March 13 20124 6:00 uh Council vice president Paul would you please redo open public meeting act statement this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law this meeting of March 13 2024 was included in the list of meeting notices sent to newspapers of record and posted on the bulletin board in the ipal building and has remained continuously posted as the required notice notices under the statute in addition a copy of this notice has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the municipal clerk would everyone please rise i al United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for [Music] all councilman spera would you please do the invitation We Gather to make decisions for our community may we use only our best skills and judgment keeping ourselves impartial and neutral as we consider the merits and pitfalls of each matter that is placed before us and always act in accordance with what is best for our community and our fellow citizens amen amen amen roll call please councilman Clark here councilman Kennedy here councilman scuro here Council vice president paace here council president Marino here public discussion on a agenda items only anyone wants to speak you can come to the podium just state your name three minutes hi and Davis um question about the budget just real quickly um we're increasing Personnel what new positions will we be creating we may already have that information for yeah um so we've already filled an HR position that was sorely needed hold on let me get to the what else have we done we've done HR leaving increased in inspections um one additional admin position in inspections an additional DPW position that was left uh of three that were left vacant so we'd like to get back up to two more in the future two more on top of that um and what are the actual ones that were vacant uh three DPW we have which positions in DPW labor truck drivers uh labor um two admin in inspections two admin inspections yes and they've been posted and filled one has one has been fil posted and filled yes so it was posted in applications were accepted cuz when I opened that I was told no responsive records existed I don't recall an O on the inspections position so HR was a new position created and that was posted that that was posted uh interviewed before my tenure and uh I ended up filling the position based on applicant um and I think that's what we have right here as far as new position go because I like I'm just confused because obviously taxes are skyrocketing which is really going to affect our residents especially our seniors on limited you know budgets limited incomes and like not trying to be an nasty but you were on Council for four years and none of this ever came up you know you said we needed more people in inspections I don't think anybody will disagree with that but that's not what you targeted out of the gate you targeted taret out of the gate let say a person was targeted but that's a discussion for another time we know why we know what's going on but none of this in four years no in in four years that you were on Council and council president you never bought any of this up so now it just we said we needed increased inspection M correct we said we needed a qualified HR uh person right I don't remember that but okay I mean it was posted so that's you I'm good with that so what else well you're just saying like three labors in a DPW another administrative position like what other administra administrative position was in the inspections department which was brought up in the past right but I mean nothing came before Council to hire another person in inspections like how come some positions come before Council to be approved but others do not because some some positions are advice and consent some aren't our form of government requires department heads to come before advice and consent Am I Wrong Rich so our form of government if you uh if if you want to read up on it uh advice and consent for different boards like um uh open space um different positions like department heads come before advice and consent other ones are uh up to the admin's discre def okay so any of these that would fall under civil service that process is going to be followed yeah okay I'm just asking so that's our form of government um it it uh we have followed that form of government and civil service every step of the way okay just ask what was the uh you said there was uh there was a question right no it was just I just I'm curious because you're letter in the budget had said we need to increase personnel and it just seems like we had an agenda item a month ago where an organizational chart for let's be honest it was like 20 to 30 years old was attached to that so we haven't had any of those positions in all that time it's never come up now it's coming up that we're looking at a substantial increase in this town that unfortunately people are not going to be able to afford so um that organizational chart was deviated from and I think people have seen the lack of Serv Serv and um their quality of life decreased because those positions have not been filled we just discovered a grant for $2.6 million that was sitting in an inbox and nobody noticed it because we don't have the admin positions um we were notified of this nobody knew about it that was $2.6 Million left from last year nobody even saw that ended up in an inbox that was empty um so these positions were left vacant and they need to be refilled they need to be back filled laborers and DPW you'd like um I think we have uh great garbage service I think we have great plowing service could be better and I want to make that better based on the old