purposes is open um call to order Madame clerk in accordance with the open public meeting Act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this budget hearing of the Franklin Township Council was made as required indicating that this budget hearing would take place remotely via Zoom at 7 pm on Tuesday March 19 2024 uh if we could all say the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to to the flag of the United States of America America and to the Republic to the Republic for which it stands indivisible with liberty Justice for All Madam clerk please scroll the role Council Barrison councilwoman Prince councilman Kazi here mayor Kramer here Deputy Mayor baz that's it councilwoman UD here councilman vasella here councilman right uh do I have a motion to open to the public so seconded who in second on in favor of op to the public say I I post say n motion is carried we're open to the public uh five minutes each um no yielding of time please state your name and address uh this is a budget hearing you're still allowed to speak about anything related to government I think we would appreciate it if it's limited to um budget items but it's that's up to you um oh does anybody anybody from the public wishing to speak we ask that you use the raise hand feature again anybody from the public wishing to speak we ask that you use the raise hand feature right we have no one on Telephone right now no sir I do not see anybody indicating they would like to speak at this time Mr a motion to close the public portion of the meeting based on there's nobody looking to speak second mve then seconded all in favor of closing public portion say I I post say nay motion is carried public session is closed Mr vorn Locker it's your meeting thank you Mr Mayor uh our first budget to discuss this evening is the OE budget for the fire prevention office I will share that screen now and we have with us the director of fire prevention John house so M there you are okay good evening everyone I apologize I'm having an issue with my camera so I can't throw my camera on for you um that's right because the your screen it should be your budget so right no one will no one will look at your beautiful face tonight um so this evening uh Mr house is presenting his budget which is proposed at as always a very very specific number 8,900 $81 which reflects a $371 increase from 2023 and as you see Mr house also utilizes his funds annually he has spent 99.85% of his 20123 budget okay um the the two changes from from last year are one um we cut out the 400 for equipment which uh equipment maintenance which was um really our Scot packs our air packs that we use in firefighting um we under the shared services we said that the the district should really be picking up that cost because the air packs are used for firefighting purposes and they agreed so that will no longer be in our Township budget um I do have one increase and that's the $771 and that what that is is for um we're expecting during the calendar year of 2024 that the state will adopt the new version of the state fire code and that will necessitate Us in buying uh new code books and that's what that cost involves so if you take the 771 subtract the 400 that credit per se is how you got to the 371 increase okay so are there any questions for Mr House on his uh operating budget here just that last year you went way over in Fire and other safety equipment uh I guess you can explain why but is are you anticipating that again um off the top of my head I can't remember all the things that we purchased [Music] um all right I mean you but you're not expecting I don't want us to run short you're not expecting to no no okay no all right that's it great job John I think this is hard for you almost spending the 100% And you budgeted really nicely good job thank you so if there are no other questions on this budget and I'll hold for a second if there are I'll bring up there's a capital request for fire prevention that will need some explanation okay so I will share the capital worksheet for fire prevention so the capital worksheet reflects the acquisition of three pickup trucks for the fire prevention office if if you recall from the last budget hearing when we presented the it capital we had a discussion about uh radios that were included in the it budget for the fire prevention office and I had mentioned that there has been an ongoing discussion between the township and Fire District number one regarding increasing that would be at the expense of the fire district um and that discussion was that those radios would only be purchased if there was an increase in Personnel that was fully funded by the fire district this is another acquisition that would need to be made that would be fully funded by the fire district should that increase in Personnel uh through the shared service agreement with Fire District number one happen during this budget year I don't know I don't know if anyone has any questions about that but we're we're here to answer them if if you do Bob I had one question so if it doesn't happen that Personnel then this will not be purchased that's correct correct uh I have a question this is the danger of doing Zoom meetings I have access to Google according to google such truck cost $ 37,700 not when it's fully outfitted and those are State contract yeah the state contract um for the vehicle itself is uh 54,2 186 and then there's an additional charge of 2,077 so $2,772 79363 um why is the state contract are you looking at are you looking at a heavy duty four-wheel drive vehicle mayor I'm looking at a 2024 gmcc 1500 that's probably drive drive or two I don't know yeah but that shouldn't make much of a difference the difference between four-wheel drive and two wheel drive is significant yeah and and if we find that we can get the four-wheel drive pickup cheaper I apologize but this is what we we got these quotes from the dealer uh when I put in four-wheel ATV I Get Money I get prices of up to $66,000 81,000 79,000 yep okay diesel okay there are many versions of this truck so there certainly are all right thank you so um what is the exact status of the arrangement we're in negotiations councilman there is no there is no okay so understanding you can't put a exact timeline my concern is that uh uh we budget for it this year and by the time it's actually implemented it's next year as I said councilman we would not be paying for one cent of this we have it and then the distri would pay the entire cost of this Capital expense as well as the capital expense previously discussed at the last meeting okay so I just want how does that work then if it's in we have to buy and then they reimburse us as they do every month when they pay us for the shared service agreement now so I understand what you're saying all even out but it could happen to where then we pay for it this year and then it comes put back in our budget and just used in our general funds next year if it's close to the end of the year I mean either way there will be a wash nothing spent unless the deal goes through the deal goes through ultimately where were reimbursed so it's kind of a mood Point correct that's correct but it's still part of the capital budget so you need to hear it no no and I appreciate it I just think it's a little bit unique and I know this this Arrangement that we started uh probably over a decade ago works out wonderfully so I I'm fine with it I just want to understand the details thank you excuse me councilman if we don't build it into the budget and don't have the money available there we don't have permission to spend it so we have to bring the budget up to the amount of what the cost will be and then get reimbursed for it if the budget were say $240,000 less we would not have the wherewithal legally to buy the vehicles that's why the price is there and then we'd get reimbursed that's just one of the budget regulations I I understand that completely like I say I just want to get clear I I know Bob explained it last meeting but I wasn't sure it was 100% that we would not be actually spending anything it's not that's why I'm prefacing it with the fact that unless we have an agreement with the fire district in the calendar year these purchases won't be made we have no need for them other than if there's an increase in Personnel okay any other questions Council okay um that those are the budgets for uh fire prevention so um I I thank John for being here tonight and if there's no other questions we can move on to the police department budget thank you thank you John so tonight we have director Mayweather we have uh Captain Fredricks we have Lieutenant Wilson and we have somewhere Captain heon oh there he is actually with his picture so I'm I'm looking for a name Captain not a picture um and they are here for the police department budget the uh 911 dispatch budget and the animal control budget as well OEM budget and um the uh Capital requests for the police department so we can start with the police department budget I will share the screen now well no actually I won't share the screen now you'll bear with me I'll get rid of the fire prevention ones and then open up the police department now I can share okay so the police department budget is proposed at something doesn't $144,700 which is a decrease of 9,550 from the 2023 budget of $774,000 um I will turn it over to the director and her staff direct good evening everyone so I I can say that um right off the top and if you can go down a little bit Bob sure the right there okay that's good so the big biggest um decrease is the vehicles I am not asking for cars this year um and I will be transparent like I was last year the difficulty of getting the cars actually into you know acquiring them purchasing them has been rough so we're a little delayed with that we just got cars from last year they just came in a few maybe couple weeks ago so this year I'm not asking for vehicles but if you go and you look at our lines the increases that we do have um most of the contractual items and um things that are slightly increased is just due to cost increase that we cannot control one of the things that I do have an increase in is our Education and Training budget and I will explain that um we had uh have had had great success with our um management coaching from Susie Robinson with our supervisors and now we want to also offer that similar training to our first line officers and I will tell you that the resource and the support and the training and the coaching that we receive as a result of this I mean the price on that cannot compared to the possible lawsuits and other liabilities we would face if we didn't have that training so we're asking for an additional 53,000 in that line and you know like I said for that reason I think that it's more it's a better investment than cars this year you probably say if you've been here while that's the first time you probably heard the chief um Police director say that but I I'm sold um I said when we talked about hiring cops everyone was excited um nice new shiny uniforms they went to training take pictures it's exciting they come they get SPN in with their families and it's like having you know a new baby it's all cute until they're KY and they're pooping and everybody's all stressed out about it right now our babies are growing up and we need more support in terms of training to make sure that you know we're um managing them better so it goes two folds we help our supervisors learn how to deal with generation YZ whatever they are considered and we also have coaching teaching them how to manage this profession called law enforcement so I will tell you that is the disparity in we're under but that's where to increase when um I gave up the cars to do more training and and direct would you just explain the difference what we mean by cars in this budget versus the capital budget that we'll discuss in a in a few minutes these are sedan Vehicles these are the four-door detective Bureau and um you know unmark Vehicles right so and and I know for council members who have been here for a while I'll I'll repeat this but I'll for some of the ones who don't recall uh the state New Jersey has uh has established useful life criteria for Capital expenditures of five years or more a sedan does not have a useful life of five years but an SUV does generally the Patrol Division at this point for marked units is a is a uh Ford Explorer SUV we'll talk about SUVs when we talk about the capital budget this would be sedans that that don't uh are not categorized as a capital expenditure by the state so that's why they would be included in this budget and also you see an increase in clothing and uniforms and that is for the newly hired officers um that we hire because they're not they don't get the contractual monies when they first start we have to buy them their first set of uniforms so well I'm not sure I'm comfortable thinking of our new officers as KY babies but but well the other comparison was puppies you know pooping on the rug so I mean better I'm better with that but I'm always I'm always happy to see you spend money on training training training is good okay okay are there any other questions on this part of the police budget okay and I will stop sharing my screen and I will bring up the next one the next one will be the 911 dispatch budget it a little smaller here so we can see it all the 911 dispatch budget is proposed at $278,500 which is an increase of $18,750 over the 29,800 of 2023 excuse me the majority of my dispatch um budget is Motorola time materials antennas um batteries things that pertain to making sure our emergency communications work um there was a slight decrease in the Motorola contract of $117,000 which lowered that area however um it only was lowered because it was taken out and created a separate line of $30,000 which specifically covers um batteries um antennas headsets um cases for the radios s and things like that because those are items that we just purchased versus having them come in and install them so that line there's a slight increase but that's really the price of things have gone up um just like I told you last year when we needed more money for the Motorola contract just like everyone else everyone keeps increasing their prices and we'll see I'm sorry our Education and Training line went up because I lost two we have in in-house trainers um my one in-house trainer retired and unfortunately my other in-house trainer detective gr Wilson passed so right now I have to pay for train the trainer courses for uh two new officers to provide in-house training um for this line so that's why you see that uh like almost $4,000 increase in line 042 too is that why the uniform allowance went up the uniforms here uh yes that's slightly it went up um we used about $2,000 last year but um dispatch we did buy them they have like Po shirts we want them to look the same you know um they I don't want them coming to work look like they sleep in pajamas