare in the park for tomorrow night uh we're going to keep an eye on the weather and we'll let everyone know it'll be posted whether we move that inside as well That's all I have for report.

Thank you. At this point, I'm going to ask for a motion to open up to the public on agenda items only. Just to remind everyone, if you are commenting during this period, you have three minutes. Anything that's on the agenda, you can voice a comment on. please just let us know your name, your municipality, which agenda item you are referring to, or you will be commenting on. Direct your comments to me, and please limit your comments to three minutes. I will keep time for you, and as we get to the three minute mark, I will ask you to bring your point to a close, and I just ask that you do that swiftly. The agenda is online as well, so if you, there's a physical copy. And there's also a second public comment as well. So if there's a public comment on something that isn't on the agenda and you just want to raise a comment, that'll be, I anticipate, in about 15 minutes. Well, hold on one second. It's actually, it's... taxes is not generally on the agenda so that would be at the general public comment portion okay so that's later on yes just a little bit just a little bit okay so with that can i have a motion to open to the public i'll offer all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions okay anyone from the public wishing to speak on an agenda item only Seeing none, motion to close to the public.

I'll offer. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? OK. All right. So we have two ordinances for second reading. Resolution 215-26.

Resolution 215-26 is the final adoption of ordinance 13-2026, an ordinance to amend chapter 36, recreation, department of. This ordinance has been published according to law and now calls for a public hearing.

Thank you. Can I have a motion to open to the public on resolution 215-26? I'll offer.

I'll second.

All in favor? Aye. Anyone from the public wishing to speak on Resolution 215-26 and 215-26 only? Seeing none, motion to close to the public.

I'll offer.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Okay. Can I have a motion to adopt Resolution 215-26?

I'll make a motion. Second.

Roll call, please.

Deputy Mayor Toomey.

Yes.

Council Member Clark Collins. Yes. Council Member Diaz. Yes. Mayor Gaines.

Yes.

Be resolved by the City Council, the City of Hackensack, County of Bergen, and State of New Jersey that Ordinance Number 13-2026 has passed its second and final reading and is hereby adopted.

Thank you. Resolution 216-26.

Resolution 216-26 is the final adoption of Ordinance 14-2026, an ordinance to amend Chapter 109, Littering, Article 1, General Provisions. This ordinance has been published according to law and now calls for a public hearing.

Thank you. Can I have a motion to open to the public on Resolution 216-26? I'll offer. Secretary? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Anyone from the public wishing to speak on resolution 216-26? Seeing none, motion to close to the public on 216-26.

I'll offer.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion to adopt resolution 216-26.

I'll offer.

Roll call, please.

Deputy Mayor Toomey.

Yes.

Councilman Clark Collins.

Abstain.

Councilman Diaz.

Yes.

Mayor Gaines. Yes. Be resolved by the City Council of the City of Hackensack, County of Bergen, and State of New Jersey that Ordinance Number 14-2026 has passed its second and final reading and is hereby adopted.

Thank you. OK. Resolution 217-26.

Resolution 217-2026 is the introduction of ordinance number 25-2026, an ordinance to amend chapter 170 of the Code of the City of Hackensack vehicles and traffic to add a new handicapped parking space in section 49.2, parking for the handicapped.

Thank you. Motion to adopt resolution 217-26.

I'll offer. Second.

All in favor? I'm sorry. Roll call, please. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Toomey?

Yes.

Councilman Clark Collins? Yes. Councilman Diaz? Yes. Mayor Gaines? Yes. Be it resolved that the above ordinance, being ordinance 15-2026, 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 August 11, 2026, at 5.30 PM, 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 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. 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 218-26, resolution authorizing payment of bills. Resolution 219-26, resolution authorizing 100% veteran tax deduction for 19 Jefferson Street, apartment C7. Resolution 220-26, resolution authorizing Lawsoft Incorporated for annual maintenance and support for the police department computer system. resolution 221-26 resolution requesting a resolution requesting approval of items of revenue and appropriation njsa 40a colon 4-87 recycling tonnage grant resolution 222-26 resolution correcting resolution 500-25 transfer of 2025 budget appropriations resolution 223-26 resolution of intent to award contract under a national cooperative purchasing agreement to purchase used pickup trucks with plows resolution 224-26 resolution authorizing the release of escrow funds for 211 essex street resolution 225-26 resolution authorizing the release of escrow funds for 375 route 17 and finally resolution 226-26 resolution authorizing a word of contract to TMT and M Associates for preparation of a community energy plan for the city of Hackensack thank you hey can I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda I'll offer roll call please deputy mayor Toomey

Yes.

