Village Council Meeting

A SPECIAL PUBLIC BUDGET MEETING OF THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD HELD IN THE SYDNEY V. STOLDT, JR. COURT ROOM OF THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE HALL, 131 NORTH MAPLE AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, ON JANUARY 26, 2026 AT 5:07 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER -- OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT -- ROLL CALL -- FLAG SALUTE Mayor Vagianos called the meeting to order at 5:07 p.m. He stated that adequate notice of this meeting had been provided by posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News and The Record, and by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of a schedule, including the date and time of this meeting. At roll call, the following were present: Councilmembers Mortimer, Weitz, Winograd, and Mayor Vagianos. Also present were Keith Kazmark, Village Manager; Jennifer Natoli, Deputy Village Clerk; Robert Rooney, Chief Financial Officer; and Olivia Andreula, Accounting Assistant. Mayor Vagianos led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. 2. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SNOW REMOVAL EFFORTS Before moving to public comment, Mayor Vagianos took a moment to thank the staff of the Village of Ridgewood. He stated that everybody who was able to drive a snowplow was out during the recent storm. It was an all hands on deck moment and he was impressed with the work that they did. Every one of these people worked in excess of 24 hours straight, grabbing catnaps and sleeping at village offices in between so that they could continue the job. Many Council members had toured the downtown and the streets, and they thought staff did a fabulous job. For those who were less than impressed, the Mayor apologized. He noted that every single person who worked for the Village who was able to drive a snowplow did so for a period in excess of 24 hours. While there was lots more work to do, and he asked residents to let them know about places they may have missed, he wanted everyone to understand that while staff were contractually employed to clear the snow in the event of these kinds of events, they were not contractually employed to do it for 24 hours. These people went above and beyond the call of duty. Fortunately, the Village does not get these kinds of snow events on a regular basis, but staff would be working through the night at least until the weekend. While residents were resting, staff would be away from their families. Councilmember Mortimer added that it was important to note that in Ridgewood there were over 100 miles of road. While residents may think of just their street, considering how large the Village was made it even more impressive that staff had been doing the great job that they did. Mayor Vagianos agreed and stated that everyone was grateful to them because they would be able to function well. While many of the stores in the downtown were unable to open, Village staff were out there working. He thanked them again. 3. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC Nancy Brennan Hill, a Ridgewood resident, thanked the Village for the work put into planting trees over the last few years, noting that more trees had been planted than in decades. However, 1 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 she pointed out that last year only 120 trees were put in, and she suspected this was because people did not realize they had to request trees. She suggested implementing a policy where if a tree was cut down, one would automatically be replaced. The Village would not be forcing trees on anyone but could leave a door hanger notifying residents they were due to receive a tree, with instructions to call if they did not want it. Ms. Brennan Hill also requested that the Council seriously consider planting 250 trees for the 250th anniversary of the country. She acknowledged that not all trees could go on streets and noted that the Village had parks and other lovely places where trees could be planted. Ann Loving, Ridgewood resident, thanked the Council for working out the technical difficulties so they could speak. She stated that when she mentioned the 250 trees at last week's budget meeting, Councilmember Winograd had replied that there was not enough room on the street. Ms. Loving clarified that she did not care where the trees went, whether in parks or on the street strip. She felt there definitely needed to be 250 trees, not saplings, planted in honor of the anniversary of the country. Councilmember Winograd responded that the Village had a fully dedicated commission of seven people making decisions for shade tree management. Over the past couple months, there had been many discussions. Between Councilmember Mortimer and herself representing parks and streets, they felt depending on budget outcomes, they were confident in achieving a goal of 250 trees combining park development and street trees. She wanted to emphasize this because it was complicated. The Village had moved to a one-to-one request from the resident because that was the most successful for staff and the tree. They ordered what was requested and everyone seemed happy. They have also created a door hanger template available for Council review for when a tree came down to engage with residents right away. This step would likely be coming in the spring. She believed that between parks and shade tree, they would get to 250 trees but not 250 street trees. The entire Shade Tree Commission was comfortable with this approach, recognizing that requests were most beneficial. If they wanted to increase street trees, they needed to increase requests. Additionally, the Village's Ridge School had been selected for next year’s adopt a sapling program. If they did 250 between streets and parks and then had an extra 100 saplings, that would be wonderful. Councilmember Winograd also noted that the Beautification Committee was discussing the American 250th anniversary with plans for red, white, and blue flowers throughout the downtown. She assured the public there would not be a problem, but wanted to make sure everyone understood it would not be 250 shade trees but a combination of park and street trees. Mayor Vagianos stated that Councilmember Winograd had covered the topic beautifully and comprehensively. 2 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 4. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. REVIEW OF DEPARTMENTAL BUDGETS AND CAPITAL BUDGETS 1. MUNICIPAL COURT AND PUBLIC DEFENDER Mr. Kazmark thanked the Mayor and explained that in light of the snowstorm and having most of the blue-collar supervisors scheduled to make budget presentations that evening, they had completely rearranged the schedule as announced at the last budget meeting. This would give those staff some rest and allow them to hear from directors who were less impacted by the snowstorm. Aarika Will, Municipal Court Administrator, was invited to come forward. Ms. Will would be addressing both the municipal court budget and the public defender budget. Mr. Kazmark asked Ms. Will to give a quick synopsis for the Council and the public as a refresher regarding the shared services agreement in place with neighboring communities as it pertained to the municipal court. Councilmember Weitz asked if the public defender budget was mixed into the court budget. Mr. Kazmark confirmed it was at the bottom of the municipal court sheet. Ms. Will explained that she was a shared employee, covering all three municipalities: the Village of Ridgewood, Borough of Glen Rock, and Township of Wyckoff. In this arrangement, they shared some employees. All finances were completely separate. She handled six different accounts, with each municipality having its own accounts presented accordingly per month. Mr. Kazmark asked Ms. Will to quickly review which employees were covered as far as compensation by each municipality. Ms. Will explained that on Ridgewood's payroll, there were two full-time deputies. Deputy Christina Fredette worked in the Ridgewood office full-time. The other deputy, Lisa Sulikowski, was full-time in the Glen Rock office and primarily covered Glen Rock and Wyckoff functions day-to-day. John Comatas was a full-time employee in Ridgewood handling primarily parking matters. Ms. Will herself was considered a full-time employee of Glen Rock, which covered her benefits and pension. They also had a part-time employee, Dawn, who worked 29 hours a week and was primarily in the Glen Rock office assisting Lisa with Glen Rock and Wyckoff matters. Mr. Kazmark noted that on the employee count sheet they had been reviewing at prior budget meetings, there were four full-time employees and one part-time employee, and that number would not change from last year. He mentioned that Maureen Terpstra had retired and was not included in the 2025 budget. Ms. Will confirmed she retired in December 2024. Transitioning to the salaries and wages portion of the budget, Ms. Will explained that it was largely contractual. She noted that in line item 01K under regular sessions, they had reduced that amount by $6,500. However, if you looked at the interpreter line item in other expenses, which was line 114, they had increased that amount. Mr. Kazmark asked Ms. Will to talk about that adjustment. Ms. Will explained that interpreting services were done on an as-needed basis. She did not have an interpreter steadily coming every single court session. They primarily utilized Language Line, which was a great tool and cost-saver, especially for rare languages like Tagalog. However, there were instances where they had trials or more complicated matters requiring a live interpreter, primarily Spanish interpreters in Ridgewood. They had also seen some ASL interpreter needs. ASL 3 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 interpreters were unique and there were not