but that the new hires yes so the the the one thing that I would draw to your attention council is that the and as the Director said the first line in this budget which is the big number 233,000 while it does show a decrease of 17,700 the budget also reflects a shift in budgeting and that's line 058 which is at the bottom which is now budgeted at $30,000 and it hadn't previously not been funded um what was found is that for budgeting purposes it was better to move some of the money out of the line the first line of the budget and into a new line for out of contract repairs and and out of contract purchases for equipment necessary to run the radio system again I know I sound like a broken record for those who been through this but that first line is not just the police department radio system it's the radio system for all emergency services in the township that's fully funded in the police budget and nowhere else but correct me if I'm wrong Kathy Moody change 026 is more for Service Repairs where they come with the equipment 058 is when we want to buy parts extra parts a replacement parts but it's the the 30,000 also covers your outof contract repairs as well okay which previously was always budgeted in the first line so it's because the Motorola contract didn't actually go down okay so are there any questions on the dispatch budget if not I will stop sharing that close that one on my screen the next budget will be Emergency Management Emergency Management budget is proposed at $122,800 and it was budgeted at $122,800 last year as well did you just move lines for o 57 no they didn't buy buy buy they need no need for purchase of furniture this year but there's an increase in equipment repair and maintenance and that's something that I can let the director discuss so what happened um in this budget we had the donation of furniture um from oh it just yeah I'm I'm getting it back up I'm sorry okay my screen went funny that's all okay we had the donation of furniture from umal so we don't need more furniture um but we do have equip um repair and maintenance we're working on um I believe we wanted to order two more radios we now have instead of uh what was it before two deputies we now have four deputies um and in case you don't know uh OEM has become more demanding um we now have the former State OEM coordinator who's the simc county o OEM coordinator and she's running like the state so there's a lot of Demands and um I just needed extra support in doing this so this is the slight increase that it cost us okay so are there any questions on the Emergency Management budget okay so the next budget will be annual control open that one up so animal control for 2024 is proposed at $4 49,28334 6680 of 2023 director okay so um one of the lines that increase lightly is chemicals and gases that's just like um the cleaning um cleaning supplies and things that they have to do in the animal shelter and just so you know this is not the bulk of our budget over 140,000 of our actual budget not including this money 140 extra money it comes from second chance that's who pays for a lot of the things that we need in the animal shelter so right now we're pretty flat um nothing's really changed here okay was that just increase cost for the chemicals chemicals correct I'm sorry yes so it's not you're not using more there's nothing no specifically needs cleaning okay I will say this um last year um I assigned a sergeant kind of as the overseer he's one of our sergeants who actually owns a farm and I think even just driving by the you see a difference in the way it stands out um we just straightened up some things you know housekeeping uh DPW got us a storage area in the back um you know and we just trying to stay on top of things I think it's just good to have like someone a manager over it okay all right so the next thing to discuss in the police department will be their capital budget I'm just going to get to that let's start with the easy one first and then we'll get that out of the way the first capital budget is for Emergency Management it's a small capital budget so let me just get to that it has one thing in it and so that'll just get that out of the way I don't even think I pred that one what's that the radios yes two mobile and portable radios yeah so as you can imagine the OEM radios um are a bit more powerful a bit more expensive um they cost more I no other way to put it and we have um more people that's helping manage these jobs during emergencies that we have to be prepared for these are radios that allow for communication beyond the system that we operate within so that we're able to communicate [Music] countywide any questions on that I'm just curious what what kind of radios are they that they're that expensive they're very similar to the police portable radios that to be honest with you the cost for two portable radios and two mobile radios that are across different um different band uh uh UHF Bans are more expensive than the ones that we have generally for the police officers in the field um Captain Fredericks yes the uh speaking upon the radios those radios provide us the ability to speak uh like like I said countywide and throughout the uh County with other PDS and other fire departments in the event of anomaly storms or emergencies yeah and om State Police we have to be able to those radios are stronger so in town the radios that we have is mainly to talk to dispatch and to other radios of the officers these radios need to reach further if that makes sense and of the county operates in a 900 megahertz band and we operate in a 700 MHz band so the radios have to be dual band radios right well said thank you I pay attention everyone I understand what that means but but well okay the sad thing is I do um so are there are there any questions explain it for the council to understand question on radios yeah mayor and I study Electronics engineering so we understand the May the mayor gets it mayor gets it was a pilot well I like pling language though I like pling language they need to reach further they need to work during a storm they need to work independently that's why have a different they need to be able to communicate with people who have radios that aren't the same as ours um so okay the next one let me just close out these here and the next one will be the police department uh Capital request once I find there we go okay okay director I will tell you the the main thing about this um capital budget this year pretty much everything um at requesting there's pretty much it's meant we need it uh axon if year four of our payment installation as you know body cams are required so the bul of that is our body cam we're in a contract fiveyear contract this is year four um our project PD safe um we need to replace equipment mandatory equipment for officers that expires in 5 years five years ago they bought a whole lump of equipment that is due to expire um this year so we have to replace it for the officers um you can say what they are it's the bulletproof V so uh I'll tell you in true fashion I had uh Captain Frederick's today meeting with the vendor to try and see if we could get the get ones that last for 10 years he failed no I'm joking that was his that was the only assignment he had today was get those vests that last for 10 years but no of course um the manufacturer is it still five white still five but they're more they're better designs they're lighter um you know with those also we have to buy the vest we have to buy the exterior case so um for the vest uh interior case um that covers the actual body armor parts the exterior case when they wear it outside of their clothes those things are required and they all expire five years so you won't see this purchase again for another five years um coming up with a way our our plan is to try for this not to be like this but um before I came 5 years ago they bought a schloo at least 60 cops are still there and guess what we have to replace their vest um walkie-talkie uh mobile firmware update and Alignment so it just happens um I can't I don't know how to explain it but our firmware and software on our walkie-talkies and our mobile units needs to be updated has nothing to do with the mobile contract these are four things that are outside of the contract these are radios and things that we already have we just have to pay for the firmware update it's not free um VR training simulator uh few years ago it was a request um I know at least of the Public Safety Committee I don't know I think I had it in last year for the um budget hearing for VR equipment which is like the um what do you call it yes firearm simulator for our officers to be able to make judgment calls to shoot or don't shoot we talked about this last year we kept getting quotes that was quite pricey we were able to find and test a system that was 70,000 the systems we looked at previously were double um even axon they wanted to charge us per user which I said was ridiculous um again that was way over 150,000 so this system um we own it uh we don't have to pay for updates like that it's just it's more I don't want to say video gamish but L can you explain it and know you guys want to see it yeah so the system is uh I don't know if everyone's familiar with VR virtual reality is basically what the the system is the officer will wear goggle and backpack type computer and within that computer system we're able to train the officer in real time and we also PL to maybe even try to have it at our Citizen Academy so it does dual roles um we'll put the officer through uh an entire call responding being dispatched to the call responding and then handling either or mental health call or um whatever scenario the trainers decide to come up with but it gives the officer real time reps um so that when they're in the field they can respond and react better okay a question I have one quick question for for Lloyd so this system is not just for firearms training this is for scenario training outside of of shoot don't shoot type scenarios correct yes correct we can do domestic violence mental health calls shoot don't shoot motor vehicle stops uh any scenario we can come up with well the scenario that the manufacturer sends us is about 20 something scenarios and we can send suggestions to manufactor for them to create particular scenarios okay thank you and can I say this we previously would borrow the counties um but it it became it was two things um take have to take our people to the county to do it and recently I think they shut it down they sto using it I think probably because I mean like I said the system they had proba cost like3 $400,000 and they had issues they probably need to upgrade new system it's been there quite a while hi is this one one unit um no this is this is two units but we own them um all the other companies was trying to have a service fee and I um charges per user every year so these we actually own okay and and they come with maintenance and all that so that we're not paying additional charges if something does not work that that's correct if something's wrong with you send it back to the manufacturer they send us another another unit and and just so you know so that you don't think it's just headsets it's also guns replicas of our guns and tasers and things like that like are they provide that too so it's not a real gun it's a replica so that the feel and the weight is the same but they're attached to the system and they they work with the VR system I can just interject real quick a quick example is if anyone has heard of um sandbox sandbox is a uh it's an upper coming company but it does virtual reality um mostly if you have kids or grandkids um it's a system where you can go and you play games like um squid games and things of that nature the system is similar similar to that so when they come up with new video new scenarios do we have to pay for those or they they're just part of it no that's part of it they that'll be like our firmware update they sent out the email you have new videos you log on to the platform and you do the update takes about 30 minutes and we have the new scenario I have one question mayor go ahead yeah I remember reviewing this in a public safety meeting it sounds like a a a very very um good thing to have all the officers ready to deal with all of the scenarios they unfortunately have to encounter um curiously whenever the training happens and it's seen that perhaps one of the scenarios the officer needs some additional uh training or whatever you would call it is there a second phase of this like then what happens is it does the video programs just keep working with the officer or is there then a separate training me me ISM I'm totally for this I'm just trying to understand okay you do this then what's the next step after the virtual reality training you want you mean any confidential I'm not asking for anything that no no you're saying so you're saying after we do the virtual training if we identify any weaknesses or we ident well that's what it's for after no I know I I totally supported I'm just saying what is the next phase of so two things benefit of it ahead so two things go with this so let's say a supervisor which they're required to do review um the body cam footage on an officer the way they handle the situation and the officer is deemed to need more training they can use it for that and then take them through these VR and a supervisor the um the instructor can control it to give them certain situations where they have to you know again retrain on that and keep training them after that is done then we can monitor that officer see where their weaknesses are let's say we feel like during that training scenario they didn't quite understand the domestic violence laws or how to explain um the domestic violence laws to a caller because it's not just shoot or don't shoot during those scenarios they have to talk doing the scenarios and act like they're actually going through the event okay so the supervisor can sit down with the officer and say you know there's a better way you could have done that you could have done this you could have done that so it there's a training component they're not just playing video games it's oneon-one two at a time two instructors at a time and um that's how they would handle that so it's much we have to qualify we have to shoot at a Target but this is a little more in-depth and it's more qualitative no that's that's fine thank you I I I again I I I support this I just was trying to see how it would ultim be utilized so it's in-house or in-house expertise that upon evaluation would work with whatever officer if they saw there was a need with all these scenarios that they may go through with the virtual reality we could we could do both we could do need based and we could do routine I mean when they do firearms training we could do that as well since they're in smaller grou grps when we doing firearms training and no I I I I think it's great it sounds can