organizational chart we used to be more staffed our quality of life here in town used to be better we'd like to try to try to bring that back um and I think we're on our way to to do that I mean I just wanted to ask because a lot of people are saying where are these new positions coming from unfortunately you we haven't had them in decades and I think it shows I think it shows by the quality of service that we've gotten here in town so back to the um the tax increase so the tax increase we have seen a substantial increase in our insurance is up 6.8% pension is up 6% Debt Service is up 72% that's because there's things you can't controlly understand that insurance premiums your your contracts you have with your bargaining units you're going to have to do cost living increases whatever Deb service from last year we we we deferred $600,000 last year to keep the budget flat we have to pay that this year that is half of the increase this year that we decided not to pay our bills last year okay the mayor in this last line of our CFOs write up says that um no funds were appropriated in the 20 2023 budget anticipated note payment for the at the request of the mayor so we now have to make up $600,000 in payment this year that is our tax increas is $1.2 million deferred to this year we're paying our bills this year last year we didn't pay our bills we're also trying to restaff positions that were left vacant and it shows it shows we're not catching emails we are not um I think dealing with HR issues appropriately we are now doing that we have a qualified person it's not a person who was hired as a keyboard clerk who was then given the duties of an HR person we have a highly qualified certified HR person anybody who works in the private sector knows that human resources is a very it it's an integral part of of your daily operations there's a lot of um laws specialized laws ones that people need to be trained and certified in so we we absolutely address that so the person in HR is a certified HR person they have HR experience with certifications okay okay I'm just asking because I mean I I know I sent a couple emails that I haven't gotten any responses to so I'm just kind of curious thank you thank thank you mayor that mayor we are going to have a public discussion on the budget so I I appreciate that you details so they can learn but we're you know why it's at this part of the meeting you know you can ask your question keep it in three minut 3 minutes sure sorry that's okay yeah want to make sure everybody understands it the mayor quoted we're get we have a grant we can apply for this grant for $2.6 million we received we received okay so the $2.6 million can't we use that to pay our bills so that uh that Grant is um specific in I think it's roadway uh storm water it it was very specified certain grants are very specified they can so that's not the grant that uh Mr O'Brien talked about this is a different Grant different Grant okay so I thought that Grant was something else that he talked about so this is a different Grant uh wasn't it the truck gr that that well he had a whole list of different things like and whatnot prior I thought this was one that was applied for and see last year this has nothing to do with so our not to cut you off the mayor um so our taxes are going up how much bottom line uh for every $100,000 of assessment it's about $45 a quarter okay and that and that includes everything with the school tax that's going to go up 2% just I I don't know what the school's going to come in at okay so bottom line are we looking at how many percentage uh Bob what's the percentage on that 11% 11% okay 11% okay it is okay so 11% now 11% I'm not real good with math I'll be honest but 11% okay how's that going to affect the all here in town I mean I know we want businesses to come in here um we're already talking about inflation we're not getting any pay raises here but everything's going up so how's that going to affect and I understand we got to pay our bills and we had this discussion last year with the previous mayor yeah so why can't we just send him the bill since he created this m and I'm being dead serious so last last last year uh items were offset there's been a lot of talk saying you can't um you know last year's budget shouldn't be uh discussed when talking about this year's budget last year we used 800,000 in the remaining of the co money we used uh I I forget about 100,000 in uh the remaining of the um sale sale of assets box we transferred Capital money over into operating how much was that another 140,000 so your infrastructure money your Capital money was transferred out to offset last year's budget um along with not paying Bond payments last year so you're looking at about $800,000 between capital and bond payments that were deferred last year that we have to now try to make up um so that's where we're at how are we going to justify this for the residents of the town because we have a lot of people that can't afford this increase so maybe we can re look at the budget and cut somewhere somehow I mean the people this is what we're here for our residents so we we were able to I mean we have to pay our bills no way I mean we have to pay yeah as adults we're expected to pay our bills we as our residents to pay our bills last year as a town we didn't pay our bills um uh I mean maybe we can uh cut some salaries take no raises something because it's not fair to us residents that we're always eating the the burden of it so we were able to um uh non-discretionary obviously up those are uh charges um that we really don't control but discretionary we were able to cut about 200,000 so we we did offset three cents uh in dis