very many qualified ones, making the cost quite high. Even one per year was a significant expense and needed to be in person. Mr. Kazmark called attention to line item 01J, which was under salaries and wages, showing an increased amount of approximately $1,000 for special sessions. Ms. Will explained that special sessions were held primarily for more complicated matters, such as probable cause hearings for civilian complaints. Matters that would take a long period of time, trials, or other complicated matters were held in special sessions. She already had two matters scheduled for special sessions, which would be a cost. Last year they did not need too many special sessions, but starting this year that way, she had slightly increased the budget on that line item. Councilmember Weitz noted that overall, it looked like the budget was about $17,000 more than last year, with the bulk appearing to be salaries. He saw a couple other things that were slightly different, but on balance, Ms. Will had kept it largely the same. Mr. Kazmark agreed, noting that even the budget highlights they just reviewed were somewhat minor in the grand scheme of things, but he wanted to highlight the more significant changes. Councilmember Winograd asked about Maureen, wanting to confirm she was not moving forward in the budget. Mr. Kazmark confirmed that Maureen Terpstra had retired in December 2024, and Ms. Andrreula noted she had an updated version showing this. There being no further questions, Mayor Vagianos thanked Ms. Will. 2. PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT Mr. Kazmark introduced Nancy Bigos, Director of Parks and Recreation, and Katie Frey, Recreation Supervisor. Ms. Bigos and Ms. Frey would be substituting for Matt's portion of the Parks Department presentation. Per the comment from the last meeting, Mr. Kazmark asked them to introduce themselves. Ms. Bigos stated she was Nancy Bigos, Director of Parks and Recreation, and had been a Village employee for 33 years. Ms. Frey introduced herself as Katie Frey, the Recreation Supervisor. Ms. Bigos thanked Mayor and Council for the resources and support for the department to excel at their work this past year. She was truly grateful for the leadership of the Village, the Village Manager, and her liaison who spent a great deal of time meeting with them on a monthly basis, attending meetings, and mentoring them on goals and objectives. They had been challenged this year with additional projects, grants, programs, and new policy, but these challenges made them work harder. They had achieved more and she was proud of the accomplishments of her department and staff. All operating budgets had remained flat. They had done some readjusting to line items within those budgets, changing numbers back and forth but staying with the same bottom line, with the exception of salaries which was always a challenge. She would first review the parks division budget. Ms. Bigos reported that currently they had three open positions due to three resignations at the end of last year. They were currently interviewing for those positions, which would be replacements. The overtime in that line item was higher than had been awarded in the past due to emergency calls, added special events, tree emergencies, Saturday concerts, and Easter in the Park. Mr. Kazmark added that the overtime budget had increased over last year due to additional events primarily happening at Veterans Square. The cleanup activities needed to occur after certain 4 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 activities held there, in addition to other support provided for different activities throughout the Village. They felt that in an effort to keep Veterans Square clean after these types of large-scale activities at the park, they needed to make an adjustment to provide parks department support sometimes before, but certainly during and after each of those events. Moving to recreation, Ms. Bigos noted that the recreation percentages and operating expenses had remained flat with the exception of part-time salaries, which required an explanation. Ms. Frey had the documents and figures to share. Mr. Kazmark asked if they could finish the parks budget first before moving to recreation since the line-item Ms. Frey was referring to was in the recreation budget. He asked if there were any questions on the parks budget piece. Councilmember Weitz noted that they were up by less than 4% which was all salary, which was great, and he appreciated them keeping the budget flat. He noted they had three workers who needed to be replaced and asked if those were going to be full-time or part-time positions. Ms. Bigos confirmed they would be full-time. Councilmember Weitz asked if they could get away with part-timers. Ms. Bigos explained that these positions had been vacant for some time and they had been challenged in trying to recruit tree maintenance workers. The salaries in the private sector compared to the public sector when it came to tree maintenance workers were apples and oranges, and it had been hard to recruit those people. There was a chance, depending on how the application process went, that they might try to fill the parks position, which was more of a laborer position than a specialty for tree maintenance. They might fill that position, and if they could not find two qualified candidates for the tree maintenance position, they might move that money into operating so they could call on private contractors to supplement that lack of personnel in the parks department. This was still fluid. Ms. Bigos stated she had been monitoring the influx of résumés to see if they had qualified candidates, but that section could definitely change before the budget was introduced by Council. It might be moved over to operating to pay for professional tree contractors. Councilmember Weitz stated he would love to see the numbers on that. He was very cognizant of adding to the full-time force because of how expensive health care and other benefits had become. He would be amenable to even looking at hiring more than three, but as part-time as opposed to full-time, so they got more bodies with just fewer hours per person. If there was the ability to outsource some of this at a similar price point, he would agree to that. He believed they had to deal with the realities that bringing full-time folks onto the payroll was getting increasingly more expensive and they had to come up with ways to not continue to grow, or even potentially look through attrition to see if there were ways to bring down the overall full-time headcount. Mr. Kazmark agreed with that philosophy and stated that as he shared when they looked at the totals for the employee count at the last budget meeting, there was no doubt that the administration clearly recognized the cost of health insurance. The problem was that if they could not recruit tree maintenance workers offering them full-time salary, a pension, and health care benefits, they were certainly not going to be able to recruit tree maintenance workers on a part-time basis. He thought the choice was to review the résumés, determine if they had qualified candidates, they wanted to place in the parks division, and if they did not, to move that money over to operating and supplement through privatizing because they could not find the people to do the work. 5 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 Councilmember Winograd noted she fully supported the tree maintenance because this Council had planted more and more trees, which ultimately needed more and more care throughout their life. Storms like Superstorm Sandy had resulted in trees they had not even begun to replace. The deferred maintenance was a big problem. When they outsourced work, if in-house would cost $10, outsourcing might be $25 in the short term. That meant fewer trees could be planted. It was a specialty and hazardous job that was dangerous. If they did not deal with deferred maintenance, there could be liability issues. She believed they had one to one and a half of these positions last year and now had them open again. They were hard to fill. She could not see anyone doing this type of work part-time. The more maintenance costs, the less planting. They were robbing from planting to pay for maintenance. The Village had not had a big storm with trees in a long time. The trees needed a lot of love, attention, care, and knowledge. She was grateful to Matt, Declan, Deanna, and everybody who supported these initiatives. The reality was that the more trees they put in, the more maintenance they would need. It was relational. The trees could be hazardous and had to be taken care of. Mr. Kazmark noted they had aggressively tried to recruit people, and many had relationships with folks in the tree maintenance space and had tried to help recruit new people to apply for these positions. Since the day he walked into the building, they had essentially come up empty. It was not an easy position to try to recruit new people and attract them to come to Ridgewood. Councilmember Weitz clarified he was not saying they should not do the work, just to see if they could do it cheaper. A lot of what was being said seemed to point toward a solution of using private contractors to do the work, which might be a more cost-effective way of getting the work done, especially considering they were having very little luck finding qualified people to do the job for what they were willing to pay. Mr. Kazmark confirmed they used private contractors now, and this would be widening their scope to pick up some of the work effort that could not be achieved by in-house staff. That was why in capital they had large hazardous tree removals. Councilmember Mortimer said essentially the budget here might flip into that capital line. Mr. Kazmark confirmed that was a fluid number too, depending on how the application process went. The