be invaluable and someday possibly even save a life thank you thank you director and Captain Frederick's also just share with me that there's no annual service fee for this system okay bud budgeting nerd question if the vests last five years why aren't they in the operating budget not the capital budget um they last five years I thought Oh I thought it's a last five years five years or more oh okay got it that's when we're trying to buy 10 year ones but we'll see sorry um so okay any more questions about the VR okay um soell block door upgrade so in 2022 um the law was changed where in cell blocks you can no longer have bars because they are a strangulation slh hanging SL suicide mechanism so New Jersey came up with a law requiring all agencies who have cell blocks to change their doors so that project is $475,000 and it's on the low end because we're going to remove um we're going to um not do all of the cells I believe uh I don't know if it's uh Captain Heron Captain FR can correct me I think we're going to leave four C um with this upate versus six yeah I think it's SP that we're going to leave okay it's required it's mandated they did give us an extension um but I don't want to wait until uh I mean it was due 2022 they um Extended it but we have like another year or so to get this done um questions about the cell lock door how long is I had a question how long is going to take to upgrade them after the budget approval Carl no oh that's it it it will be going to a contract and so it'll be it'll have to either be through a state contract or it'll have to go out to bid for the uh for the work to be done so it it'll be at least several months before we can award a contract in in my estimation and then it's a matter of things that we all deal with on a daily basis these days and that's supply chain and availability of materials and just so you know we've actually been kicking this can down the road since 2027 we were tolded in a previous inspection report and you know when I got here um they did the inspection and then they extended it because of covid in 2020 to 2022 and now we have an our first extension kind of on our own but we need to get it done yeah so Bob if it's not completed this year well it'll be completed this year it's just a matter of materials if they know it's in progress and we have a contract for it that that would probably satisfy our next inspection if it's in the process and if it's Capital Money That's budgeted in this year's budget and the project is started then that Capital money will carry over into 2025 is budget year if the project is incomplete good okay um the next one the 10 uh mobile computers and our cars um just like regular computers they have to be replaced and upgraded they utilized a lot and they need to be upgraded replaced and we work on a continuous basis so that we're not in a position like we are you know say with our vest where we have to replace all of them at once so we do 10 a year so this one I'll say Mr McQueen IT director the 10 computers that are being replaced I'm assuming are on an operating system that's no longer supported by Microsoft that is correct thank you and it's it also has to deal with the fact that by law these have to get going into our domain which we're in the process of we have finished all the ones we currently have we have some that can't be because we're outdated I have a question Mr McQueen uh these are special computers that there are each one about 5 5,400 I presume yeah yes they need to be ruggedized because they're in a car getting bounced and jostled around 24 hours a day as these cars are ridden you can't have a standard computer in there you need to have a ruggedized computer which does cost more okay like a tough book is called I don't know if they're call Tough books anymore I might be dating I don't know but I think that's what that's that I know as yeah they are still called Panasonic to or TP TP books okay you're supposed to be able to drop them from the top of a building I don't how many stories let's not try that all right um so this year I think it's the lowest number of explorers I've ever asked for um and I'll explain so um previously we we had cars approved and we were behind 17 vehicles and due to co due to State contracts issues with Ford we purchase out of the monies that and price increases as you know what vehicles have gone up the budget at 17 we were only able to purchase 13 Vehicles so I'm asking for four more to get us hopefully to that bottom line number where we were for 17 because of the price increase and because the unavailability of vehicles so those four will take us to making that 17 that's why um you know I didn't ask for the cars these four are more important and I'm giving you know a real number I'm not you know trying to play the ask for 10 get five these are the four that we really need like I said because we only bought 13 instead of the 17 that was previously budget because the price went [Music] up and with that um with the cars com the outfitting um I know it says pickup but there's no pickup that's just the outfitting for the [Music] Explorers with those four cars um come the vehicle Aon cameras um we're now changing over from um mobile Vision yeah right mobile Vision which I I don't know if it's true or not they're going out of business but I did hear that but axon cameras tie in line with our tasers and our body cams and we're trying to get to one system and we can use all cloud-based Services versus Burning disc on a different system um and the last thing is the command post shelter um as you know we have the grant money we have the budgeted money for the command um bus that we pray to get before all of our kids go to college or become grandparents and but we need a place to put it so we want to buy a um I don't know what's the I guess it's like I mean it's it's a uh a waterproof uh material uh not the frame that covers the vehicle with a front door and it keeps it enclosed and uh not exposed to the elements however it's not a permanent structure so that if it needed to be moved or and it has a a life expectancy of about 10 years and it is rated for 80 m per hour winds and my resource research said uh a 60 pounds per square foot snow Lo and we want to protect our Command bus from um the bird poop and the elements lot of poop tonight H lot of poop tonight oh boy okay so are there any questions on the capital requests for the police department and and police department Command Staff I'm gonna ask you to stay for the beginning we'll we'll do the capital uh one capital item at least and then we can go to the DPW budgets but there is one Capital item in the in the building capital for 20124 that's related to the police department so are there any questions on these Capital requests for the police department hearing none I will stop sharing the screen and now let me get up a capital budget that's related to the Police Department in buildings need my glasses [Applause] here that might be difficult for me to do because I don't see the [Music] spreadsheet call H the the secondary Emergency Operations is under which budget I have DPW Vehicles roads water roads no no D no buildings DPW buildings is the yeah that's what I thought and and Kathy Moody I don't see the building Capital spreadsheet in this folder um it should be there uh it was with roads it was right behind roads when I organized it all I I I I I have it I have I may have it let me look I'm not seeing it in this folder here Bob McQueen while you're doing what you're doing can you also go into the network and look in the shared folder for the the building Capital sheet please all right so well so let's talk about what it is since I don't have the the spreadsheet in front of me and what it is is a secondary Emergency Operations Center in the crb building um at 9:35 Hamilton Street and do you have that sheet director by any chance uh I do not have the sheet but I know what you're talking about yeah I do not see it in the folder either I only have vehicles um roads and water I don't have a buildings no I don't have Carl do you have it on on [Music] your I do not and I'm not logged into my work machine so it would have been part of the email I sent you uh last week with all the A's all right apologize it was here I have a buildings and grounds in regular DPW and water but I don't know that's that's a 310 account okay um see if I could send it to you again I have it I got it yeah no I have it okay perfect just have to know where to look so this has PD fire alarm and crb fire alarm upgrades I I don't see the the emergency Operation Center upgrade is it was it in this Budget car or was it the these are the ones that I had I don't I don't recall the other OEM director did we remove that from this year's budget so McQueen can help me out here I I don't you know was it in the it budget Bob yes yeah I had it money for OEM upgrades as a and that's all it would be and then that's all that it would be so it's my my mistake here um I knew it was I mean I can explain it yeah you can go ahead and explain it sure yeah it's in the it budget we discussed it last week last well longer than that but so no we discussed it in the budget hearing last week did we okay you weren't here it was my T capital I can open it up oh oh okay okay so long story short um we learned during so we had a um older gentleman who was getting scammed that brought a alleged bomb into the building um and then sergeant had them take it immediately outside but it was still near the building and we had to evacuate so at the end of the day we learn from that if the PD is compromised town hall is compromised we need a OEM command outside of the municipal complex and the better are placed INB is not that far as near Center town and you know we felt that probably would be the best location since we already have the space so we need some it things there um it's nothing major are you bringing that up 52 it's it's line 52 thanks okay all right there it is crb modifications EOC right so that that's really the purpose of it to upgrade and maintain uh EOC at crb down the street it could be used for other emergencies um you know like I always say you can't plan for an emergency we just have to be prepared for it so we learned from that experience um for multiple reasons if we had a larger scale um emergency um I don't know if you recognize that our EOC Now is really just the conference room in the police department which you know it's tight for us to have our Command staff meeting let alone say to have all of the council and emergency people um that are supposed to be in the EOC so that's the purpose of that and and because we in government and in particular the police department likes to use um initials for things EOC is emergency operation sorry that's okay we all do why thought everybody had that training and knew what EOC was okay well now that we said that I'm going to stop sharing this and go back to the main screen so that is the the conclusion of all of the capital budgets and and uh other expense budgets for the police department and their uh their various other supporting departments um are there any other questions for the director or her staff before we allow them to go sounds like you're off the hook director um thank you to uh the command staff and the director for being here tonight and Q I'll talk to you in the morning good night everyone good night good night good night so the next uh budgets that we have are all related to Public Works um we have Carl Hal here our Public Works manager um our first I'm going to just go out of capital for a second and go into DPW um I I don't know what order you have them in on your uh on your sheets mayor do is there any order that you have there open space is our next thing open space all right so which is related to public works so we have Carl Hal and we have our open space Land Management Consultant TK Kenyon so I will open up that budget so we're an hour into this meeting and we are on page 12 of 57 well there's many budgets that will take all of about 10 seconds a piece once get to it okay really quick okay so I I appreciate that that time check many of them in the finance and all other lines budgets are ones that will not take long and I recognize I've asked most the question so so take that into account go ahead excuse me okay so the open space budget is up on the screen I believe is it not did I share it no not yet okay there we go so was on my screen um so this is the open space budget the open space budget is something that I I every year say that it is different than all of our other budgets in that all of the money that funds the open space I'll call it spending plan is money from the trust fund which means that all monies that are unexpended um in a calendar budget year return to the trust at the end of the year um it's one of those uh it is much more a spending plan and it if this budget is one of those budgets that if it exceeds the number in a line it's money from a trust that can just be allocated for the expense and likewise if it if it's less than the line in this particular budget the money is returned to the open space trust at the end of the year as unexpended um so it's a little bit different than our normal OE budgets um that we do for all of the Departments so um I I know that this budget was sent out to everyone it it's got a whole lot of lines to it and it's not one that adds up the way other ones do in the same way but um I can get to the bottom line and the bottom line is that the total for salary and wage and OE and capital Improvement fund is is budgeted at 3,717 6720 which is a decrease of $250,400 when you take into account debt service which is line 37 in the spreadsheet that I think I just highlighted it for everyone um the total is 4,622 579 which is a decrease overall from last year of 2543308489 and the total appropriation received is 6,883 59 that's the estimated open space tax and that's an estimate at this point final numbers B and this is a flat tax so it's based on its percentage times the uh the ratable base for the township the ratable base is not finalized the the final uh the approval from the county tax board has yet to be received but that's a a close estimate and just FYI if say the amount that we expect to be revenue for the estimated open space tax goes up the increase goes in the reserve for future use so it's not money we'd spend this year although it would be available if you wanted to make a capital purchase or something but it would just go into that reserve for future use which is that blue line going across Mr McQueen could you please allow Tara Kenny to be a co-host I already did she can I think she's good now yeah okay thank you she texted me thank you sorry about that I could not in so I I I don't know if any council members have any questions about any particular part of this so I'll leave it up on the screen and give you any anyone an opportunity to ask any questions about the open space plan