Councilman Clark Collins.

Yes.

Councilman Diaz. Yes. Mayor Gaines. Yes. The consent agenda passes.

Thank you. All right, so we are up to our second final public comment. This is the general orders public comment, if you will. So once again, if you can state your name, your municipality when you come up, please direct your comments to me. Please limit your comments to three minutes as you start to come to a conclusion of three minutes. um i will ask you to bring your point to a close and i just ask that you please do that oh yes i will i just ask that you do that okay can i have a motion to open to the public i'll offer i'll second okay all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions okay thank you

good evening everyone good evening council members deputy acting deputy city clerk my name is marlene somerville i am a resident of hackensack and i am here not as a resident but in my capacity as the chairperson for the environmental commission and green team and also the chairperson for tanic so just to give a few updates on What has been going on with the different committees? So for tanic we had our meeting on April the 15th and the outcome of the meeting is as follows, right? We have our letter that we sent into the FAA for updating in our quality of life issues to utilize the different runways so On January the first, let me see this, I was not reading glasses. On January the 22nd of 2026, runway number one procedure was published. So runway number one is the runway that we use for arrivals. There was a procedure to get them to, instead of coming over Hackensack Hospital over to schools, to take the Route 17, come over water, and then make a straight landing into Teterboro Airport. That was adopted. It was, I think, at 4% usage for the time being. And again, at this point, nothing beats a failure but a try. So it's hopeful that they will continue with the effort of getting the pilots and the airlines to use the runway to come in. So that is in progress. As the data comes in from the usage, we'll communicate that back. But so far, it is. It is being utilized to the extent that it is. The second portion of that was to do some updates to policy and procedures. One of them was a gentleman's agreement that between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., they would not have flights that come in unless those flights were considered emergency or necessary. Now, under FAA rules and regulations, you cannot forbid a flight from coming in at a specific time, right? There is no rules that any municipality or we can do to forbid that. But you can do ask them. So one of the things that we had discussed with them was to incentivize the pilots and the companies to not come in during that period, right? Because everybody's complaining about the coming in every 60 seconds, you know, 4 a.m. in the morning, the vibrations, keeping people up and not being able to sleep. So we created a points program along with Teterboro Airport Authority, and you get a loaded 15 points. You lose points if you're coming in, if one of the company comes in en masse in those periods of time, but you can reduce and get those points back if you follow the gentleman's agreement, right? And the hope is that more of them will utilize that, and at the end, there is some sort of incentive. You may get a decrease on your fees that you pay for parking the jets or whatever it is that Teterboro Airport is gonna work out. So that's what they did. There will be some updates to the tower at Teterboro Airport. they are looking to move to Philadelphia for one of the towers. So there is some construction work going on. And then the last part of it was when I met with the city manager and the acting city clerk around them wanting to do an expansion at Teterboro Airport. So they were looking for roughly about 20 to 22 acres to fill that in. There was a small advisory period where there was some conversation between the FAA asking the communities to come in and give their feedback on it, right? At the end of the day, we, for TANEC, and the members of all the municipalities that sit on the board, said that was not enough time. Just having one session for people to come in, one en masse, and have that conversation didn't exactly give the breadth of what people were struggling with on their day-to-day. So we talked to Sherry Frost, the manager of Teterboro Airport, and we're looking for them to see if they can have another advisory period for people to come in and make that comment. In the interim, the FAA did send out a general waiver asking for the municipalities to select one of their chairs to join a secondary panel to go over their quality of life issues. So I think I sent that letter over to you guys and to Allison. If we can kind of keep our eye, because the drop dead date to get it to them is like by the 8th, and we would like for Hackensack to have a seat at the table, right, to be able to push those quality of life issues. and be able to put our voice into it. One of the things we're worried about with them filling in is we have native species that are there. What happens to those native species when you actually fill in, right? If there is, we talk about...