capital, salaries and wages, and operating expenses would all be taken under consideration, and between Ms. Bigos and himself, they would make a decision as to how to recommend Council move forward with introducing that portion of the budget. They wanted to see if they could find some qualified candidates before doing that. Councilmember Mortimer concurred. Councilmember Winograd added that they relied on third parties for a lot of work related to planting and watering. They utilized a lot of outside labor because they had a village deeply committed to trees and planting. The maintenance was so important and she would hate to see it in a deferred maintenance situation, particularly with big trees that were in need of care. Moving on from trees, Councilmember Mortimer had a question on line 29, other contractual services, which had really increased. He was curious what that covered. Ms. Bigos explained that other contractual services covered services where they needed to hire fellow professionals, such as for invasive species and herbicide within parks, which they would have to subcontract out. Councilmember Mortimer asked if there was something planned that made it bump up or if rates had just gone up. Mr. Kazmark explained that last year there was a department cut made in the amount of $22,000 from this line item, a decision he and Mr. Rooney made prior to introduction 6 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 of the budget. What the parks department was requesting this year was that those dollars cut during the 2025 budget be restored. As they got through this process and started to finalize revenues and year-end for 2025, they would make a decision as to whether there was an adjustment that needed to be made. That was a restorative cut which would take the department back to 2024 numbers. To answer the question specifically, the dumping fees for logs and chips were in other contractual. The irrigation for maintenance of all fields, lawns, and open space was also in that account. The GPS system they had online was within other contractual. Turf grooming and herbicides for professional applications beyond what they did with staff were all covered under other contractual services. Ms. Bigos confirmed those were the only changes in cases where she was requesting to reinstate the funds cut from last year. There being no other questions on the park side of things, they moved to the recreation budget. Ms. Bigos shared that the figures remained flat. Ms. Frey had given an explanation regarding part-time salaries. Councilmember Mortimer had a comment, noting it was important how steady employment had been at Graydon the last few years, that they had not had a deficit of lifeguards and things like that. He congratulated and commended them both. Councilmember Winograd said she just wanted to say the budget was awesome and thanked them for everything. Mr. Kazmark wanted to go back to Ms. Frey's prior comments about line item 013 under salaries and wages on the recreation side. He asked if there were any questions about Ms. Frey's rationale as to how she got to the $221,600 number and wanted to make sure they vetted that. Councilmember Mortimer asked if she had done the worst-case scenario. Ms. Frey clarified it was the best-case scenario. The best case scenario would be 30 days of sunshine with all 80 people showing up to work. That number was not in the budget because realistically somebody would go for their driver's license, go on vacation, and the 4th of July was on a Friday so they would take Thursday off. They knew people would be missing and there would be a couple cloudy days. Mr. Kazmark noted that on line 013, if they looked at the amount appropriated for temporary and seasonal and the amount spent last year, there was a disparity. This was because there had been a discussion between his office and parks and recreation about limiting the number of summer campers based on what was appropriated in last year's budget. They made a determination that if there was interest by families in Ridgewood to sign their children up, unless they did not have the physical capacity to accommodate those families, they would continue to accept registration. They knew they were going to exceed the $168,000 based on demand at the summer camp program. They made the determination to reappropriate monies from other parts of the municipal budget to make sure they accommodated every family that wanted to join the summer camp program in the summer of 2025. That was the reason for the disparity between the $192,000 and $168,000. Councilmember Weitz said that was the right call and a good decision. Everyone agreed. There being no other questions on salaries, Mr. Kazmark asked if they wanted to move to operating expenses for recreation. Ms. Bigos confirmed she was flat at $900 over last year. Mr. Kazmark said he could not really fault her there. There being no questions about line items 021 through 29Z, they moved to Graydon. 7 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 Ms. Bigos reported they had stayed within their 2% goal. They had moved some figures around. Some accounts were spending more in printing and binding to get the word out, but then cutting in other areas. They were up a little in legal advertising because they found that when they advertised for their summer staff with the League of Municipalities through the New Jersey Recreation and Parks Association, they got a better turnout for applicants. Ms. Frey had scheduled their seasonal summer employment fair for March 12th through 16th. Councilmember Winograd said she liked flat or less than 2%, calling it great and flat. There being no other questions on Graydon, they moved to the Ridgewood Beautification program. Ms. Bigos stated she asked for exactly the figures given last year. They had done a major improvement within the central business district, ordering over 32 new planters for the CBD. They were all planted with new soil, new screens, new soil amendments, new plants, and received lots of compliments from the community. They were asking for that again because they would like to do the west side of the Village and start upgrading some of other facilities, utilizing the old planters to bring some to Graydon Pool and the outside of Village Hall to continue beautification efforts, recycling what they had in the past and moving forward. Councilmember Weitz asked who actually did this work and if the one part-time salary listed was an existing employee, they paid money to or if they brought somebody on. Ms. Bigos explained it was for watering and that about 85% of the work done in this group was through volunteers from the Women Gardeners of Ridgewood, the Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands, and volunteers who came forward and ordered plant materials, designed the plants themselves, and then in May did a major planting for not just the containers but also the hanging baskets within Van Neste Square. The figure shown was for watering and maintaining the planters once the program was up and running during June, July, August, September, and into October. The plants needed water. Councilmember Weitz stated that if people were willing to give up their own time, $25,000 was a valid investment by the Village and he agreed. Councilmember Winograd wanted to add that in addition to volunteer time, there had been significant contributions this year that Ms. Bigos helped get. The corner of Toastique was donated, which was wonderful and worth tens of thousands of dollars. They had three residential landscapers who worked with them and shared all their talents for free. They were hoping to get another corner, and their interns offset $3,500 of the planters. They received four planters for the corner where the bus station was located. That should make Councilmember Weitz happy—seven free planters, and these things were very expensive. She wanted to thank Ms. Bigos and the staff. She thought it looked better. As long as the plants were drought resistant and would not burn up, they would commit to red, white, and blue. She wanted to thank the Ridgewood Beautification Committee, the Conservancy, and of course the Women Gardeners who largely ran the program. Mayor Vagianos said he was happy to hear about all the volunteers and would like to know the names of the three residents who were professional landscapers. Councilmember Winograd identified them as RNS who did Toastique, Mike Charlton, and she believed Christopher Ramundi was the third professional. The residential tree expert just on Shade Tree they tried to have appointed was Adam Brown. Mayor Vagianos asked for the company names. Councilmember Winograd said RNS Landscaping, Chris Ramundi's company was Ramundi Landscaping, and Mike Charlton's was TLC Landscaping. Mayor Vagianos wanted to give a shout-out to them 8 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 because these people were giving away for free what they charged other people, particularly their expertise. Councilmember Winograd agreed they were especially grateful. There being nothing else on Ridgewood Beautification, they moved to the Community Center. Ms. Bigos reported she was excited to share that under the direct leadership of Gwen Hauk and her negotiations through the Community Center Advisory Foundation, the Village of Ridgewood would soon be a grant recipient of $251,000. This was a monumental achievement. There had been many hours of meetings, tweaking, and understanding the need of residents and the desire to have a community center for not just elderly or mature senior residents, but also for youth and employees as a community building facility. Gwen would be presenting this to Council on Wednesday evening during the council meeting along with the grant agreement of $251,000 for facility renovation at the building. As part of that agreement, they consented to provide $75,000 worth