here how much is currently in reserve for future use in the in the trust itself is slightly over 17 million okay Bob yes yeah that that's that's not actually accurate I mean you you have there are some interfund payables out of the trust fund so the um open space trust fund balance at 1221 123123 is U just slightly over10 million okay well that Andy you and I can talk about that because I have a different number that was provided so right all right none okay all right so that's the open space trust budget the next one would be you have the Public Works budget mayor I have the open space Capital requests oh okay we can do certainly do open space Capital as well sure has me shaking my head okay so here we have the capital request for the open space trust fund um this year um I Carl can explain some if what Carl can't explain I might be able to explain and certainly Tara is familiar with it as well so Carl why don't you go through the capital requests sure so catela park improvements um as everybody knows we waiting forever from the D to get a letter saying that there's no historic issues from shipo issues on the property to start building the Park originally the park back in 2017 was a two-phase uh now we're going to build it all together and the money that we have left in capital which is over $3 million supplemented with the 2.2 I'm requesting here is an accurate estimate from a CME who designed the park the engineer uh to be able to do everything all at once with increase costs and everything else that's associated uh with pretty much eight years of delays uh the landscape trailer this is to replace an old trailer it's many years old these are the the type of trailer that we put our lawn mowers on and bring them out to the parks uh to do mowing uh miscellaneous amenes this is things that come out of uh the wreck Council uh that they want to see in parks and this is the money to be able to do improvements for Ada and other kind of amenities such as picnic tables and other things that need to be replaced uh in the park van wickle study and action plan this is to fortify um the van wickle house which is at the end of the M Lane uh due to flooding it's a study that hydraulic study need to be done and there's temporary barriers that we would be looking to purchase based on the recommendation of the study to be able to um protect the the house from flood waters during you know the the overturning of the River or the canal is that like the port Dam devices we saw that that is the yeah we these were items set up down at the league uh that the mayor and Bob had mentioned to me and and showed uh showed me that uh the the ballpark estimate is is you know about the 80 grand for that and then this hydraulic study being that the building has a basement and there's some modifications that may have to be done to the uh infrastructure of the house meaning moving electric upstairs because currently the panels are in the basement getting psng to elevate The Meters that are on the building which are a low elevation and just doing some other things to protect from flooding does this include the generator and pump we talked about it includes a pump um the generator um sized appropriately probably not a generator at this time because of the cost okay we can discuss that offline this this would this it could be a separate Capital um ordinance mayor once the the final numbers are are uh arrived at so that we did this as an estimate if there's additional equipment then that would just mean that the individual Capital ordinance for open space would be a different number okay so any questions on the the capital for open space this is all coming from the open space trust fund this doesn't yes op trust clear so if we decide to scale back or improve these line item or extend these line items that will be done over the course of the year and I believe so so some will be some will be individual Capital ordinances councilman like this Kapa Park improvements would be a separate Capital ordinance not part of the group Capital ordinances that we do upon the adoption of the the budget um the miscellaneous the landscape the miscellaneous access the miscellaneous Park man are ones that we do annually so those would be included initially the flood study and action plan and the katapa park improvements would be separate Capital ordinances so that number will be arrived at once the the final calculations are done the estimate for katala Park came from our Township engineer based on um costs and what is uh remaining in the uh in the current Capital project that was done several years ago okay any other questions so that would complete the open space budgets so before Tara leaves Carl will still be here for those types of questions but are there any other questions at this time okay thank you Tara thank you good night everybody T night okay so the next budget is which mayor streets and Roads streets and Roads boulevards or Avenues courts places these will begin a series of budgets that are under the public works department they have a few more than most departments because things are broken down by category the first budget is as the mayor said the streets OE budget the streets OE budget is budgeted at 179,180 um Carl so uh we went out to bid last year for um Road materials actually the first one equipment uh we got a new I'll start with the top one first or 25 26 sorry um we got a new contract with a fire alarm company that's the the difference in in the other cont correct other contractual um the asphalt we went out to bid this past year and asold price has been increased we've been getting a lot of pole uh complaints coming in uh which we've been taken care of so that's basically the cost of material Road material which is Stone and uh asphalt and you can see last year we were right at the 100% mark uh and that was a year we didn't have snow so it was limited on what we needed to to purchase uh and then Education and Training I have uh new Foreman coming Junior foreman and Foreman coming online this is for them to be able to take continuing education and management supervisory type classes mostly at Ruckers okay so any questions on this budget yeah I'm confused fire alarm company so we have uh you know like an a house alarm uh you have panels and there's Monitoring Service as well as uh other things for sprinkler inspections uh building uh alarm panel inspections these are you know should the should something happen in the building uh they responded we took a we we're saving a little bit of money by going Cellular in all these panels um which but the offset was the increased cost on the maintenance but why is this in streets and Roads oh maybe this maybe I'm mistaken here hold on yeah this is in building can you go to the 026 line or tab Bob I forget what we put in there for no that would be 029 you're talking about 9 I'm having a problem with my oh there we go 029 increase is due to line striping this is this is roads yeah line striping that stay the same no missing the number seven there I don't know what happened to that yeah it's it's something is 10,500 more from last [Music] year let see let me pull up on my spreadshe my computer here while you're looking I'd like just ask a question you said you you switched the company the fire alarm system company well that's in the building yeah we went out to we got a new comp it now excuse me who is it now it's a firefighter they're out of they're in jar local New Jersey uh down in um Mercer County it's a competitive bid process councilman okay well how many bids you get usually three or two uh well it depends on how many companies bid it could be as low as one this one was one we we've been using a co-op but the co-op um was higher in price uh from the previous year so we decided to go out the bid and we actually got something lower than the state contract or umun in County Co-op which we were using I don't know what that tab is Bob I'm [Music] G well I will guess it's got to it's got to be something for permits and fees I I could get that number I just don't know why that's that description is blank I don't know if it's maybe the font is white on that cell no I don't I'm in the Box it's BL if you go to you go yeah no no that's where I am yeah it's white yeah I don't know and it was not budgeted in 23 definitely a specific number so I have I have to go back and look at my mayor the best I can say is I'll get an answer for you and report it back on my report on Tuesday okay rather than us delaying the process here agre it'll also it'll also be discussed on Monday and financial oversight so and and there is something that is the 105 as you can see the previous year the current year 2023 last year we spent over 131% which was closer to the 50,000 okay okay any other questions on roads what's the next one you have [Music] mayor snow removal streets and Roads we don't pay snow removal will be what you get we don't plow our boulevards some of them we plow Society Hill Boulevard so th this is another one that for some who are are new to this that's a little bit different so we'll explain a little bit about um snow removal streets and Roads let me bring it up on the screen for us the snow removal budget is uh set at request of $455,000 which is no change from the previous year um and then I'm going to scroll down a little bit here because what you see under it is balances that are are noted um that have the for the balance of 123123 of 7926 19350 um so the snow budget is one of those budgets that at the end of the year the monies that are unexpended go into a trust that is permitted to grow until such time as it's necessary to utilize that trust money when your uh budgeted money is exhausted so in a year with excessive snow and ice storm STS or a year where we have a hurricane because it's no longer called the snow trust it's called the storm trust these that money can be utilized to pay for services that are necessary in storm recovery whether it be snow rain flood in fact this is the monies that were utilized um in 2021 to uh pay for the debris removal after Hurricane Ida so it had the the balance of the trust at 1231 was 792 693 um monies from that trust were moved into the temporary budget to cover the snow storms that we had after January 1st of 2024 365,000 of it was moved into operating from the trust to cover anything and Carl the expenditures were in the about $250,000 yeah for 2024 yeah correct and obviously everyone has to remember that this is the budget for the beginning of 2024's winter season as well as the end of 2024 season are chemicals and gases saltt yes we call it salt no the State of the State of New J that but yes there it is it is salt the state of New Jersey defines the titles for each of these lines in all of these budgets not us okay any questions on the snow budget guess we should they should change it to storm recovery not snow removal but this States a little behind the times okay next one mayor Condominium Act that's a fancy name for a budget but it's opening on my screen very slowly there it is so the Condominium Act is the for all homeowners association owned roadways we have to pay for the snow removal on those roads um good years we don't spend all of it bad years we spend all of it as you can see close to it in 2021 very little in 2023 because we had very very little snow to reimburse first the homeowners associations for their snow removal operations and so it is once again budgeted at $100,000 for 2024 are there any questions on that next Mr Mayor sanitation Sanitation sanitation is budgeted this year at 636,000 a decrease of there is a decrease of 240,000 is that we can apply the grant that we received that I mentioned at the last council meeting of 34,412 against the cost of Somerset County Recycling services which is at 865,000 the bulk of this budget and obviously with a decrease last an offset with the grant last year of only 59,2 49 that makes up the difference uh in this budget this year so you know the grant the receipt of that Grant and the and the significant increase in that Grant has allowed us to decrease this budget by $240,000 any questions on this budget there was a $55,000 increase in other contractual Services that's our garbage hauling from uh all of our municipal buildings and and the convenience center and the convenience center correct there are no questions I'll go to the next one if you don't mind let me just point out while this budget has gone down because see the amount of the grant because the businesses in the township have declared how much they recycled if you look across the budget the amount we're paying for recycling is increasing dramatically so we locked out with that extra money and it looks like we'll continue to get it because the businesses are reporting it but the cost of the recycling has gone up like $150,000 since 20121 so just keep that in mind we lucked out because the DPW department has made such inroads in getting our businesses to report it that we've gotten a significant increase in the grant but we've also have a significant increase in the costs so that was that's a really good thing that DPW has done so much work on that I understand Carl deserves some credit there yes uh my and my staff my staff we've been uh very uh aggressive in getting free money if you might say thank you okay so back to my screen here oh what do you think I had a question for call on that recycling uh uh payback is there uh how much upward potential we have if the business is really uh use the recycling as a way of life so um I could get you uh every year they update the numbers for each line item like there's a certain dollar that they give back for cardboard paper um the ters that we report for each of the line items and I know you you saw the form so each one of those line items is is a separate dollar the highest being food waste as as as it was this year um and then the second is cardboard so those are the two big number items that you know lucky to have Amazon in in town and and LG and these warehouses that are distribution centers and some people might not like the warehouses but they're they're reaping somewhat of a benefit for free money do you think that there's an element of Education perhaps to educate the the businesses especially that hey if you guys do a good job our Township is going to save money because I don't think people realize that we get credit I didn't know until the this this year practically yeah I mean in my my I say a form letter but the letter we sent out uh CER to and also regular mail to each of the uh businesses um is is in it an educational type package and it also references a link that uh State link which describes uh where the tonnage money is coming from Back to the towns okay great thank you next mayor buildings and grounds okay buildings and grounds is uh a flat budget at $399,000 and includes the bulk of it is the $300,000 for the cleaning and maintenance contract for all of our buildings and Facilities which for once