Sorry, Ms. Somerville. I'm just, we're... No, it's okay. If you can wrap up, though. I know, I'm sorry.

I prefer this to give you guys a whole presentation. So just to talk about just that whole thing about when you fill it in, where does that go, right? Where does any native species, where do plant pollinators, all of that stuff, where do they go, where do they transfer to? And then you're extending the runway, there's heavier jets, more fuel in that small compressed area. What are the risks and the consequences of that? and then for the environmental commission really quickly we just want to say congratulations to those guys on the hackensack school on the certification that they got silver for the um safe streets program so we attended the bergen hub last night and they handed over the certification there is silver for the schools and the city so that's wonderful it helps us with our sustainability efforts and it also allow us to apply for the New Jersey State Safe Routes grant funding. And the last part is congratulations to the HEC. They actually submitted for a grant from PSE&G, right, for second stories about our rain gardens that we have done all over Hackensack. So we actually made it past the first part. We're into phase two where we may have to reach out to the mayor and the council because they're asking us to get a small little video presentation from you guys about you know what are the benefits of the rain garden so again congratulations to those guys on the certification and for submitting the getting to phase two of the award thank you all right thank you

Good evening, Reverend Caroline Davis Hackensack. I just have a few things to say tonight. First of all, all I wanna say is thank you. I wanna thank this mayor and this council and all the administrators for all the work you have been doing in this past year. You've created a climate where even those who may not agree with you can come up and speak their disagreements without feeling isolated, without feeling that their comments are not accepted, feeling free to even speak when they do disagree. I want to thank you for being the one council, one city that stepped up to help its school system when no other city did that. We were not the only city that had problems with the budget of the school. So I thank you for that. I want to thank you because of you and the council The environment you have you know, I can call I think many people other can say the same thing I spoke today with our city manager who is busy busy, but he made sure he got back to me on a question that I had Captain Antista in the police department when I call him I have a question I can get an answer and I'm very proud of Seeing where our police department I follow it. I'm not always here but where a young man, I think it was a young man, that was in a mental crisis, and they're able to talk down that young man. That is especially dear to my heart as a minister, as a nurse, and as one of the people in the work group who fought years ago to make sure that our city got tasers. Because I remember when those two young Hispanic men were killed. So I just want to thank you. I don't think you hear that enough, but thank you. And thank you for getting money back from some of these developers who owe the city and the citizens in this community their taxes back. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening.

My name is David Caulfield. I'm a lifelong resident of Hackensack. I live on Fairmount Avenue. And to receive this tax bill, I don't think was anybody's view of a beautiful summer gift. Fifteen percent increase for this first bill in August versus last year. I appreciate the letter that was sent out. What it doesn't include, though, is any talk about austerity within The city within the schools within staffing. Most times when you have a huge budget shortfall. All things are being considered. I didn't see anything about those types of things. We have far too many in my opinion administrators and ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS, PRINCIPALS, AND OTHERS IN OUR SCHOOLS. AND QUITE FRANKLY THE TAXES IN HACKENSACK ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE UNSUSTAINABLE FOR MOST PEOPLE. AND A 15% INCREASE DOESN'T HELP. SO I'D LIKE TO HEAR FROM THE COUNCIL. what other things are being considered. One of the worst things you can do as a council, I mean, it's almost cliche that the former administration is blamed for all the problems of the world, so to speak. And that doesn't solve the problems of all of us as taxpayers. So I'm wondering if all of these so-called corporate giveaways, et cetera, cannot be rescinded, how else we can find the money as opposed to just dragging it out of the pockets of regular taxpayers like myself so that's really all I want to say. But you know it's it's very difficult, especially for people many people in in Hackensack or nearing retirement and they'd like to stay here but with these types of tax increases. It's going to be very difficult for people to stick around here. Thank you. Thank you.