of staff to help run programs in the newly improved community center. Those numbers were reflected in this year's budget. When the agreement was presented on Wednesday night, they would find that was a three-year commitment as part of the grant agreement. They had extensive conversations, and to Ms. Bigos' credit, she fought her position hard, but they moved all of that $75,000 into part-time salaries, at least for the startup. Mr. Kazmark committed that they would discuss again going into next year's budget as to whether they should modify any of that $75,000 to reflect any full-time employment. That would be contingent upon needs once the community center was upgraded and they were at full programming. They would make a determination what staff levels looked like. As a way of meeting their end of the agreement, the $75,000 was in full in this year's budget. The commitment was for three years, $75,000 for each of the three years, in order to get the $251,000. Councilmember Weitz asked how many employees that would get them part-time. Mr. Kazmark estimated probably three, which was the number they were aiming for, in addition to Deanna who was already full-time and running programming. They would have a brief presentation from Ms. Bigos and Gwen Hauk who really helped facilitate the grant award with the folks over at Ridgecrest. The last item on Wednesday night's agenda would be discussion about accepting the donation. That would be reflected on the February 11th council meeting to formally accept, and then they would be off to the races working with an architect to redesign the space on the lower level of the building. Mayor Vagianos stated it was about a year ago in that very room on February 9th at these meetings that he challenged Ms. Bigos to begin a premier senior community proposal. He was proud and impressed with her and her team who worked tirelessly to make this a reality by this year's budget. He could not express how excited he was about this. The Village's seniors put a lot of money into the budget and did not get as much back as those who sent kids to school. This was a pittance they were helping them with, and he hoped this would be a regular place for them to come on a daily basis. He knew that was the goal and thanked Ms. Bigos personally for making this a reality. Ms. Bigos replied it was her pleasure. The department and staff all believed in this. This was a long time coming to the community and there were many, many people who rolled up their sleeves and put in their time and energy to make this happen. It was a community effort for sure and 9 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 something they really looked forward to bringing to fruition. Gwen had already texted her that day and they had a meeting with the architect set for next week. Mayor Vagianos wanted to thank Gwen who served on the board and thought she might be able to get a grant. He wanted to thank the Ridgecrest Foundation because they were the providers of the grant. He wanted to thank the Community Center board. He related a brief funny moment when the Ridgecrest Foundation board came in. There was a presentation prepared in earnest and in detail, and the look on their faces was they did not know why they were doing all this because they were good and ready to give the money. Everybody was rowing in the same direction on this one. He was very, very excited and thanked them. There being nothing else for Parks and Recreation, they moved to the capital budget. Ms. Bigos explained that in looking at priorities for the capital budget request, most of these items had to do with aging infrastructure. Starting with Graydon, the first project was a request for $120,000 to replace the discharge pump that ran from the pump house over the Ho Ho Kus Brook and into the sanitary sewer. Several years ago, probably about 10 years ago, under the guidance of the Village Engineer, they were able to take the discharge water from Graydon Pool and put that into the sanitary sewer. The system was operational, but last summer they discovered a couple of leaks in the pipe. They had been repaired, but in doing so, she wanted to bring to Council's attention that they were aging and should be replaced. This would be for the replacement pumping and pipes over the Ho Ho Kus Brook. The railway timbers had started to decay. Those were put in in 1999. In talking to staff, if they were going to be moving pipes from the side of the bridge, they might as well remove the timbers and do the project all at once. This was the first request for Graydon and probably the most important—a must-have, not a nice-to-have. Councilmember Weitz asked if they had an engineer or someone who told them the expected life was finished. Ms. Bigos confirmed they were already past the expected life cycle, which was why they were requesting this. It was like putting a bucket under a leak—they were there. On the sun shades, Councilmember Weitz asked if they had added more since last year, or if this was for additional sun shades. She knew it was on the wish list and was now being prioritized. Ms. Frey explained that with the sun shades, they put in for additional ones. The one replacing the large tree on the north side of the beach was a four-post sun shade that Council had just passed a resolution for the other day. It was already paid for. It would be different than the others where the post in the middle had attachments for four sun shades, making it a 40x40 instead of a 20x20. This request was for the additional three shade sails. Councilmember Weitz asked what more they would have this summer that they did not have last summer if nothing else was approved. Ms. Frey replied they would have shade sails installed this summer. There would be one 20x20 on the north side. If this request was approved, there would be three more sails, making it a 40x40 space. Councilmember Weitz stated that there were a few issues where more people reached out to him than about shade at Graydon. He understood and was usually hawkish on the budget, but to the extent anything could be done there, he did not want to keep getting those calls. Moving to parks, Ms. Bigos stated their number one priority, listening to residents, would be tree planting within municipal park properties. She was requesting $100,000 for this. She would like to be planting within all larger municipal park properties. Over at least the last 25 years, they had not put any trees within park properties and had lost some due to emerald ash borer and just from aging. 10 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 Graydon had really suffered. Some of the old sycamores were lost off the island. That aging tree canopy also affected parks. At King's Pond, they had a beaver that loved the new saplings put in about eight years ago along the walking path. She would have to replace those and also some trees for the Schedler property. Mr. Kazmark asked if they could move to residential tree planting. Councilmember Winograd said she thought the park trees request was great. While they had put memorial trees in, and anytime Shade Tree had an overage they put them in parks, she fully supported more trees in more parks, particularly because when they saw an absence of shade around Graydon and recreation areas, they heard many complaints about that. The request from the Shade Tree Commission was for $160,000 for the 120 residential fall tree planting program they had done religiously for at least the last six years. There was also a line item for hazardous tree removal requesting $210,000. That number was fluid contingent upon the earlier discussion about tree maintenance workers and being able to recruit those bodies. That number would be refined as they got closer to budget introduction. Ms. Bigos wanted to explain to Council that they had reached a place where they had some really large hazardous dangerous trees within the Village. Those she had to bring in an outside company to take care of all required crane work. They required extended balancing or stabilizers on tree removal cranes, larger equipment, and more staff. With the three full-time staff they had now, this was out of their realm. For safety and liability purposes, she was definitely requesting some assistance in hazardous and large tree removals. Mayor Vagianos noted there were residents asking for trees and was curious how many trees the $160,000 in shade tree and $100,000 in parks budget would get them. Ms. Bigos explained that if they had 120 in the residential tree planting and 150 within municipal park properties, that brought them to 250 trees. They also always had the sapling program, which was another 100 saplings. Mayor Vagianos wanted to clarify the numbers—$160,000 and $100,000. Councilmember Winograd explained that $160,000 would yield 120 street trees because not all trees were the same, and $100,000 would be the differential to get to 250 trees because it was more economical. Councilmember Winograd confirmed that would get them to 250 trees. Councilmember Winograd wanted to add that somehow saplings were getting a bad rap. The saplings would hopefully give them a hundred more incremental trees, which was wonderful. They also had additional memorial trees, which they got several of per year, so they would be over 250 without a problem. There being no other questions on trees, Ms. Bigos discussed the priority for Parks and Shade Tree Supervisor Matt, which was the replacement of pickup truck PK122. He was requesting an F-350 with a plow and a liftgate. Sadly, that truck was already taken out of commission and no longer usable. This would be a replacement and a dire need. Moving to recreation capital, priority number one was the renovation of Citizens Park, which included field and park improvements. They had applied for a Bergen County Open Space grant for that in the amount of $200,000. The grant itself was $121,775, but because this was a match, they needed to put up both sides of that match and then the contingency. She was asking for $268,000 for Citizens Park renovation. That included all of the fencing, the dugouts, the dugout areas, and resurfacing the field, which was original to the park in 1965. Mayor Vagianos said they certainly got their money's worth out of that. Ms. Bigos agreed it was time. Regarding the tennis 11 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 courts, Ms. Bigos stated that after talking to staff, they could wait another year on the tennis courts if they had a pinky promise that this could be seriously considered. It would be her first entry in the 2027 capital budget. Mr. Kazmark noted he had $130,000 as a round number in his draft budget for tennis courts at Bel Air and North Monroe. They would take that out and enter it for next year. Councilmember. Mr. Kazmark noted his draft also continued the Maple Field sinking fund, which was an annual contribution so that when the time came to replace Maple Field, whether with artificial turf or going back to grass, there would be ample funds. That concluded the Parks and Recreation presentation. Mayor Vagianos stated they were fortunate to have Ms. Frey and Ms. Bigos and thanked them for being there. 