is working out well it's actually so I will go beyond saying well we every employee in in the in the township has been ecstatic over the services being provided by our current contractor um they are cleaning things that I don't think have been cleaned since the day some of these buildings were built so um I it the the vacuum cleaners run and the mops are mopped and the bathrooms are cleaned and I think that we finally got lucky excellent and they actually go around both the manager and the staff asking if there's anything else we need are we satisfied with them the staff are nice it's amazing the difference it is very professional company yes they are yes they are so okay okay so if there's no more uh latitudes for the cleaning people and no questions from Council I'll move on any other questions on the uh buildings and grounds operating budget next up mayor vehicles and maintenance or vehicle maintenance vehicle maintenance it's flat should be yes vehicle maintenance was at $213,000 flat to maintain the vehicle uh Fleet of the township since 2021 it's been flat this is just the expense Side Of The Ledger right the income side from the school board is somewhere else that's a totally different budget we'll get to that one if you haven't seen um this is for maintenance of our vehicles any questions on that okay next one mayor just because uh council member pzn asked for be [Music] Transportation Boe Transportation it is okay let me hit the share button here the Boe budget is proposed at 200 and 82,8 54 which is a $39,375 [Music] in the spreadsheet which which is 165,000 which is a decrease from 2044 and then you have the salary wage adjustments for the shared service agreement um for those council members who are not familiar with this there is a shared service agreement with the board of education for us to maintain their Fleet of uh school buses that they and and they have minivans that are also part of that Fleet for transportation of students um do we do not maintain their maintenance Fleet correct that we do oh and and and then I'm I stand correct yeah all their spreaders snow plows that they can't handle and any vehicle accidents we take care of as part of under a contract our contract just FYI this is basically a flat budget you sometime have differ the answer to this is that all of this money that is budgeted on the appropriation side there's a a like exact number on the revenue side of the budget so this is a zero budget for um for our purposes as far as uh application to um our overall budget annually exactly except the only reason you might see money being shown as an expense is because depending on the timing we can't show a greater Revenue than what we received list yeah but net net it's actually zero if that makes any sense so are there any questions on the Boe budget nope thanks I knew we'd get right to it there council member um so the next one mayor shade tree it's flat it's $1,000 okay I'm opening it anyway the shade tree budget is uh is we included in the public works budget the liais on to the shade tree commission is a public works employee um this is for items that primarily are related to training courses for members of the shade tree commission should they be interested in taking training courses okay okay y next utilities that's not uh flat um not a surprise no Okay so utilities is budgeted at I scroll here $2,695 th000 uh which is an increase of $180,000 over the 2023 budget um the uh the increases are in electricity and in Street lighting and uh in telephone short chares telephone charges being not only our telephone we are a VoIP telephone system and light path supplies all of our internet for not only internet access but telephones and that increase uh is $70,000 this year so 70 of the 180 increase in this budget is for that um and I I also I I hesitate with some of these things um things like Street lighting and electricity while they don't show um a full 100% from in 2023 that's year to date as of 1231 That's not including the December bills so the rates have gone up slightly are we pushing them to go for more LED street lights that's a that's an issue currently in front of the BPU as far as the Tariff is concerned mayor and I don't believe that that's been fully resolved with Public Service as far as the costs associated with it and how they're going to roll out the LED lights throughout the state I I can say when there is a street light out and it's an older either incandescent or a uh like a yellow light they do replace the head with LED we've called in a number the police department called in a number and going back to check if uh the lights are now working they were all LEDs we just got uh lights converted in our convenience center and our uh Public Works Yard outside the gates um to LED and they did that you know uh last week Paul do you have any idea what percentage of our street lights are converted to LED so far uh PS would know we don't we don't really track that I I would say it's under 10% uh really it's not a lot for the amount of street lights we have it's it's very minimal okay soor no I'm sorry yeah i i i s uh councilman Cy was finished I just wanted to ask what in general what's the deal with the gas gasoline and diesel fuel that's a good question a full uh yeah well go ahead you you explain it Bob no I said that's a good question I was just agreeing with that question I had the same one yeah I was gonna ask a few little sub questions but I'm throwing it to you so you could explain it whatever uh whatever way you can thank you well I I so I I would I would turn to Carl and Kathy to explain that Carl so I mean with with the the prices peaked um you know we were we were tight in Prior budgets I'm talking before 2023 um you know as we're phasing out the V8 Crown vix and and police vehicles are becoming more efficient it is going down but um you know yeah no I'm say my main question is this let me throw this out of there 500,000 was budgeted last year M if uh I believe that less than 50% almost 50% includes everything up to December 31st if I'm reading this correctly that's correct so so to me I don't understand why it's five let me let me try to explain the method of budgeting here if you look at the 2022 budget we were under budgeted we exceeded the budget by $119,000 on a $350,000 budget in 2021 the budget expenses against 350 would have been low primarily due to the fact that there was far less travel and usage of vehicles during covid than there had been in previous years the the market for fuel both gasoline and Diesel is a volatile one and the prices are are fluctuate these are all um State Contractor or cooperative purchase prices that we're doing yeah I as much as I'd like to say and it's certainly something that we can look at as we finalize this budget i' I'd be hesitant to lower that number right now based on the volatility of the fuel Market I I we don't know what the prices are going to be they these are one this is one commodity that we purchase that the prices fluctuate weekly according to the state contracts yeah Bob I and I understand what you're saying I'm not suggesting the under budget but and you know we don't need to get into it deeply here but I don't see why it needs to be more than 400,000 especially since we're moving and that very well may be the case and that's something that when we finalize this budget before it gets presented this is one of the things that we'll look at ABS okay I'm not going to dwell on it now I just you know I know we're moving towards more uh fuel uh you know better mileage vehicles and everything else that we're doing something some things electronically that don't require visits so I'm I'm hoping with all of that aspects even with the unknown price that that can come down but I I eagerly await to see what I guess you and whoever will be reviewing that come up with thank you thank you please be aware uh councilman this is one of the budget items that even though it's you look at it as utilities there are basically four different Commodities in there and if one goes over we have specific regulations that as far as how we can transfer the money and if we under budget for it it becomes an issue if we need to transfer money at the beginning or the end of the the year so we have to be careful making sure that we have enough money in the budget because we don't want to go into what they call a quote unquote emergency appropriation which requires certain allowances that we really don't want to make so we have have to be careful because of the the volatile fluctuation that we can have in the the Gasol the gasoline and fuel budget so that's why we have to be careful with how we budget it no and very good points and that's why honestly I was thinking about some of the aspects of what you were saying and that's why just thrown out there as a benchmark I thought 400,000 could be what again we we'll see what um feedback we get as the manager forther reviews it but yeah because they're not they're not budg in aggregate we don't come down to the total other expenses of$ 2. almost $7 million they look the the DCA budget is broken into all four categories so if we were to go over in one category that causes a quote unquote emergency appropriation which then goes into the following year so we want to make sure we have enough money allocated because an emergency appropriation that goes into the following year is very problematic so that's why we have to be careful with that because gas the fuel can go I mean you've SE fuel rates can go they can go crazy okay good good catch councilman and staff will be looking at that maybe we can lower that 100,000 okay any other questions on this okay next one there uh Capital requests well now we we have water why don't we do all we'll do Capital at the end we you want to do capital and then come do water and then capital for water I mean what's on my my right okay well we can then we can do capital I mean that's we got a number of capitals before we get to we do but there's not much in either one so which one is does does it have a one for listing first okay yes the um Capital request Serv summary roads Capital roads you got it again good catch councilman Vel one okay so roads annual resurfacing um the proposed that was a that's a corrected number that should be $4 million not 3.5 right so yeah discussion after the Public Works meeting uh based on spreadsh sheet of roads that we can get to if we were to get four uh so that's updated to for crack sealing program of the past couple years we've budgeted $100,000 this is to crack seal roads that are newer to maintain the or extend the life of the roads uh the next by contract not as a contractor yeah uh the storm water and the street scave infrastructure money that we've been putting in uh storm ERS for to purchase material such as pipe and block and heads for catch basins to increase drainage improved drainage in uh streets that we deem necessary before we pave uh that work is done by public works it's just material cost to get the the items uh streetcape infrastructure this is to uh add curb sidewalk replace curb sidewalk in areas uh before we're Paving roads um as identified in in different areas that we we see that they need guard rail Canal Rock phase 9 of 10 uh we get 100,000 we could this year we could probably finish it up with the same next year I'm told based on the area we're down to we're we're past uh we're past uh T tun we're we're going down towards uh you know Bunker Hill South of Bunker Hill now down towards griggstown is where we're have the major guard rail that has been uh the original since it went in I believe uh catch bases survey replacement program this is the second phase and Final Phase of the UN unfunded mandate from the D as part of our ms4 annual permit renewal this is a three-year cycle we have to uh inventory all catch basins uh and piping to to show drainage areas and reports and Maps uh for our renewal that is scheduled for at the end of 2025 uh so this this survey was started um as capital last year and it will continue with funding we knew it would be a two-part funding budgeted about a million dollars between the two years uh skilman this came in a request from the traffic safety Bureau uh EDS uh like blinker beacons to the arrow on the curves of skilman this will be uh two sets for each of the curves on each Direction on skilman road and that'll be done right after the bridge is complete hopefully in the next couple weeks um we'll be able to pave the road and then do all our infrastructure improvements such as signage sure uh you have couple items which says annual does that mean that uh next year we will have the same kind of a budget or last year we have the same kind that's what you call an annual or it's just the uh so it's it's it's a reoccurring uh resurfacing you know based on roads that we see and deem uh added a public works committee and we have uh software we use online uh to to map and and grade the roads um you know based on the amount of money we get every year um we we put a program together and execute it um you know go out to bid and and staff does all the inspections as well as bid specs and drawings um so that's just for the contractor to come out and and do what they're going to do based on what we deemed uh we can do in a given year the other question I had is that is there any way that we can uh have materials that last a little bit longer than what we are seeing I mean I see the have a road is uh you know basically within a year uh is Comon aart again is there some materials that perhaps being missed a little bit more but it'll last twice as much three times as much so I went to ruers and they they actually have a funded research at the Kate Center which is the the center for advanced infrastructure and I don't know if it's Transportation or technology um that that's like the million-dollar question they they try to perfect uh the mixes the asphalt mixes uh the do tries them on highways and areas um you know the the mix that's out there now is pretty much the mix that's been tweaked over the past decades I would say uh the hot mix 9.5 h m ma um you know they try to get it better it's also based on the area here you have the freest stall you have Winters um and and you have you know different types of you know road conditions as far as you know different type of traffic on these roads so on larger traffic roads we use a heavier mix we go up to the 12.5 which is a more substantial has more Stone in it than than just the typical residential road to try to get it to last longer with the weights that are on it more than just a residential car um you know it it's it's reoccurring um you know the state can't perfect it so I mean it's you know we model everything based on the research and what the state guides us and what we should be using that's a right of passage I don't know of a new council member who hasn't asked that question I asked it when I was my first year mayor I have a suggestion yeah we