discretionary yeah um we were at 20 some cents we went back through and cut more can we cut more um I'm open to uh that will be for excuse me mar that will be for the public discussion glad answer your comments every that time thank you thank you anyone else d voice um I'm hoping that the talks on the budget are are taken serious by everybody um and chicanery stops there's posts on on social media now talking about the budget and how they're fiscally responsible and everything but what they're not mentioning is by a sitting council member right now um what they're not saying is that they are responsible for part of this disaster because they were one of two City councilmen now that approved and passed the budget from last year okay enough is really enough start taking responsibility for your own actions that's all thank you thank you anyone else is this on the budget and what we think of it this is it well there's a public hearing right for the public prior to final adoption on the budget this is the council minight is going to discuss the budget this is not that public hearing this is but you do have the right to comment on on the there'll be another chance down the road yes I'm Joe Miner and I don't have to tell you where I live I have asked in the past that that that you switch your budgeting to more visible more what is it open uh frankly last year's council president was probably the only one who was outspoken in favor of Shifting the monies around no more hidden monies I have also thought an increase in expenses of the Town paid directly would be offset by values going up in the long run I actually hope that increasing the accurate visibility of where the money is coupled with the streets getting swept up on Main Street and putting back the garbage cans they took away all these little things that now we're going to be doing and we're going to be paying for these things directly up front I am thrilled to death that there is that you are going to now start paying our bills up front not selling more bonds reducing the value of the town's credit uh enough enough I want to know that what is being proposed by uh Jesus the pre the the mayor hey thank you you know I I'm not good with it's amazing how yeah the son of his father there good keep doing you know okay thank you and and I'm hoping that it will not be a disaster for the taxpayer okay thank you Joe anyone else before I open it up to council okay see you on counseling scuro will'll start with you well I think uh where we're at now is a product of what happened last year um during the budget season um that budget was passed at flat on hopes that you could fool the public uh to be reelected um now we're cleaning up the mess now uh as the mayor had stated all all the things that weren't paid uh how do you not find a bond uh how do you not find a grant that's 2.6 million how do you overlook that I I just look at it as it was a failure of the last uh Administration um excuse me Joe shut up Ming myself I'm sorry out loud and I think it's our job as Council now we have to put the pieces together and try to eliminate some of the waste and some of the things that happened from before I do agree um there's certain people that are on this Council still that could have maybe offset that last year and maybe would have thought about it then and could have helped uh lower the crunch now that's on us um but you know that's politics some people go that way and they don't look out for what the resident's best interest is and I think that's where we're at now so we can't look back we have to look forward we have to look at this even more see if we could get it down anymore I don't I don't know if we can I looked over it um I I do support what the mayor's trying to do as far as trying to clean up uh town hall and have it run a lot better than it was before in a better manner um I do support that it hasn't been done for 30 years so that could be a result of what we're at now um you know like you said we have to work together though we have to work together for the people we can't keep playing politics on social media pointing fingers when we know really what the facts are here so that's all I have for tonight thank you councilman councilman kenned yes um uh this budget um I see here uh local revenues realized over 2.8 million this past year and that's an increase of 1.3 million now one of those sources of revenue is paid parking and when I push for PID parking um naturally from some people there was a large outcry over that but what I saw was uh people parking philb for free going over to Easton okay people coming for the apothecarium I think we took in uh in 2021 uh $55,000 for the year in Revenue and this past year it was 120,000 for paid parking um the reason I pushed for it was that I wanted to ease the burden on our taxpayers that Revenue coming in I didn't really want it going toward uh new positions and increased salaries salaries are are are up 7% in this budget and a 133% increase in non-discretionary spending now the budgets available to everyone okay it's on on the town website but on page 59 I'm going to hold this Beast up it's been everything's being blamed on the past administration well if you look at this this chart goes all the way back to 2015 you can see there's very little fluctuation in the budget until we get to 2024 now mayor pza he was on Council he was a council president one of those years with no opposition and during that time he didn't need all these new positions and they didn't vote for raises now all of a sudden we need them now last week rent control was brought up and you know we're hearing how we have to be sympathetic to the renters because we're