3. SANITATION AND RECYCLING With Council's permission, Mr. Kazmark rearranged the order once again. They had the Supervisor of Sanitation and Recycling, Sean Hamlin, along with Rich Calbi who oversaw those divisions. Following sanitation and recycling, they would go to Ridgewood Water, and then back to some smaller items on the agenda to conclude the meeting. Mr. Kazmark asked them to please state their names. Sean Hamlin introduced himself as Recycling Coordinator and Supervisor of Sanitation. Rich Calbi introduced himself as Director of Operations for the Water Department, Sanitation, and Recycling. Starting with Recycling salaries and wages, Mr. Hamlin noted they had one thing that came up, though he was not sure it was in his copy of the budget. His assistant recycling supervisor, Moses Barona, would be retiring and they would need to replace him. He did not know what kind of salary change that would be. Mr. Kazmark directed them to the recycling 2026 tab behind the summary sheet. Moses was listed first and they were looking at a retirement. They had added to the bottom a recycling laborer position as his replacement. Councilmember Weitz asked for clarification—the deputy was retiring and being replaced with a laborer. Mr. Kazmark explained they would replace the employee count with a laborer, but there was $6,500 built in for whoever was elevated to the promotion from within. If they looked at the bottom right-hand corner of the spreadsheet, the replacement supervisor had that money allocated, but the last line in the employee listing reflected a starting date of March 1st for a new onboarded laborer. Councilmember Weitz asked why the overall numbers were so much higher looking at the first sheet for salaries and wages. The modified budget last year was $628,000 and now they were up to $821,000, about a $200,000 difference. Mr. Kazmark explained much of that was overtime, showing a significant adjustment over last year. There was also the line item to restore $16,289 in uncompensated time. Mr. Hamlin explained they had to add some holidays in for overtime that were not included in last year's budget. There were a couple of holidays where blue-collar employees got personal days to compensate for working that day, but supervisors did not, so when they came in, they got overtime. Councilmember Weitz noted that what they actually spent was $569,000, and asked why they were looking for $821,000. Mr. Calbi pointed out there were budget credits of $171,000. That was money paid out of tonnage grants they received. So what they really spent was $171,000 plus the $569,000. Mr. Kazmark explained that on the breakdown with the employee list in the bottom right-hand corner, below the $6,500 for replacement supervisor, there were two empty fields for 12 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 Clean Communities grants. Those numbers were not finalized yet for 2026, but they used those as a budget offset to offset salaries and wages in this division. The $821,239 on the summary page reflected the actual salaries and wages without any grant money applied. Councilmember Weitz asked if they were expecting the grant money this year, and Mr. Hamlin confirmed they were. They expected to get about $65,000 on the recycling tonnage grant and around $50,000 on the Clean Communities grant. Councilmember Weitz questioned with that money at $740,000, there was still about an $80,000 gap. Mr. Kazmark explained that the total salaries and wages for last year before grants were applied would have been approximately $867,000. The bottom line total for salaries and wages in 2026 as proposed was less than what would have been budgeted for last year if grant money was not applied. Based on the fund balances in the grants, they would have to make a determination as to how much they could utilize to defray salaries for 2026. That work effort was not complete yet. With the $171,000, they were actually showing less in salary. Councilmember Weitz said that was great and they should get that grant money. On item 30, materials and supplies, Councilmember Mortimer asked if they were getting grants there as well because that was a big jump. Mr. Hamlin explained they would see big jumps in budget lines partly because what was requested in 2025 was not what they got. Some of their items were paid for out of the recycle trust this year, so that line item was lower last year, but they still had to request that amount this year. Councilmember Mortimer asked if the recycle trust would go in this year, but that was not calculated yet. Mr. Hamlin confirmed that was not up to him, noting they just put in the numbers they would need. If they looked at what they asked for last year, they only asked for 2% more this year, but what they got last year in the line item did not reflect what was asked for. Mr. Kazmark provided context, noting that last year's budget had discretionary cuts that he and Mr. Rooney made. Some of these numbers being presented were restorative, though that did not mean they would survive the final cut. Some line items were defrayed by a variety of different grants. Depending on how Bob rounded out year-end numbers for 2025 both on the grant side and revenue side would determine how much of those dollars they could defray when constructing the 2026 budget. Those numbers were not complete yet. Bob Rooney, the Chief Financial Officer, stated he did not have the amount available in the trust yet because they were still posting transactions to it. On disposal fees, Mr. Hamlin explained that last year they made cuts because they were asked where they could make viable cuts. One thing they cut back on was disposal fees because they were going by the first three months of 2025, which were very good for them. They did not end up good. The price of co-mingled materials went up significantly and what they normally got paid for cardboard and paper was not offsetting the price of co-mingled at all. The first three months they actually made money, which would have been nice, but they did not finish the year out like that. The cost of co-mingled was projected to exceed $50,000 based on the current market and disposal fees this year. They were asking for more, and what they were being paid for cardboard and paper was not good. They had to be prepared for the fact that everything might be paid for moving forward in 2026 until the market got better. If everything was a fee and they were not getting money back for anything, then that number had to jump up significantly. Mayor Vagianos noted 13 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 the market had changed, but it was still significantly less than it would cost to throw it in a landfill for paper and cardboard. Mr. Hamlin confirmed they were required by law to recycle. There being no further questions on recycling, they moved to sanitation. Mr. Kazmark confirmed as they were transitioning that the employee count in both divisions was staying stagnant to 2025. Mr. Hamlin agreed. On salaries and wages for sanitation, the budget would probably be going up with contractual raises. If the assistant recycling supervisor position was filled from within and the employee came from the solid waste division, that person would move over to recycling and they would hire somebody at the entry level. If it was someone promoted from recycling, it would decrease the sanitation budget a little bit because they would bring in somebody to replace a senior truck driver. Other than that, there were no significant changes. There being no questions, Mr. Mortimer noted the staff was phenomenally professional in every interaction. Mr. Hamlin thanked him and attributed the department's success to that professionalism. Councilmember Winograd added it was obviously a hard job, especially hard this week. Every interaction her family had had been wonderful. It was a rough thing to do and they did it so well. Mr. Hamlin was grateful they were very respectful and decent to residents. Mayor Vagianos took the moment to say that for anyone listening, until further notice, please bring all recycling and trash to the curb. This was being done to reduce hazard to staff. They would resume valet service once conditions were better, but for now, it helped tremendously if residents brought materials to the curb. Before moving on, they transitioned to capital for Mr. Hamlin. Under recycling, there was a replacement of an F-350 truck for $75,500. Mr. Hamlin explained the need was that they had a truck that needed to be replaced. They were hoping it would last until the end of the year, but their mechanics looked at it and