I think we have run out of public anyone else in the public. All right motion to close the public a lot for. All in favor aye any opposed any abstentions. I'm going to give the city manager the ball if he wants it otherwise we'll go right into Council comments.

No, I have nothing to follow up with right now. Thank you.

All right, the mayor.

Yes, good evening to everyone. Don't have much to say, but before we adjourn, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on what we've accomplished tonight. We recognize the community sponsors who helped make our Fourth of July celebration a success. Events like this like these remind us that Hackensack's greatest strength is the partnership between our residents, businesses, civic organizations and local government. We appreciate everyone who contributes to making our city a vibrant place to live. I would also like to thank at this time our city manager acting city clerk department heads municipal employees professionals. The work we do here each meeting is made possible by the preparation and dedication of so many people behind the scenes. Finally thank you to everyone who attended not many tonight due to the weather I suppose and and who participated in public comment. Local government works best when residents stay engaged so at this point I would like to say. As we move forward, I hope to continue to approach every issue with respect transparency and a shared commitment to what is best for all who call hackensack home. Thank you all have a safe evening and we'll see you at our next Council meeting.

I just want to share with you that I had bought for the idea of bringing the MVC mobile unit to Hackensack so residents could conveniently obtain their real ID without having to travel to another location. and I'm so happy to hear the feedback that it was a success. I actually saw that information at the library. I got the information from the library. The library is a great source. information and so I'm happy to see that we were able to do it in Hackensack and I want to thank the clerks for making it happen and making it happen so quickly and not only did they make it happen but I just received today from Allison that they're coming back because the slots had filled up so quickly. A lot of people didn't get a chance to set an appointment. So another slot, another mobile unit is upcoming this Saturday, correct? This Saturday. um and we will be posting it on social media etc and registration will open tomorrow at 1 pm so if you didn't get a chance to sign up before you got another chance so thank you i also just want to mention to mr caulfield um mr caulfield my taxes went up too by about 15 percent so we're not exempt from what happened unfortunately what happened has to do with the past administration so like it or not it has to be told, it has to be acknowledged, that this just didn't happen overnight. We decided one day to wake up and raise the taxes. There was a succession of things that took place that caused this issue. And we've discussed this in the past. If you go back to some of our meetings, which are available on YouTube, you'll see how we got there. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman. Thank you. Good evening. Not much to say tonight, rather than mention the fact that the weather hasn't been too kind for us. I mean, for everybody in New Jersey and the tri-state area. But still, we keep our positive energy, our positive thoughts about what's coming up for the rest of the summer. So hopefully we can have sunny, 85 breezy days ahead of us. at least we had the uh the latin salsa uh night last saturday where uh our residents will had the opportunity uh to enjoy for four or five hours so we'll continue uh to develop and those uh summer activities and hopefully we can you can participate and at the same time I wanted to thank you for being here tonight. Even though the bad weather. Announcement your ideas your proposal a very important to us and we really appreciate that you made the time to make it here tonight. So thank you so much and have a good one.

Thank you. First, before I forget, because I will forget, I want to, we didn't bring out the cupcakes this time because Frank isn't 100, but today is Frank's birthday. So if you're watching this, if you're watching this at home, you're watching this because Frank is enabling you to watch this at home. So happy birthday, Frank.

Happy birthday.

