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to Pat Lepore at: Mayor Pat Lepore BOROUGH OF WOODLAND PARK Municipal Building 5 Brophy Lane Woodland Park, NJ 07424-2752 or Send E-mail to: plepore@wpnj.us The Mayor’s office door is open on Mondays for meetings with any Borough resident, but due to his busy schedule,appointments are preferable. |
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The 2010 Property Tax Bill was recently mailed to every property owner in the Borough of Woodland Park. The Borough of Woodland Park, like every other municipality in our state, has been faced with increased costs in healthcare and operating expenses. Governor Chris Christie’s $217,595 cut in our municipal aid has made budgeting more difficult than in past years. Worker’s Compensation injuries and military duty have posed staffing challenges for department heads already short on staff. And, pension contribution obligations increased by $407,901 for a total of $778,092. We have met the challenge head on by taking the following actions: 1) I have negotiated contracts with our unions that |
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resulted in 0 percent increases this year for Police and DPW employees and a 1 percent increase for the administrative staff. 2) I also negotiated significant concessions from the unions saving taxpayers even more in operating expenses. Our grant awards increased this year by more than $88,000. In particular, the Council and I wish to acknowledge and thank the Passaic County Freeholders for their Open Space Grant for $260,000 that’s being used for improvements to Frank Zaccaria Memorial Park. Berkeley College provided $18,758 for the purchase of new “Welcome to Woodland Park” signs. We were awarded $300,000 from the NJDOT for Mt. Pleasant Ave. road improvements. Almost $59,000 was received from Homeland Security. And, the governing body cut $345,000 from the defeated Woodland Park school budget, without affecting education. Remember, the borough receives only a quarter of your tax dollars. The County takes a fourth. The local and high schools account for the other half. Fortunately, the County of Passaic’s portion of your taxes, along with Passaic Valley High School’s portion, went down this year. It’s important to note, that Woodland Park still maintains the lowest budget when compared to our sister Passaic Valley communities, by far. The Council and I will continue our efforts to hold the line on costs while maintaining services. I wish you a safe and enjoyable summer. |
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| PLEASE NOTE! – The last day to pay 3RD QUARTER taxes, without interest, has been extended to Friday, August 20, 2010. Payments received after the 20th will be charged interest back to the original due date of August 1, 2010. | |||||||