a town we're in poverty situation and whatnot but for the taxpayers who's looking out for them okay I mean council president brings up how uh he's retired on a fixed income so am I and I'm a homeowner and this budget is totally unacceptable with the spending okay so there is no way no way I am voting in favor of this budget the way it stands right now that's all I have so since I was brought up um so the nondiscretionary are uh charges that we do not control they're are contractual the raises the 7% raises are contractual they are out of our hands um stut the they're statutory by position through uh Civil Service um so I I take it up with the state that it's I have a hard time hearing I want to hear the mayor I know I don't want to missao because people will be surprised when I close Okay councilman Clark will I have to prepare a retoric remind as well so I agree with councilman Kennedy on this I'm not going to waste time on politics I'm strictly about the numbers and what strictly is the truth is an 11 uh% increase in the tax rate is insane that's $1.2 million increase in tax collections that's being proposed right now we can't afford that it's unheard of now just like councilman Kennedy showed since 2015 we've been paying our bills we've been able to keep the tax rate at a normal steady level last two years as vice president I helped pass a flat budget we do this with fiscally responsible Direction but what we're seeing with this budget raising taxes being jacked up because of raising spending being jacked up we're hearing talks of rent control which would cap investment at 3% annual and we're not seeing a large increase in Revenue this is a cocktail for disaster now we're seeing a massive influx in spending regarding government salaries $630,000 increase in that spending alone now I understand that we want to increase the quality of life for our town but we're talking about an efficiency issue not a bigger government issue now we need to keep spending under control now last I checked we want to keep taxes where we want at lowest as possible reduce the spending and I can't believe I'm saying this as the Democrat but reducing the size of government we keeping it to a minimum size as possible as simple as possible increasing efficiency not so much size which then increases spending which is why you see your taxes going up 11% I mean the school board themselves they're proposing a 2% increase and they do a 2% every year 11% it's unheard of $1.5 million increase sorry $1.2 million increase I am not supporting this now I'm sure that there's going to be some kind of retort and if I do have a a counter I would like to respond but this is an irresponsible budget we were able to keep taxes flat and we did it responsibly we were able to pay the bills and we didn't see any problem until now because they're looking to expand the size of government create a whole bunch of new jobs now we heard about what three new potential jobs now remember during the first and second meetings of this year we uh went through salary ranges uh some of those jobs included a director of Public Safety which was a salary range up to $135,000 two confidential AIDS one of which for a that's part-time taking a full-time salary are those being included in this budget as well no no so they're not in this budget no will they be in any future budgets down the road uh yeah 20 years from now they could be 20 years from now that's for thinking future is future 20 years is future I don't know what the mayor 20 years from now will need director of Public Safety um confidential Aid if you're mayor 20 years from now it's there for you to look at well have your endorsement well thank you but at least we can keep the politics out of this right this is insane this tax hike I would't even call it a tax hike it's an assault on the taxpayers and to uh use a term that's been used before that actually made the papers we'll all be living by the bridge if that's the case that's all I have to say thank you Council Council pres pres PA yeah the reason why that tax rate is at 11% this year is because half of it is due to the fact of the $600,000 bond payment not being made that's not even taken into account the interest that has been acrude on that $600,000 because the previous mayor told the CFO not to make that payment so there's no argument there so and as far as any new positions those positions are not new they had been in the organization chart for years they just were never filled and at the advice and recommendation for many years The Joint Insurance Fund has pressured the town into filling that HR position the mayor's only doing what should have been done years ago so I don't fault him and as far as the seniors that are on a fixed income there is such a thing as as a senior freeze so they should not be affected as as the other residents and when you bring up rent control I hope you feel so so adamantly about rent control as you do about an increase in taxes because rent control will keep it at 3% and th you know it will affect those people that are looking at 1002 200 $300 per month not 20 $25 increases in taxes per month so I hope you remember that and the other thing is if you have any suggestions as far as Cuts I'd be more than happy to hear them Council one and no I'm not as a matter of fact I've been I've been dealing with government budgets for over 20 years I know what it takes to to put a budget together and who do you always rely on are your profession your your department heads not the people voting on that budget because the people that are actually doing the work they know what is needed to get the job done CFO Merlo I can't thank you enough you have