On Thursday-21-March the Bogota Borough Council held their second meeting for March. To start the meeting the Mayor and Council were given two reports from Borough professionals. The first was from Borough Planner Paul Grygiel to give an update on the plans to redeveloped a couple of properties within the Borough. One is the North side of W. Ft. Lee rd from the Hackensack River to the NYSE Railway crossing. This area contains several businesses including the Eastern Materials Concrete Plant, Jescraft Industries, Tom’s Service Centre , the old Hess garage and other business’. The Hess garage is planned to be included in the River Club Development. The other property is around Cross St between River Rd and the Hackensack River. This includes Outwater Plastic, Bogota Golf, and abandoned industrial buildings. Mr. Grygeil explained that the planners role is to identify which areas will fit into the criteria that are in need of redevelopment and reporting that to the Borough Government. Then it is upon the Governing Body though the Borough Planning Board, and Borough Council on how those areas are to be developed.
The next presenter was Dieter Lerch who is the Registered Municipal Accountant. Mr Lerch gave data sheet of the 2019 Borough Budget. He said this budget will be about $500,000 less that the previous Budget. This savings will allow the Borough to only have a $52.00/ per $262,000 property tax increase this year. Mr Lerch made a point of saying that represents just over half of the increase for 2018. Even with what can be perceived as a small tax cut almost all Government Departments will be able to have an increase in their budget by at least 15% to 20% for the Library, DPW, Police, and Fire Dept. Other departments including the Rescue Squad, Auxiliary Police, and the Recreation Commission will be able to received a higher percentage increase to their budgets. The new budget has also been able to fund a new community events budget, which will allow the Bogota 125th Anniversary celebrations to be finance. Mr Lerch commented that this fiscally conservative budget will allow the Borough to maintain a good bond rating. He also talked about that it may time for the Borough to consolidate some of their outstanding bond debts into on account which could save money on interest payments.
There will be a presentation of the new budget at the next Council meeting on Thursday-4-April. This will allow for Public comment on the Budget before the Council votes on it.
On the agenda items. The Consent Agenda, and introduction of ordinances where all pass by an unanimous vote. One added item was to authorized payment for a Fire Work display on Bogota Day 2019. This was passed by a 4-3 vote with Mayor Kelemen casting the tie breaking vote for the first time with this council.
The next Bogota Borough Council will be held on Thursday-4-April. This will be a regular Council meeting and work session starting at 7:30p. This will be held in the Council Chambers located on the second floor of 375 Larch Ave. Bogota NJ This meeting is open to the public.
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