could budget for warmer weather 12 months Dr Kazi would be best at budgeting for that okay so any any questions on the the road capital okay buildings buildings I'll I'll find it again I I left the email open buildings there you go Carl okay DPW security lighting this is phase two we did a phase a couple years ago uh this is uh we actually had a uh catalic converter stol in one in one of our vehicles uh just just because it was in a dark area and you know we this is the the back and the sides of the building that um are not well lit now to increase it to LED lighting which we did in our main parking area um two years ago I believe uh Town Hall sidewalk this is money budgeted to replace uh uneven and spalling sidewalks uh within the entire complex uh Library charge Point install installation we got a gr Tara had gotten a grant I believe uh for the the charging station which is a two-port similar to which is uh in front of Bob's office to uh put that charging station uh near the library there were some requests for you know additional charge public charging stations the ones that are by the construction codewing and by the gas pumps at Town Hall are reserved for uh Township vehicle the the 10 EVS that we have uh used by the municipal staff um this is just the install electrical installation contractor to come in and into the building um PD and crb alarm upgrade again new company as part of the inspections and uh certifications regarding the alarm system they've deemed both of these buildings are end of life uh hard to find parts this is to replace those two systems um in kind with with all the bells and whistles that come along with it vehicle maintenance lift this is a lift to replace an original 42 year 40y old lift uh at Public Works uh for our mechanics that was uh installed when the building went in we had an issue with uh we have issues with vehicles and the lift not being able to uh handle certain things currently we're not using that bay uh as a lift for our mechanic because of the uncertainty of the lift this cost would be to remove everything that's there and install a um flush mounted or unconcrete mounted lift um that would be able to handle uh 90% of our vehicles okay any questions on the building Capital DPW Vehicles you got it W okay so 18 foot trailer um we have a trailer that's over 20 years old um many many safety issues on it uh this is for hauling larger equipment um out to the the job sites you know loaders backos um Mason dump with plow and spreader um about five years ago we started doing The Replacements of the original Mason dump series that the town had had for uh different uh roads and uh you know buildings and grounds this was the last one this one happened to be a diesel it's it's over 15 years old um you know we we held off on it because it was still um had some useful life in it when we bought other Mason dumps we bought four over the 2017 and 18 uh Capital Seasons uh this one is is become a maintenance nightmare uh for us it's it tries to get out every day but you know it hauls our crack sealer and a lot of Road uses it most uh but at this point it's it's it's becoming too much cost in order to do a repair so we'd like to send it at auction and this will be the last of our Mason dumps that of the original five that we had um to uh to come out of service and be replaced so this particular dump truck had a steel bed steel dumped yeah the steel dump beds rot out we no longer purchase dump trucks with steel beds the the you buy this as a truck chassis with a with the dump body mounted on it we now purchase aluminum dump bodies so that they can withstand the salt spreaders um and the salt on the bed when we're using them in the winter this also has frame uh the frame has begun to to rot out and it is no longer a serviceable truck Carl I documented all the issues related to this particular dump truck uh for me and that was shared with the financial oversight committee yeah I got pictures of that they look bad it was pretty bad yeah 15 years of pushing snow and salt and yeah is it all wheel drive it's four-wheel drive yes it's actually six-wheel drive because it has six it's got du dues in the back yeah we save money and just power four of them okay do that and and that was the one we you know the diesel of the five they got that year that or those year or two um this was the only diesel the the uh gas engine ones are have long passed I said we got those replaced in 17 and 18 uh and a stand on uh lawn mower to get around tight areas and buildings we've been having some issues um you know maintaining some areas um with lawnmowers we're having to do it with weed whackers uh just because of the tight Miss and a zero turn or Bobcat or John Deere type of mower can't get into those areas because of the tightness whether it' be curbs in the way or different trees and everything this this would able us to to get around the uh closer to the buildings that we M Township properties in particular the youth center which has tight areas around the exterior it's it's tough getting the mower um uh down the sidewalk down the gate on the side of the building and we have to mow the entire backyard there on the slope any questions on DPW [Music] Vehicles now I'm scrolling through a repair history list I think the next one is probably water mayor it is okay [Music] okay the water budget is a very big workbook spreadsheet so the print might be a little bit small and I'm going to have to scroll down um to get to it so the water budget the overall water budget is proposed and that's the Bottom Line If you're looking at another one it's it's it's line 86 in the spreadsheet for total other expenses is proposed at 18, 39438 which is an increase of 3, 314,000 over the previous year's 14, 724 um I I will jump ahead to Carl and just draw your attention to 072 which is water that's the purchase of water to distribute and that's from the the suppliers New Jersey American water and New Brunswick water are the two primaries that we purchase water from and this reflects not only a rate increase but also an allocation increase you can see as of 1231 we were at 108 22% or at 10,640 Kathy I just asked a quick question are th is that through the full billing cycles for both suppliers for 2023 at this point yes it is also just let me point out we had to go back for um our financial consultants instruction and charg part of it to last year because it had gone up so much I understand I'm just saying that whether we wherever it was charged is irrelevant what's what's relevant is that we were at 108% of budget on the largest line item in this budget and at largest by far and so the the budget increased to 11 million 750 uh that $2,450 th000 increase is clearly necessary for uh us to continue to supply all of our customers with water that's correct so the water is up 2.45 million but the sub there's 17,000 that Ser that service is up 241,000 pensions are up 115 medical insurance is up 286 this also funds all of those things for uh the employees that work in the water utility but 070 okay I mean usually all those additional costs are above that line are you saying that some of the costs below the line add to that line so 070 is the sub is the total of 071 through 078 it's a subtotal of that one section you see how the 030 it's it's out of it's out of order right it should be above the number not below the number I still don't understand it should be oh I see now I understand got it okay thanks good so clearly there's a sign ific increase in the water budget and the significant increase in the water budget is primarily due to the fact that our water allocation has increased and the rates have increased to M to go along with that so the compounds to the the overall increase of 2.45 million just in that one line for water the other costs are associated with running the water utility and those costs have increased as well so the rate increase we implemented last year compensates for this rate increase from the water companies that no it did it did it did not actually it not the rate increase for 2023 did not compensate for the increases in expenses related to 2023 for the purchase of War it did not so is there and that's just one line in the budget right but overall we went up $3.3 million correct so you're saying our Revenue would be match there no our Revenue right now won't would so I this is a discussion that we'll have again at a council meeting but the the water utility has now increased the budget and this budget is primarily due to the cost of Water by 3.3 water and Personnel costs by $3.3 million that $3.3 million increase was not would not be um the increase the rate increase of 2023 would not cover this increase in the budget yeah so my my question was really would this require necessitate another water rate increase and that'll be a discussion that we'll have at Future Council meetings but that's a discussion that's being had at the financial oversight committee yes and Bob if I remember correctly we increased the water purchase right just to make sure that we have enough water to uh provide to the uh to the community that's the allocation part of it our contract which is just about ready to be settled with New Jersey American calls for an increase in our daily allocation to match the demand that our customers are putting on the Water Utility system right and and that was it went from 4 point something to five something is that if I remember correctly the numbers per month it was 4.5 million gallons and it goes goes up to 4 point 5.25 yeah we're we actually at 4.8 for the past 40 years 30 40 years and uh now we're looking at uh 5.25 with a Max of 5.75 per day just with American Border you bronswick we take about two million and have a cap at 4 million per day with new brunwick so the town has gone from uh in in since the since the I guess the past 10 years we've gone for from like 6.8 per day to closer [Music] to 8.8 per day and Carl if I understood correctly even if we don't use it on a like say in Winter usually we have much less in summer there's more usage it's not the average daily is it or it it is average daily daily average not with um American Water we have minimums that we pay for daily uh New Brunswick it's actually uh monthly oh say okay so winter month we're using much less we still have to pay the same amount for allocation that we have agreed upon for American water yes and that's pretty much the from what I understand their standard contract um very verified by our town attorney who works with them in other towns and in summer when we exceed that allocation uh how much penalty we end up paying none it's just the same rate gallon the the the issue here is there it goes beyond just that we have to allocate based on a daily usage with New Jersey American we also have to satisfy the regulations of the D that regulates water utilities and those allocations can't be less than what the D deems we're required to have and so that 5.25 million gallon per day allocation from New Jersey American water is to satisfy the D regulations and their licensing of our water utility yeah okay any questions on this part of the water budget capital capital yes sir okay uh annual meter replacement program this is to replace uh older meters part of our cycle similar to it with laptops there's a life cycle of roughly 10 to 20 years on our meters we still have older ones um in our system uh that need to be replaced and hopefully we'll we'll get through all of these this year um hydrant replacement program uh as as hydrants are you know unrepairable can't get parts for the older ones uh this would be for about I don't know about 15 hydrants 15 to 20 hydrants uh material only and our guys our staff uh do the work M repos program uh this is a dollar amount uh to replace our aging Mains as deemed NE Neary by the D there's a life cycle on uh as they they say each type of Main and this is for uh us to go out to bid uh to get a contractor to replace a street which would include uh services and any kind of uh lead lines that are found uh that would be replaced uh apartment retrofit pits this is dollar amount for material for us to be able to add a master permit or Master permit Master pit to each of the apartment complexes uh right now apartment complexes uh have meters in buildings um they also include to have bypass lines uh we periodically find the bypass lines open uh where the water is not going through the meter uh taking that out of the buildings and the project has started uh since last year uh taking that out of the buildings and having us control all the flow of water going into those properties uh and the meter pit being the meter being ours is more control on theft of water uh where you know landlords may not want to pay the full price of what the uh apartment dwellers or apartment uh renters are using larger replacement program these are larger meters that are for our uh industrial type companies meters that are usually uh 6 8 in 10 in this is replacement life cycle replacement of these meters uh which the uh for our ordinance the uh owner building owner would be responsible to uh install so this is cost of material large meters vary in price from you know 8,000 to 20,000 depending on the size and type meter that's why the number is is uh pretty high we want to keep up up with our cycle of Replacements uh water main Loop projects there's uh been identified a a variety of locations that have like dead end lines uh which poses a water quality issue if you have stagnant water on a line this is uh for us to purchase the materials and our staff install you know runs that we can handle uh we've just done um a couple projects in uh quailbrook dead end Mains same developer they just decided to end at each of the property lines and we connected you know um you know one development was 20 feet of pipe another development was a cut uh another Street was a couple hundred feet of pipe this increases the flow water quality redundancy should there be a Break um so we don't have people out of water uh interconnect meter pits this is something that was discussed um in financial oversight and uh you know what we want to do here is based on the locations and the interconnects we have with New Jersey American B and new Bron border we want to install meters that we can actually track usage the current meters that are um used by uh American Border and new brones of Border will not work on our census system so this is the cost to install a pit into the the exis exting water M and install a meter so we can regulate and this would help us detect leaks and irregular usage coming out of our interconnects you know Leak Detection would be uh more responsive to areas if we can show a peak coming through our interconnector and for you know this is making up water that we would normally be lost Revenue due to leakage this would track it more and have us control and validate that they're uh the wholesalers American and new Bron are actually bilding us uh correctly can get