done an excellent job in the best interest of the town and I have that memo from last year where you stated that budget was a disaster and what the effects of this year and possibly even next year are are going to have because of what was passed last year so own it I'm talk thank you I wasn't really going to talk a lot I wasn't really going to talk a lot but since my name was mentioned I challenged my federal pension but they take out for hospitalization to my colleague who retired from the state of New Jersey I guarantee you there's about5 to $700 a month difference so camp lman on town of billsburg got blame it where it goes who owns it the state of New Jersey that was one the other councilman brought up school board 12 years on the board what do you want to know about it what did he say 2% a year you know why they do that so your taxes don't go Sky High okay before I get into this other one Harvard law professor on rent control it brings people and developers into a depressed area because those who are there for a while their rents aren't going up compared to what the new Comm in just crossed the boundary to L pack on some of those people will tell you now I agree I don't run the town of filbur I'm not the CFO I'm not the May I'm not the ba we don't rely on those people no one up here has the expertise because no one works in that part of government one's retired one works in a public entity the other one works in a public entity one that kind of public I retired from the federal government but the post office is separate from the rest of the budgets it's self sustaining so when I talk I can prove my numbers pay my hospitalization every month I guarantee you no State retirement employee pays what I pay so that's enough on that now I'm going to ask the most important question I don't care what happened yesterday we're cleaning up one hell of a mess the former mayor the former council president said it's a disaster I thought he was going to vote along with Ben councilman pza Jr myself and go back to the budget no three to two can't blame it on me I voted no should have went back now I'm going to ask each councilman and keep in mind every penny is around $72,000 I stand to be corrected Bob you're correct so if anyone can tell me where you want to cut Now's the Time to tell me do you want to cut the police department with all the stuff they got going on let me know but if you cut them you got to cut DPW you got to cut office Right Down the Line equality so when you can tell me what you want to do we'll discuss it any councilman have any ideas you got to own it none of this running on Facebook or that and say I didn't say you're going to say in front of the public in front of the press where do you want to cut go to already stay councilman Kenny and I already have a track record for bringing in two flat budgets we don't have to explain anything further we're not the ones in leadership now now you are we oh my God council president council president so we've done a generally pretty good job of keeping it calm let's let's keep it calm Cal everybody will get a chance to talk on Council council president I have a few words so we talk about being responsible up here we talk about looking out for the best interest and doing the right thing uh it shows last year that you weren't very responsible by passing that budget yeah you could you could pass a flat budget two years in a row but what happens next I think uh Mr Mero explained that last year and I think he didn't listen to a professional so that's where we're at now you could go on Facebook you can create lies you could create anything to boost your agenda but when you come down to the meat of it this is what we're we're at you can't make excuses and claim that you did something and you didn't do it that's where we're at here I'm tired of hearing you say the things you say up here that aren't true to the public they're not true to anything you don't have any facts to back it up either so we need to stop doing this because all it is doing is causing a divide and we're not getting down to what we need to do is solve the problems here in town it's becoming a disgrace I have people come up to me every day asking me what's what's true and what's not well I'd say come to the meeting and you can find out what's true thank you point of order council president if you call me a liar you better bring some statistics I don't take to that kindly cuz you don't show any statistics any proof Pro go for personal tax want statistics I'll pull them up for you I uh I looked into rent control doing now for you guys hey you asked for it didn't you he's entitled to talk C when you asked for it I was being slandered I had he called me a liar okay point of order saying you're being responsible I'm saying you're not speak now he speaking you said you're being responsible my opinion is you're not being responsible and I think what you're putting online is not accurate and I'm allowed to say that if I want it's my opinion and I have facts to back it up Mr Kennedy uh Mr Kennedy listed some Google search uh rents in town here which is not from a professional anyone can Google anything doesn't mean that these are accurate by any means so I went to a professional which is a realtor who deals with it every day in town this is what he sends me I'll be sure to send it to you guys if you want a copy of it I have it right here um so for for one-bedroom rent we're looking at $1,600 a month for two bedrooms we're looking at $2,000 a month three bedrooms are looking at 2500 a month that's the rent here in town for those what I just said the numbers that Mr Kennedy said were not that and it weren't accurate