Roberto is going to sing, but after the meeting. He'll do a whole thing. So Mr. Somerville, thank you for the update. Thank you for that. I'm going to keep it brief as well first, just before I forget. summer concerts they're happening throughout the end of the summer national night out is next week i believe um so just go on to the city's website follow us on social media sign up for the newsletter we haven't said that in a little bit but if you go to hackensack.org a pop-up comes up right away and um a lot of the issues that come up at these meetings or online end up being shared through the newsletter with some information. With that, Reverend Davis, I want to thank you as well for your comment. Mr. Caulfield, yes. I do want to make sure that you get a response. I will start by saying, of course, We agree with you about the taxes. Of course we agree with you about the taxes. We agree with you so much about the taxes that a year ago, year and a half ago, we all ran for office because we said Hackensack is becoming unaffordable, that there are too many giveaways for developers, that people are running the risk of being priced out of their home. A number of things you just said. I'd said at the microphone a year and a half ago, two years ago. So I agree with you with all those things. I also believe in placing responsibility, and I don't see it as blame, I see it as responsibility, where responsibility should be placed. We have not hired a single school administrator. We have not hired anyone in the Hackensack Public Schools. We have not given not one single pilot agreement to any luxury apartment developer. Not a one. So if those are pieces of the puzzle that you agree helped to form the tax bill that you just received, we agree with you and we're not responsible for it. And saying that we're not responsible for it isn't about pointing fingers at the past to save our necks. It's about accuracy in the same way that we can't take credit for everything in the city of Hackensack because we've only been here for a year. We can't take blame for everything in the city of Hackensack because we've only been here for a year. And so In terms of the tax bill, when your tax bill, the reason why there was a jump in this quarter is because it's a little bit of a makeup for the first two quarters. Taxes did not go up 15%. For this quarter, I understand what you're saying. For this quarter, I understand what you're saying. When it's all averaged out it's 9.8%. That's not a number that any of us are happy about. I just want to be clear. We're not happy about 9.8%, but that 9.8% is inclusive of the schools of the city of the county of the library of a number of things make up that 9.8% number. That's not just the city portion. Additionally, In terms of what we're doing, you mentioned developers. We have conducted an audit, not we the five of us, but we have had our professionals audit. And all of those developer giveaways that you referenced, the city was owed $5.4 million at least for that. That's money that goes all the way back to 2018. And we're trying to claim it. And we've claimed almost $2 million of it already, which you will see reflected in future tax bills. As the Councilwoman said, we are not happy about the tax bill. And we, when we have come in, we ask our CFO for regular updates on how are we tracking month by month? Can we figure out if we are overspending? Is there a way that we can sort of reign things in within our control? And to that point, one of the things that we've been quite successful with is the cost of healthcare. The city is self-insured, which means that unlike most of the municipalities throughout the state that are subject to these great increases in healthcare costs, We have put in screening agents that have been more thoroughly vetting these claims before the city pays them out. And we have reduced our, Jim, I hate to put you on the spot, but what would you, would you say at this point, are we tracking at about, it's close to about 45, 50% less than in terms of our healthcare claims over last year in terms of what the overage was?

last year and the state is saying right now that state health benefits plan will be, it will be an increase of 14% next year.

Got that. So for those who can't hear that because they're at home and they weren't able to hear. So right now, the state health care benefit plan, which Hackensack is not in, is tracking at about 14 percent increase for next year. So far, we are tracking significantly below where we were last year because of things that We did. And I feel confident in saying that we bear responsibility for that because that is post us being seated here. And so I completely get your frustration. Sincerely, you came out in the middle of a rainstorm to voice your concern about your tax bill. I hear it. I understand it. I agree with you. but we are doing everything we can. I mentioned two things, the audit, and I mentioned healthcare, but we are looking at departments budgets with our city manager, with our staff here, and we are looking at everything that we can to lower our taxes and yours as well. So I hear the frustration. I get it. But to me, it's a little bit like buying a house when you release this the way I feel about it. When you buy a house, you walk through it, you get the inspection, you think you know what you're getting and then you live in it for a little bit and you realize that doesn't work and that doesn't work. And that's a little jiggly. And I didn't realize that. And we're seeing a lot of that stuff now. We're working on the house, I promise you. I promise you. So with that, I'm going to wish everyone safe travels home. I'm going to wish everyone a good next couple of weeks until the next council meeting. I can talk to you after the meeting, though. OK. So there's no opportunity. The opportunity for public comment has passed. Well, I'll come down and I'll talk to you. All right? OK. With that, I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn. of offer second all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions thank you