a data feed off of what they're getting that's can't get that's that doesn't it's it's it's not doesn't play nice with us and that's problem we checked with it there's no way to do it no there's no way for us to do it and to be perfectly honest with you they haven't given us access to their meters okay it's theirs and once we get it once we get it onto our system we would be able to get readings uh hourly okay okay a quick followup mayor to that item good um I mean I may have forgotten it or rare occasion miss a PW meeting I just in several years of reviewing leakage attempts that we spent a lot of money money on to uh minimize leakage loss Revenue I never remember this particular project being mentioned as an important aspect of the leak recovery so I'm not saying it's a bad project but in a year like this $600,000 I'm I'm still not understanding by the explanation thus far as so what we're trying to do I I'll tell you what we're trying to do is track the water coming from our suppliers that so that we can better distribute the water through the system it's not so much at Leak Detection that's the concern but when we don't get reportings on how much water is going through a particular interconnect except for the monthly bill it makes it very difficult for us to balance the system so that we can utilize water in a better way from the interconnects where we're getting getting the water from there's multiple interconnects for both suppliers and we have concerns about the reporting only being made to us on a monthly basis as opposed to an hourly basis so that we can better balance this system and we can utilize the water from New Jersey American to its peak potential when we're underutilizing it and paying for water that we're not using well I appreciate it because that's a much much more detailed explanation the only that's why I chimed in because this okay because you know I've been following everything with water for quite a long time so quick question quick quick last followup that I I I know we've probably tried but it sounds like a lot of this comes down to a lack of cooperation from our two water suppliers more than this is the only solution is that where we're at where their system is not compatible with our system that's the other problem here even if they were to give us access to their meters and we were to connect our system to theirs it's it's apples and oranges it's not going to work okay so I'm not trying to nitpick but I heard it mentioned we don't get access and that was one of the reasons well what I'm saying is they haven't get no they don't give us hourly readings they give us monthly readings that's the access that we're limited to what we receive on a monthly bill if we had daily readings that and if we had daily or weekly readings that would wouldn't suffice or it's just impossible to get they're not going to provide that to us we've asked they're not going to provide that to us they they gave us the monthly read um cumulative actually from all our six six interconnects okay now again it's just you know Big Ticket item and I I give you an I can give you an example from uh actually Ida um so we had uh an abundance of of usage out of one of the interconnects at the end of 287 12 ramp exit number 12 at the ramp there um during Ida unbeknownst to us there was a water man break next to the on Weston Canal Road near the uh sewer pump station suor pump station right there just uh west of uh Cotton Tail in two days we Lo in a day and a half we lost 13 million gallons because it was broke across the bridge which flooded and going directly into the river never bubbled up only when the contractor from uh the county needed to repair the road did they find the break so an American Water didn't tell us anything about this at 13 million gallons went right into the river and we were lucky because they had to F you know fix the fix the bridge uh you could remember that was closed for a while um something like that would be picked up almost instantaneously by our system and alerted automatically based on the settings we set because we have a meter that we control coming out of that inter interconnect so right there you know you do the multiplication 13 million gallons times our rate per gallon is what we lost in that day and a half and you know it was part of a a major storm but stuff like that can be picked up in a timely manner we do Leak Detection we do Leak Detection throughout the whole town in a given in a given year multiple times in some areas that we know we have old infrastructure such as levit we have cast iron Mains that are you know have the tendency to the services to blow off some of that stuff comes up some doesn't this case here was was in a lot of gallons in a day and a half and that and our meter should we have you know would have had access to it I mean they they came out with the laptop and said You know here you're right look at how many gallons you lost America was I was out there doing a repair and they're like yeah let's move on thank you okay uh what do we at land Landing Lane Pump Station upgrade um this is to uh fortify The Pump Station get it out of the flooding area uh basically building up the building and revamping and this is one of the capital projects that was assign that was put in our budget to the the DP along with the uh a couple other pump stations which we'll be doing in subsequent years uh Kingston Pump Station the the Project's been going on for a couple years year and a half now so this is the increased cost for the specialized equipment that would be in the pump station which includes the pumps uh generator and uh the building of course and uh the ska system uh there's been increased cost in Border industry you know it's Supply demand and uh tough to get the stuff so the costs have been increased through through since the Inception of the project water department pole bar um postco we had we still have long lead times for materials um this has been and and we don't have nearly enough storage space to store everything to be able to order it these are items that can't be kept outside such as meters and other equipment associated with uh needing to respond to emergencies and other things this will be a building for uh the storage of of that material so I could pre-order it and have it on hand should we need it as well as you know developments that that need it um we we just recently took delivery of 400 meter pits and I had to put them in a cargo container because we actually have nowhere to put them on property we're we're busting at the seams with storage not only in the water garage but also uh the Public Works buildings how big is this um warin spec out a building that was roughly uh 100 by 80 I believe all right it's a substantial building which would you know help our future needs as well as current all right any other okay capital I don't think there's anything else on for M nope that's it okay if there are no other questions for Carl we can move on to the remainder of the budgets for tonight Finance thank you everybody have a good night thank you Carl glass is on again e slow to open mayor I'm trying there what do you have this in h what do you have this in what software in a folder on my desktop and I'm trying to find exactly what our uh finance officer label this particular budget because I'm not it's not what you would think it was labeled Finance yeah no it's not Finance it's not labeled that's something else Kathy I I'm not quite sure what you have labed Finance o yeah Finance OE too um that that's better okay um no because Finance OE is the tax appeal refund I'm not quite sure what you have here I think that you may have uh mislabeled the file here that yeah that was done uh yeah you did no there is no finance budget here the thing that is labeled I clicked on the link in the agenda I don't know if you want me to share my screen and show you what that shows yeah please do that would be helpful for me hold on hey thanks Bob I'm sharing but that's it y i it that was it coming back to it okay yep that's it anyway you can make it a little bit bigger I can do that give me one second that's as much as it's letting me increase it right now okay well I'll be thank thankfully you don't have to look at my face and I have my camera off because I'll be very close to my screen so the finance is proposed at 3 52576937 budget is included in the professional consultant and specialized Services budget which is budgeted at $345,000 which is a $14,250 increase um and there's some minor changes and some other lines in this budget the finance budget is primarily um for the services of the uh Financial Consultant and the Staffing of our finance department for accounts payable treasure and payroll purposes um so this would be uh the pkf O Conor davies's contract for those services for the finance department so are there any questions there having none Bob you can uh thank you and may or go for it I got a whole list of them here audit Services audit Services very it's flat and that would be literally for our auditor wait it's not flat but yeah it is flat it's flat but it's flat it's flat $71,500 for audit services and why is the difference in budget proposed that's a very good question Cathy the reason is because there's a contingency there and we don't know till the end of the year based on whether we need a single audit for the Vol the dollar volume of Grants we used so it's an extra basically $30,000 if we need the single audit because of the volume of Grants like the ARP Grant and stuff like that the the large number of Grants we got made based on how much we spent in a given year could tringle could trigger a single audit and that would increase the amount so that contingency is in there General Legal Services okay General Legal Services budgeted at $85,000 which reflects a $200,000 increase over the $65,000 budget this includes our general legal from our Township attorney as well as the tax appeal attorney this has been increased by $200,000 given the fact that we're facing um several lawsuits related to um development questions liability insurance and workers come very good okay share that one liability insurance is uh budgeted at $1 1365 million an increase of $165,800 over the $1.2 million of 2023 this reflects an increase in our annual assessment for liability insurance um of uh 165,166 that's our joint Insurance Fund assessment um and workers comp is flat at $50,000 did we do something bad no I believe if you um listen to that uh GIF annual training for elected officials you'll see that the insurance Market is experiencing all-time highs in uh liability coverage costs and we're also dealing with uh number of different uh changes in New Jersey Law as far as liability is concerned and exposures to municipalities for that and so there's an increase in insurance I guess we don't want to self-insure um well technically a joint Insurance Fund is a form of self mayor yeah sharing it with other towns but okay it is group health insurance oh boy coming up which I don't think is in this folder I just have to find it in the other folder bear with me uh peace have it in the Human Resources folder yeah health insurance 2024 I have in in human res please put that up uh okay give me a second launching now thank you is that what you're looking for no yeah the total page just basically just I just need the total page B yep thanks Bob yes so the 2024 budget for health insurance is currently at at 8,1 152,246 4,391 now this also includes offsets for a variety of things um and I think that if you scroll down some of that might be included there so the difference between the 2024 and 2023 2023 budget is after allocation of $1.42 five million to the water utility budget um and excuse me Bob I think this is an old version of it medical insurance is $9.4 million and total is 9.57 s yeah I was about to hold on opening another one I have it draft from yeah let me just take a look here should have been the one that went out in the email I haven't you can share it if you like you can share yes Kathy tomorrow please put these folders back in order again sure that's it that's that's the one we're looking for which better reflects the 1779 million increase so it right now the increas is is at 1799 million for a 9577 over a 7797 million budget in 2023 um this is why I made the statement last budget he yes so this is this is now the increase is taking into account utilization of the trust fund uh not I should let me correct that utilization of all employee contributions to offset the overall uh amount which is about $14 million and then also uh taking into account the reimbursement that we received from the library the sewage Authority for their prescriptions and the two fire districts that have employees and retirees that receive their benefits um from us in our plan um this money is budgeted to fund the Self Insurance um model that the township is now utilizing ing for health care benefits administered by Etna and several other um several CVS care Mark for um prescriptions and uh remedy for uh the rebate acquisition for prescriptions as well as the Integrity Health Center on Veronica Avenue so I'm confused again when when I look at calendar year 2023 we budgeted 7.7 million we used 9.8 million and that's only 64% we we budgeted 7.6 and we spent 9.8 yeah the percentages are not correct obviously the for there's a formula error there okay yeah if you look at the top line line 92 you can see it's a lot more corrected 12842 % okay the other lines are smaller but part of that's because half of the Year hasn't been charged yet now the question cath is that you have total other expenses at 64% year to date and it's a number that doesn't coincide with the 7.79 S versus 9.9 yes I understand that so okay so obviously we had to make an adjustment yes okay so that the the bottom line on the health care benefits is that there's an increase overall for all of our employees and those that we provide health care benefits to as far as um Health you know medical dental and prescription the increase is approximately 24% from 202 23 had we not gone self-insured the estimate was anywhere between 38 and 44% based on the market uh submissions to the broker any questions on health so what I observed is I'm looking at the actual um 2023 is actually less than 2024 budget so you compare the actual to the budget it's not too bad but if you compare the budget to budget it's it looks huge increase well I think that Kathy so I have a question for you the year to date that you have for 2023 for 1231 includes expenses that were not budgeted by us well what it includes is the total expense what had reduced the price was the contribution that Council had approved from the trust but what you're seeing there is what we actually paid not so there's offsets to what we paid that were included above and beyond the 7 .655 million do budgeted the amount budgeted was not the actual total bill from Etna and the dental uh providers this that