did not want it on the road anymore. It would have to be sold. It was one of the trucks they depended on for plows. Councilmember Weitz had a question, noting that Mr. Hamlin was saying he could replace an F- 350 for $75,000 but Ms. Bigos wanted $100,000 for an F-350. Mr. Kazmark explained that the one for parks needed a lift gate to accommodate operations, and a lift gate cost $25,000. Councilmember Weitz noted this one was getting a plow. Mr. Kazmark confirmed it was getting a plow mount but not a plow because they already had the plow from the old truck. Even then, Councilmember Weitz could not imagine $25,000 for a lift gate. Mr. Kazmark noted Mr. Hamlin got these quotes from Mike last year, so Ms. Bigos may have updated quotes. He would pull the quote and do a comparison. Under sanitation we have a request for a Ford Maverick which is a hybrid. Currently they are driving a 2006 Ford Ranger that spent more time on a lift than on the road. Councilmember Weitz noted these requests were insignificant compared to solid waste trucks. Mr. Kazmark then asked Mr. Calbi to discuss the locker room project, a cross-department work effort with parks. Mr. Calbi explained that project was on him. Proposals were due this week from an architect. They found that in order to make any improvements at the recycling center, it would be much more than anticipated because they needed to provide fire separation between the existing garage and the spaces occupied by current workers. The architect who came out and looked at the site was sending a proposal this week to do a preliminary concept of what would be needed to move forward with improvements that Mr. Hamlin got funded in the last two budgets. Once they had that proposal, they would have a better idea of needs regarding the project. Councilmember Weitz asked if there 14 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 was any thought to a sinking fund for larger garbage trucks they knew would cost a lot to replace. Mr. Kazmark said it was something they could talk about but probably would not fit into this particular capital budget, though they could discuss it going into 2027. Councilmember Winograd asked when the locker room would all be done so it was nicer for staff. Mr. Calbi replied that hopefully once they saw the proposal from the architect, they would meet with the signal department to find out what they were capable of and what would have to be contracted out. He anticipated there would need to be some additional funding beyond the architect's fee to make the project move forward. They would have a better idea once they received the proposal. There being nothing further for sanitation, they moved to Ridgewood Water. 4. RIDGEWOOD WATER With the Council's permission, Mr. Kazmark transitioned to Ridgewood Water and then they would take a short recess. Mr. Calbi was joined by Bill Bierwas, the new Deputy Director. Regarding the water department operating budget and salaries and wages, Mr. Calbi explained there were increases from the previous year for full and part-time. Their headcount currently was 50 employees with two vacancies. They had a labor position open due to separation with an employee, and the part-time public works inspector was also still open due to separation with a previous employee. They were proposing one new headcount for 2026 to fill a void created by the new IT structure with the promotion of Neil Gallone to Director of IT and subsequently promoting somebody internally to take over the GIS division. They now needed another GIS trainee/administrative person in that group to fill that void, bringing them to a total of 51 this year. These increases were the result of restructuring, the one new headcount, two existing employees in trainee positions who would be promoted into permanent positions in 2026 (pretty significant increases moving from training to permanent), several other structured promotions within the department, and additionally, overtime was up due to dealing with an aging system where water main breaks and repairs increased. Good news was that salary and wage allocation was down slightly due to restructuring with IT. The water department was carrying the salary for the Director of IT but allocating that back to the Village, so there was an internal calculation that made that adjustment. Councilmember Weitz asked for clarification—they were adding one full-time employee because the IT employee was moved over to the Village. Mr. Calbi explained that the supervisor of the GIS division in the water department became the Director of IT and had to backfill his position internally with somebody who became the new supervisor, and now that person's space was vacant. Mayor Vagianos thought he was going to continue his work with the water department. Mr. Kazmark said he did not want to get too far into the personnel range in public and no one had been Rice-noticed, but the Director was overseeing both divisions, the IT division and the GIS division. Due to additional responsibilities, some responsibilities specific to the GIS department needed to be backfilled by one of the existing employees. Councilmember Winograd wanted to give GIS a big shout-out. It was an amazing program that allowed them to do many things. With respect to trees, it did their tree inventory and helped them locate public utilities. It was really amazing. From committees that used it from parks to trees, they loved it and were grateful that Neil still honored their appointments because they still had not figured out how to use it completely. Mr. Calbi added that part of the reason for the restructuring was to expand that great success to other things in the Village, and it really helped with public safety. Councilmember Winograd encouraged Council 15 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 members to come see how it worked—it had unlimited potential for public safety, storms, andeverything. It was wonderful. Mr. Kazmark noted their major initiative was with the new Village Engineer to start plotting out the sanitary collection system and stormwater collection system in the same manner that Ridgewood Water infrastructure was mapped out through GIS. Councilmember Winograd added that even the right-of-way information was excellent, and she did not think they said enough positive things about programs being run and what a resource it was. Moving beyond salary and wage, they went to pumping expense. A big story there was the increase in utilities, namely electric power and fuel heating—a significant jump budgeted in 2026 as a result of actual expenses seen in 2025. Moving to treatment expense, the biggest increase was the last line, purification, for the increase in PFAS media. Now that they had more PFAS facilities online, they needed to increase the amount of media purchased for planned replacement in 2026. For transmission and distribution, the increase was a result of increase in repairs and replacements, similar to what was said regarding overtime. This provided actual materials and all restoration contracts necessary to complete that work and traffic control measures. When they paid police to provide service, that was all covered here. That was the increase in transmission and distribution. Following that was customer accounts, which was pretty much status quo with no big change. They moved to administrative and general, which probably had the largest change. This was the result of health insurance, seeing a pretty significant jump. This was to carry health insurance for direct employees in the water department and additionally for indirect cost for services provided to the water utility by Village of Ridgewood employees such as the Finance Department, Village Manager's office, and other departments that assisted the utility in servicing the public every day. They moved to taxes, showing a slight increase as taxes went up each year. They only paid on the property, the land itself. They did not pay an assessed value on improvements at each property. This also included a penny tax they paid to the state on every thousand gallons billed to customers. Source of supply, the cost to purchase water, was also status quo with no big change as a result of negotiations with the new North Bergen contract that kept that line pretty steady. Statutory expense increases were just going along with increases for pension and social security based on headcount. Pay-go capital expense was the down payment for debt. This was budgeted in case Bob found calculations this year proved the utility was not liquid, then there was a requirement to put down a down payment on debt, whereas in prior years they did not have to provide that. This was all a result of large capital expense for PFAS that brought them to this point. Pay-go capital was capital expense funded through the operating budget rather than bonding and borrowing. This was for smaller capital items that all had a life over five years, such as hydrants, valves, meters replaced in homes, other administrative IT equipment, lab equipment, construction equipment—anything small enough that it would not make sense to bond and borrow for. Moving to debt service, it was pretty much holding the line. They were not seeing the large part of the I-Bank principal and interest as they had not closed on any of those loans to the point where they were in permanent financing. They were budgeting $400,000 in case one or two projects moved into permanent financing by the end of this year. Mr. Calbi anticipated the majority would be in 2027 because the I-Bank floated short-term money and they did not pay any interest until they finished the actual project and closed out the contractor. This was going to balloon—it was coming and next year was probably the year. The final sheet summed everything up, looking at a 16 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 $26.7 million water budget, about a 