this is accurate this is facts that's you want you want facts I'll bring them every time we cannot put misinformation out to the public it creates chaos it creates Madness people get confused they don't know what's real this is this isn't politics this is for the people that's what I ran that's what I want and that's what we're going to do we're going to clean this town up and we're going to do it the right way we're not going to put out stuff that's not accurate just to just to try to sway people and confuse them we're not doing that anymore counc president Council Kennedy yeah um whether those figures are accurate or not I mean I I went to several different sources and we can argue back and forth won't you show them the paper you had there it's a Google search all I can say is everyone gets an opportunity all of us that I researched all of them had filbur at the lowest average rent that's all I can say okay uh the other thing I want to address what uh council president said uh I will not have my pension and and what I earn called in called out here in a council meeting sir I call your yes you did okay I worked for the for the state of New Jersey for 36 and2 years I paid into that pension okay the deal was made a long time ago all right so I'm not going to apologize for anything that I have coming to me okay if you're unhappy with yours that's your business okay I'm not I'm on a fixed income now what I have I earned and I paid into it and I'm not going to apologize for it that's it well I'm not going to respond to anything because but I say is the truth so that's all I wor about pay a lot more more the federal level than you do on the state level that's why just a just a quick U I guess amendment to uh what I said earlier the the the salary increases also include two new police contracts Superior officers and uh the regular rank of five so there is two new contracts that were um that are included in this year's budget that were not there before so that that's another increase and who's going to you know say that we don't need more police officers I you don't think I'm not asking but I think I think we've all been in an agreement that we definitely need more police officers four officers per shift is not sufficient for the type of crime that we're we're uh addressing the safety of the officers the safety of the public is what's most important um especially in light of us you know covering Alpha I don't think anybody would ever say decrease our police force I would hope not and I don't think there's ever there are any positions that are newly created it's just that those positions have not been filled over the years quite a few so you know it it and and the the positions that that were discussed as far as the confidential Aid or the secretary to the mayor and the public safety director are not in this budget and who knows if they will ever be filled so that should not even be a topic to discuss what should be discussed is what's in it now and the question was what would you like to see cut I haven't heard an answer to that question that was your question correct yes it was I didn't hear anything brought to the table as to what's going to be cut I can bring up something council president right now tell us where you want to cut sure how about uh this title the deputy Municipal head for the division of maintenance services which I voted against okay what other Cuts would you like that's there's $80,000 right there okay there's you cut a Penny and a quarter it's a cut it's a cut okay we save the penny and a quarter uh C correct me I'm wrong to address EXC me one minute when you make a cut you just can't make one cut isn't that discrimination you got to make Cuts in every Department you can you let it go you can you can do line item Cuts but that position has been filled so if you if you if you remove that You' be removing the employee from the position as well and then he would he or she would counter Su us for removing the position it's been done before yes it's been dumping for it that's what I want to bring up okay May respond please so I think that position has actually increased the quality of uh our services just within the past few weeks I think we've seen a um a substantial increase in the quality of DPW service um and I'm very happy with how that's performing I think the residents feel that way as well at least uh the feedback that I've gotten recently so if if you have any other feedback please please forward it to me and I will definitely consider it and would be happy to review that um so I I would be open to uh if either of you would like to not pay the bills this year and defer if if you would like to condone that like you did last year I'd be willing to listen to that as well I'm not sure I would go that route but if you don't want to pay this year's bills like you were okay with not paying last year's bills I would listen to that as well please put it in writing and I'll consider okay before we close the discussion on Council I just want to reiterate you heard someone say 2% a year to Schoolboard did that's why they're not in the hole the Town Council last year didn't it got voted down 3 to two you don't have to be a mathematician to know that if you didn't increase the spending keep in mind all these Town employees are under contracts so when they put that money in their account I mean me personally thank God I don't run this this town I wouldn't pay half these people that kind of money I pay my wages Federal wages but we have to live with what we have so you have to be adult about it no one wants their taxes to go up no one no one in this room does no one wants their rent to go up but guess what it's