reflects the total amount paid in 2023 just like if we included the total amount paid for 2024 it'll be closer to 14 million these are with I'm sorry last year Council approved supplementing the cost that's not that's not Kathy that's not why there's a difference the difference is beyond just the supplemental the difference is the $9.8 million expended in calendar year 2023 is for the billing not for what was paid for out of the budget addal payments beyond that correct just like this year we'll have that as well that that includes employee contributions as well as as other monies that were in reserve to pay for health care benefits correct like the reimbursements from the sister agencies this year we'll have the same number councilman it'll be a higher number than 9.5 it'll be a number closer to 14 million because we have to back out all of the things that we're not responsible to pay for that's the why that's why there's a difference okay thanks okay hi BR okay I just have to switch screens here mayor just bear with me for a second Library this is by formula set by the state correct no control of this and where the cap runs like three or three and a half percent you'll notice the percentage increase on this is 8.15% increase library has no control of it either it's correct that by the state yes any questions on the library budget P RS tcrp pfrs pensions yeah that yeah got it statutory expenditures go to the total page for you Kathy you have a number for this the total number for the Department request is 7 million 692 646 because this is a blank sheet on the cover page for 2024 what what you have there is the um the the the subsidiary page but the the total for it is um no I have the cover page for this budget document has nothing in it for 2024 right if you go to P 101 the tip for 101 you'll get a better picture of it okay that's better then carry to the cover page is what you're saying nope I don't get a better picture of it yeah I had sent you an em uh an email that it was I had to update it so the total for for the 2024 in total is 7,6 almost 93,000 versus last year was 7,512 which was an increase of $180,000 and other than Social Security which is 7.65% of total salary the PS and the pfrs are determined by the pension system and we're given that number it's based on rates two years behind and it's due April 1st we have no choice in that number there's no discretion next one mayor interlocal health this is our annual budg uh contract with Somerset County for uh providing Health Department Services uh this is by a multi-year contract that calls for an annual increase of 2% um the increase is $1,454 for a total of $737,000 104 any questions on the health department so this is for the inspections and this is for all of the Health Department Services for the year inspections and everything else that the health department does including complaints about property maintenance EV every service that the health department provides okay okay B service okay Andy do you know our debt ratio yet yeah mayor it picked up a bit I can get that for you one second I'm in your way mayor paron I said it's coming your way oh and this debt service number does include the bond issue that we did last week that'll be official as of tomorrow oh good so Debt Service shows an increase of $254,500 debt service is now at 3,3,3 um an increase for from 3,469 125 any questions on debt service just if Andy's got the debt ratio yeah mayor the uh 123123 is 4 0.471 per. We're allow 3% pardon me we're allowed 3% uh three and a half so we're well under okay good Aid to fire departments okay that should be a flat one it's down according to this oh a to fire department I'm thinking first a squads the reason it's down is because we have enough in the reserve to fund it for this year at the end of every year whatever we don't spend I've been putting back in the reserve and although at the height of covid we had a couple of higher expenses the last couple years it's been less so we have enough money built up in the reserve to fund it from the reserve this is a more or less a self-insurance policy for volunteer fighter firefighters B basically a death benefit yes those who qualify any questions first aid contribution that is flat that's the flat one yeah yeah you'll notice the top of this line is what we contribute to the first aid squads but the uh the second half of it the insurance and shity bonds there would normally be a number there but you'll notice for the last three years we also had enough in the reserve in order not to have to physically fund it this year which is good since we have other Financial challenges this year questions public [Music] defender that's um I'm getting there mayor [Music] public defender is budgeted at $20,000 which is a decrease of $115,000 I don't know how that's a decrease of $155,000 It's actually an increase ,000 there's a formula problem that's still going back to year 2022 I can see right here yeah it's actually not down mayor it's up $3,000 right and basically that's the total expense we're anticipating because changes from the AOC regarding how we how public defendant money is collected has almost eliminated collections in public defender so this year we're basically anticipating funding the entire amount but we pay him more than 20,000 yes we do goe it's in it's not in this budget we yeah we also have a it's paid actually out of the trust account you'll notice at the top of the page there's an operating account and a trust account so when we pay the public defender it's actually paid out of the trust account but we budget it into the operating account yeah okay and people wonder why we don't run government like a business oh there you go I do not make up the rules the DTA does let's move on uh accumulated leaves lot for years it's coming I promise so this is one of those things that we have to budget because of and and you know I I probably want to let Andy chime in here so to properly account for our liabilities related to accumulated leave of all of our Township employees L the and Andy I know it's not generally accepted accounting but there there's a a requirement for us to budget monies annually to in the event that if we were to suddenly cease to exist and we had to pay the accumulated leave of all of our employees that that's kind of a dumb down version of this am I right or wrong Andy uh you're close Bob um unfortunately you're um you know they they allow you to um uh budget for the these costs the previously they had not you know years ago but you are now allowed to set up a reserve for these costs but you're you're not at uh 100% funding no that's why you need to keep on providing for these Appropriations if you should choose to that you want to get to the full funded status and and does does this go into Reserve at the end of the year Andy it's it stays in that Reserve yes it does yes yes what's not what's ever not utilized goes into a a trust account uh so it's it's it's in a way cumulative correct correct so how much do we have in that account yeah I'm just I'm just looking it up right now if give me two seconds you don't mind it's got to be a lot uh well so our our exposure is a lot oh yeah so 123123 the balance was uh 2.4 million uh your your calculations of what would really be the net necessity at that as Bob said if the doors were shut uh would was 6 million and that was at 12322 six million okay all right I mean so it is you do kind of allow a pay as you go but at the end of the day you're trying to be more fiscally responsible by building this balance up and it does go to things like Bond rating oh sure absolutely yes okay okay questions salary adjustment yeah the these are hardly the exciting budget documents I agree but we were on page 53 of 57 yeah we're getting there I know exciting salary adjustments it's coming so that is there in the event that we well so we have to budget for this in the event that we have to make salary adjustments but in Prior years and hopefully this year too when we make adjustments we have sufficient funds in the current fund budget to cover any salary adjustments that we have to make does this go to fund balance or is there trust to Andy this goes back to fund balance doesn't it that's correct yeah this just rolls into your appropriate reserves and if F bounds makes sense questions uh tax appeal refund yeah I know where that one's at yeah these I don't think these are complete for us okay I got it tax appeal refunds well that's what we have that's what you have and that's correct based on the current balance of our tax appeal res Reserve which is at currently $2.879 million and in discussions with our assessor on current um large property appeals um it's anticipated that that uh Reserve balance is sufficient to cover any uh any cost without resulting in a significant amount of deduction from that reserve for calendar year 20 24 questions tax title inan foreclosure money and money out budget oops there we at tax title Le foreclosures is budgeted at $50,000 as it has been in and all of the previous years shown on this spreadsheet so tax title lean foreclosures is the money that we have to have in our budget to pay so when they when they lean is filed in a tax sale the lean when it is satisfied we have to be able to pay the lean holder from this account and then it's reimbursed to the town in the tax account that when the when the lean is collected this is when we have complaints from Neighbors and the Department of Health goes out and says there's cleanup that needs no that's not what this is all Kathy this is tax title lean foreclosures no this is the panetti money tax title lean foreclosures is not the panetti money tax title lean foreclosures is just what I said that's that's that's not what funds panetti this is this is when a Leen is redeemed right and that's what that's is this is what this is for when a lean is redeemed money goes in and money goes goes out like a pass through account Bob a pass through account yeah okay I got you thank you yeah any other questions contingent my favorite account of all but I thought this is not your contingency fund no it is not so we have this discussion at every budget hearing for the 11 years now remember yes this is just something the state tells us we this is a function of the budget process of the state of New Jersey every municipality must have a contingent budget and in that contingent budget you must have a dollar amount and the dollar amount that seems to be chosen by all who do this process is $2,000 and it never gets spent in case I guess it could it could get spent if we absolutely positively ran out of money we could spend this $2,000 that's in the contingent account like if we didn't have enough to pay for lunch yeah exactly okay reserve for uncollected taxes in other state it's a is a Formula based thing coming to it prob not based on our budget because it hasn't changed well I so it it was something that was a challenge to anyone who took the municipal budgeting class at Ruckers to become a CFO um so I'll let uh you know I think that Andy is probably the best suited to explain this um and the formula if we really want a math lesson um we can do that if yeah it's it's basically a function of the the total amount taxes you need to collect that includes you know County school taxes Etc uh you you're required to make 100% good on all those other other um taxing entities so this Reserve allows you in case you have a shortfall and overall collections to give you a bit of a cushion uh we actually may want to have a little discussion about this number uh maybe before the B budget's actually finalized um it's starting to get a little bit squeezed in terms of the spread between actual Collections and what this number represents in terms of total um Levy so we may have a further discussion on that one and and so in essence what Andy just said is it's an insurance policy of sorts to ensure in The Bu so the the state of New Jersey felt that municipalities needed to budget a certain amount of money to ensure that they could pay the other agencies from whom we collect taxes yeah for for whom we collect taxes we should get a discount on that because we have a surplus but okay we we should get we should get a discount on I think that you know this this has to do with just the the method by which municipalities in the state of New Jersey budget and the state of New Jersey's regulations for that okay and you can't spend it so does it act like a trust fund kind of a thing no it does not act like a trust fund it's an annual budget item like I said it's to ensure that the municipality has cash on hand in an amount to cover any shortfalls that might arise when we have to pay the quarterly tax bills to the county the Board of Education and the fire districts in our case so become zero at the end of the they become it it doesn't nothing happens to it it just it goes in and it goes right back out and if we don't it it's just a it just goes away well it it drops into your fund balance yeah and saying it literally yeah right it doesn't get spent it just goes back to fund balance year after year after year an insurance policy Bob correct yes percentage uh Andy that has to be yeah you're collecting at you know just above 99% and um uh I want to look at this again but this probably represents like a 98 and a half% 98.5% collection rate yeah we're a little over 99 all right um which which Andy tell them what that means is that it probably could go down well actually you know it's a function of how much fund balance you utilize versus this this account yes and it provides you again with a little more ability to make sure your fund balance doesn't decline uh too too significantly if anyone would like to see the worksheet to calculate the um reserve for uncollected taxes I think I still have it from when I took the class it's a fun thing to do I asked a question because I think we're going to be need needing every dollar this year but it it is actually a calculation based on known figures as our budget goes up say from 65 million total to $66 million total even if we collect 99% of the tax the amount that we need to have in the reserve for un collected taxes would go up as our gross taxes go up that's why it would tend to go up all right I think that's enough discussion on something we have no control over we don't have any control over it that's the last one I have uh and Marie why why is there are Bob why is there a council discussion item is there something in particular just that gives us room to all over what we've seen a feeling that Amry is going to tell you was a typo there is no council discussion Council discussion regarding what you guys have already discussed so all right do anyone have anyone have anything they want to bring up in general about the budget so far do have a motion to adjourn move second good to hear from you Carl all in favor say all in favor to say iOS say we adjourned except for Carl be well Franklin good night everyone