9% increase over the prior year. They were looking to pay for that utilizing surplus of about $3.8 million. Mr. Calbi was anticipating water rents based on current rates of about $20 million, another $182,000 in hydrant service fees that all the towns paid for hydrant use, miscellaneous revenues including cell tower rents and revenues collected for shutting off water, turning water back on, and new connections at about $1.7 million, and then the result of the increase in rents. The volume rate was expecting additional $516,000 this year, the fixed charge or facilities charge $142,000, and increase in PFAS treatment charge of $183,000. In real terms, the facilities charge and volume rate had a proposed 8% increase. The volume rate would go from $6.39 to $6.90 per thousand gallons. The facilities charge, the flat fee or fixed charge for the smallest meter size (5/8 inch meter), which was the majority in the system, would go from $35.95 per quarter to $38.95 per quarter. The PFAS treatment charge would go from $37.00 to $40.78 per quarter. That concluded the operating budget. Councilmember Weitz confirmed this was an 8% rate increase. Mr. Calbi explained that when bringing in the PFAS treatment charge, the average rate payer using 7,000 gallons per month would see an overall annual increase of $87.52 on a typical single-family home with about four occupants and no irrigation. Councilmember Weitz asked when the PFAS surplus and PFAS fee would go away. Mr. Calbi stated that under advice of their attorney, not the Village Attorney but the attorney in their PFAS case, he probably should not answer that question as they were still waiting to get answers on the future of their legal suit against the manufacturer. Councilmember Winograd shared a story and thank you. She had a family member who lived out of district but used Ridgewood Water. She said two to three years ago, communication was not great, but now it was so good. She got the newsletter and read it. There was really engagement with the elderly community and moving them online away from landline numbers. The partnership with Wyckoff and other communities had been great. Even as a general reader or family member of somebody reading it, people were saying really great things. In addition to the water service, they were taking a lot of information and engaging people and making them feel really good about what they were doing. She wanted to say thank you because she knew it did not have to do with water, but there was always the presentation and it was nice to hear nice things, especially from neighboring towns. Mr. Calbi thanked her and noted it was the support they got from the manager's office and all of Council. In addition, it was the 50 people who worked in the water department. They were the face of the utility. There being no other questions, they moved to capital. Mr. Calbi noted Mr. Bierwas would drive this one and apologized to Dylan because they did not have the revised version, but the total amounts were pretty much the same with a couple extra projects added in the revision. Mr. Bierwas promised to be brief but asked them to feel free to reach out with questions. Councilmember Weitz noted this would be the most expensive part of the night so they should take their time. Mr. Bierwas explained there were a total of five projects for little over $5.5 million. This was the world post- PFAS, so it was exciting for him to present. The first project was replacement vehicle 168, a distribution vehicle replacing a single-axle truck that spent more time in the garage than on the road. It was a 2014 International and they were looking at about $234,000. The second was distribution system repair and replacements for $4,316,000. This was all distribution main replacements at various locations identified in their hydraulic model and through the Water Accountability Act and internal analysis looking at things like break rate per thousand feet. Next 17 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 was facility improvements for $249,600. These were all identified in their asset management plan for things such as fences, signs, lighting, doors, locks, tree removal, and driveways. Next was storage tank improvements or replacements for $468,000 for ongoing improvements based on upcoming tank inspections through a service contract for all 11 tanks. That included things like exterior coatings and valve replacements. The last was an exciting one—a corrosion control pilot for $240,000. Corrosion control went into the water system to protect against leeching of lead pipes. They were looking at a new product and wanted to make sure they were doing their due diligence in the world post-COVID. The phosphate world had changed, so they wanted to pilot a new product and see how it did in their water system. Councilmember Mortimer asked how the pilot would work with an existing one in the water. Mr. Bierwas explained they would do a pipe loop using their water, running it through a pipe loop which mimicked the interior plumbing of a home. They were able to test that and see results independent of the water system, not putting it into a home but mimicking a home in a lab kind of setting in the field at their well. Councilmember Mortimer remembered when they approved the budget for the existing phosphate stuff—it was proprietary and they had always used it. If they made a move to this new one, were there any issues? Mr. Bierwas stated that was what this study would identify. Phosphate was changing, products were changing. Post-COVID, the phosphate industry exploded, prices exploded, delivery methods changed. They now got this product in totes instead of bulk delivery, which was costing more money. Councilmember Mortimer asked when this test would take place. Mr. Bierwas replied it was over a period of time beginning next year, likely ending in early 2027 before they made a decision. Councilmember Mortimer asked if it was possible to get regular updates on that because it was nerdy and interesting. Mr. Bierwas agreed absolutely. Mr. Bierwas confirmed totals were just over $5.5 million, specifically $5,527,600. Councilmember Weitz asked if that kept them largely flat in terms of what was rolling off this year. Mr. Calbi explained that maybe four years ago, when they knew PFAS investment was going to cost $150 million, he and Mr. Rooney sat down and projected future debt and decided that the ceiling for debt until they got past PFAS should stay around $5 million a year. That was why they were always hovering around that number until they closed on all those loans and got a better idea of where they sat in terms of future debt, knowing there was a lot of distribution that would need to be replaced in the future. Mayor Vagianos knew once they finished with PFAS, they would go to the next round, Phase 2. Mr. Weitz confirmed the overall capital was staying about the same. Councilmember Winograd asked about tree removal, wanting to know if tree replanting was built into capital even outside their district since they owned a lot of land. Mr. Bierwas confirmed that was included in their project with that contract for tree replacement. Councilmember Winograd asked if it was one-to-one, and Mr. Bierwas said it depended on the project but if it was a tank project, it would be one-to-one. There being no further questions, Mayor Vagianos thanked Mr. Bierwas, Mr. Calbi, and Mr. Hamlin. The council took a break and reconvened at 7:14 p.m. Roll call was taken with all council members present. 5. BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT AND PLANNING BOARD Mr. Kazmark moved to the Board of Adjustment, which he would present. If they looked at the Board of Adjustment, they did not have any salaries and wages except for the other pay line item, which they were not requesting this year but had requested in prior years. All staffing for this, 18 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 which was a singular employee, was on the Planning Board budget. There were no salaries andwages. Legal advertising was remaining the same. For other professional services, if they clicked on that tab, there were some increases relative to that, primarily for professional services of their municipal planner who they had been working with quite closely, especially on affordable housing obligation. They were looking at the possibility of moving some of this appropriation or requested appropriation over to the affordable housing trust fund. Mr. Rooney and Ms. Andreula were working on determining what that adjustment should look like based on what was on the affordable side and what she handled for other matters. Councilmember Weitz asked why they did not budget the $96,000 last year if it was for the planner, since they knew they were going to have to deal with affordable housing this past year. Mr. Kazmark explained this had more to do with planning out where they were going from here forward with affordable housing. Last year they knew they had an obligation to adopt a plan within the prescribed time frame. This year they realized there were concerns in the community and they were going to continue to need services probably more so than anticipated last year for site planning and similar tasks. That $60,000 request was likely to be reduced as they moved through the process based on what they could charge back to the affordable housing trust fund. There being no other questions, they moved to the Planning Board. On the Planning Board, they had one employee with a contractually obligated cost of living adjustment. They also had a nominal amount of money budgeted for overtime if there was a need for any type of special meeting or after-hours work. Legal advertising was actually reduced as Heather spoke about at her budget presentation with some changes being made to do legal notices online on their website rather than through paid media. Line item 28 was an adjustment from last year with regard to professional planning consultant services. That had the potential to be reduced as well. Legal services for the board had been reduced because there had been fewer meetings with the Planning Board in 2025. Councilmember Mortimer asked if the professional planning consultant was the same as for the zoning board. Mr. Kazmark confirmed yes. There were two professional planners they used. One was Beth McManus, who was dealing primarily with affordable housing but did some conflict work. At the last council meeting, the Village Council onboarded John Barry, who handled primarily all applications that came before the Planning Board. Councilmember Weitz noted that somebody had been doing this work for the last year or two. They did not allocate money here as well last year, but now were allocating more money this year. He wondered why it was changing so much year to year, a $200,000 swing between the two. Ms. Winograd knew the Planning Board was not meeting as frequently while the Zoning Board was meeting much more. There were also two pieces of litigation. One was decided this week regarding a contested Zoning Board application. That ruling came down from the superior court judge siding with the plaintiff. At one point they anticipated they might need additional planning services if that case was decided in favor of the Village and there was an appeal. The $60,000 appropriated in the Zoning Board budget was going to be adjusted accordingly in light of that turn of events as well. Ms. Andreula explained they unfortunately made a lot of cuts last year based on where they needed to be. This was restorative. If they looked at what was actually adopted and what was modified, they had to make a lot of transfers to keep up with everything happening. They only had $8,200 19 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 and had to transfer a lot of money to pay bills that came in. Where they saw line 028, theprofessional planner John Barry, Council approved a contract for $150,000 split between Zoning and Planning. Councilmember Weitz said he saw it was the $32,000 other contractual services they were now trying to make up for. Ms. Andreula confirmed yes. Mr. Kazmark noted that with all professional services, they took the allocated amount approved in the Council resolution from the December 10th meeting and applied those resolution numbers to the budget. Those numbers would be modified before they received the budget for introduction based on the trust fund and also based on the outcome of some litigation discussed earlier. There being no further questions, they moved to the Village Manager budget tab. On the summary page, full-time salaries showed a nominal increase of about $16,000 relative to any cost of living adjustments for the three employees in the Manager's office. With regard to other expenses, they were reducing that budget by approximately $10,000. They made some modifications to various line items to achieve that. There being no questions, they moved to Village Council. 6. VILLAGE COUNCIL There was actually a reduction between the 2% increase to the actual of $26,000. Salaries and wages remained the same. They had reduced professional services, which was line item 048, because they were removing the SID consultant. Now that the SID was active and stood up, that allocation of $24,500 previously had been removed from the budget. The only professional services provider in that line item was their grant writer, who had kept their rate the same as 2025 at $39,600. Other than that, it was status quo. The budget came in less than what they did last year. Headcount was the same. Mr. Kazmark noted he would ask to address the Village Attorney's budget on Monday night at their next meeting. There had been some expenses budgeted specifically when it came to the labor attorney and some outside counsel matters that he needed to get more clarity on. He would ask Ms. Andreula to add the Village Attorney's budget back to the agenda in coordination with Heather's office for Monday. That wrapped up Village Council. The last section was Mr. Rooney for the Finance Department, Tax Collector, and Parking Utility. With regard to the Parking Utility, as mentioned earlier, they did not have all revenues finalized yet, so they would just be talking about the appropriation side. There being no further questions, they moved to Finance. 7. FINANCE DEPARTMENT, TAX COLLECTOR, AND PARKING UTILITY Bob Rooney, Chief Financial Officer, explained that for the Finance Department, salaries and wages were primarily flat. The increase for full-time was contractual. There was a slight increase in overtime anticipated trying to meet financial statement deadlines. Other expenses were less than the 2% goal. They had eliminated penetration testing this year. He kept some items in there for possible testing in 2026, and professional services related to their time and attendance fluctuated depending on headcount. This was anticipating a slight headcount charge by Primepoint. Other than that, there was nothing. Councilmember Weitz had a question on line 01212, the intern. Mr. Rooney explained they had a person who came in who was actually the relative of one of his employees, a senior in high school also participating as a math major in Bergen Community College getting credit. This was ideal for him. He was outstanding and did a great job. He did not have another intern—he just had not had anybody show interest in the past couple years. 20 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 Councilmember Winograd said she loved interns and was unaware they had one. In summary, on the Finance Administration budget, they were actually just over $1,300 less than a 2% increase for 2026. Mayor Vagianos said it was good. Moving to the Tax Collector, all salaries were contractual with a slight increase from last year. Other expenses were $200 over what they anticipated. There was a slight increase in postage and express charges which continued every year. Other than that, that was about it. Again, it was just over $200 less than the 2% adjustment. Mr. Kazmark noted it was a consistent theme coming from the Finance Department. Mr. Rooney joked he had to play by his own rules. Moving to parking, the revenues were not completed, so some of this may be reduced or increased depending on where they landed. His anticipation was to hire another either full-time or part-time parking enforcement officer. That would depend on how the revenue stream played out this year as to what he could anticipate for next year. Councilmember Weitz indicated he preferred part-time. Mr. Rooney agreed he did too. They put out interviews for full-timers but did not get many coming onboard. For part-timers, they did have a lot of interest. Mayor Vagianos asked about the significant increase from the 2025 actual to the 2026 budget request on the total, from $2.5 million to $2.9 million. Mr. Rooney explained the big increase was debt service. As bonds got older in maturities, the principal started going up and interest was pretty much static. That was the cause of that fluctuation. There was also $100,000 in statutory expenditures. Mayor Vagianos asked about the other expenses actual—looking at $190,777, asking if that was primarily in lines 029-030. Mr. Rooney confirmed yes, noting that actual figure did not have all expenditures filtered through yet for parking. They still did allocations and had other charges coming through. Mr. Kazmark asked if that $190,777 was not with all bills paid essentially for 2025. Mr. Rooney confirmed that was correct. That made up for almost $200,000 right there. Mayor Vagianos said he saw the rest and was good. There being no other questions, Mr. Rooney concluded his section. B. ADJOURNMENT AND SCHEDULING OF NEXT MEETINGS Councilmember Winograd thanked everyone, noting the budget was significantly improved from the first year for a number of reasons. She thanked Mr. Rooney and everyone who made it easy for them and was very grateful they were there helping with this process. Mr. Kazmark first thanked the Council for their indulgence in allowing them to modify the schedule and allow blue-collar workers who were scheduled to be there to come in on Monday after they were rested from the storm. Their next meeting would be Monday, February 2nd, again a 5:00 p.m. start. They would start with the Signal Division, Water Pollution Control Facility, Fleet, Streets and Yard Waste, Engineering Division, utilities which fell under Public Works, and then close with Emergency Management. That would conclude director budget presentations. However, that night they would also address capital funds, debt service, deferred charges, shared service agreements, revenues in the current fund, salary and accumulated leave, staff levels (which they had addressed during each budget hearing), surplus and current fund, and trust fund balances. They would allocate some time at the conclusion of that meeting after meeting with the blue-collar staff and Emergency Management to address those issues. The final budget meeting would be on 21 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026 Monday, February 9th, where they would discuss the final capital budget and the overall tax rate and the impact this year's budget would have on residents. 5. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC There were no comments from the public. 6. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Village Council, on a Motion by Councilmember Winograd, seconded by Councilmember Mortimer, and carried unanimously by voice vote, the Village Council’s Special Public Budget Meeting was adjourned at 7:33 p.m. ________________________________________ Paul Vagianos Mayor ________________________________________ Jennifer Natoli Deputy Village Clerk 22 Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting January 26, 2026