going to go up because of the mistakes in the past and I don't want to dwell on the past but that's where we are today we heard it last year it's a disaster it's going to lead into a year or two the vote was 3 to2 flat budget but yet you heard 2% the school board goes up every year why didn't Council say hey bring it up a percent bring it up 2% there again PG politics and now here we are we're stuck with a budget that you can't avoid now no one has told me do you want to cut 10 cops do you want to cut 20 guys off the DPW do you want to cut three people out of Municipal Building do you want to make this cut no one is told me that you can't cut a penny a penny you're going to go tell the employee I'm going to cut it they'll go to a good lawyer then we're going to get a lawsuit and now we're going to spend eight pennies of PID for that lawsuit okay face reality we didn't put us in thiso former Council and pza J myself voted no we've seen it coming we're not the municipal experts and I honor and respect all the professionals that's why they went to college that's why they learned it that's why they did it and if you don't make the change and we continue this line guess what no one's going to want to come here right now there's people knocking on the door that want to come in when people tell you the working people the people in the streets of beber and I'm all over Bieber when you have people would own a lot of property say I can go and I shouldn't talk about rent control right now 2 3% good with me if they're good with it I can't see a problem up here I mean that when they tell me I want numbers tell me tell me 10 cops tell me 15 DPW then when you get a foot of snow don't call me up get a shovel out tell me who you want to cut and how many people when mayor Wyatt was Mar and I was president in Council 20 years ago that was his line tell me what you want to cut how many people you want to cut from each department across the board 12 years on the school board when I was on not some of those dates that you'll see 7% 2% every year 2% every year and no one during my terms got laid off no one so if they want to tell me who you want to cut I'm going to vote no by the way tell me put it on a record Put it on a record own it being an adult own it you think us people pushing 80 want to see anything go up hell no it goes up they give you a 3 2.3% whatever and they raise your insurance your hospital insurance and your Medicare that's really good math they ought to give them guys a bonus every year in con okay so that's where we are tell me counsel who you want to cut and how many you want to cut okay moving on public petition state your name [Music] only again then there then you're going to finish up if you like if you like sure equal time for everybody I'm Joe Riner yeah I'm here to beg you you started the year first you're going to know I am not going to talk about anything that happened last year I don't give a damn about last year you had you're writing a new budget for this year now I'm going to specifically with with when she was a citizen I was opposed to her ideas but she had my lo I was I was the loyal opposition as a as a councilman I was in favor of your ideas now I still think she's an honest person all of your honest decent people you wouldn't even be there there's no money to be made as a councilman in Philipsburg New Jersey you got to have some stupid doood or heart in you or you wouldn't be doing the job you're doing get back to being the loyal I am now the loyal opposition there and I am now the Ally there but I still have respect for both of you and if you I know it's hard sitting in those seats and having somebody sock you figuratively in the mouth and not you don't have to offer the other cheek just shut up and still until you're ready to respond not to the person and not to the offense and not to I don't read social media if people won't put their name on it I don't read it thank God for small favors I'd be as crazy as you get get along with each other please I beg you like you did last week and the week before don't let this thing get pushed to that place where you forget you're merely the loyal opposition to each other and stick to the budget yeah there are some legitimate qu there's no way you can answer a direct clever question with a direct clever answer we all think about it we're all human beings don't forget you're a human being every minute you're up there okay it's a b it's a b because I have no Authority I can't make you do anything please get back to getting along by the next we have you have another couple weeks to cool off and get back to working together looking at each other as loyal opposition not the enemy you all want good for Philips first thank you thank you J else okay anyone else okay is this public petitions open or is this public petitions only on the tax only on the budget only on public petition my fa good evening David moris said address react um good spirited discussion this evening so uh I just wanted to mention three things that I heard tonight um that I think might not be accurate and uh I just wanted to say something there was a statement here that uh the increase in taxes would be $25 per household 45 45 45 quarter on every 100 assess assess right well the the comment was it would be $25 per household um so it's $45 it was in the back and forth banter sorry oh that's okay um no it's not you I said 20 $25 per month I oh per month yeah that's probably close okay I did not catch the per month um so would be about $45 for every $100,000 of assessed value per quarter forter for quarter yes so um so U the other another thing I just wanted to mention there was some discussion on rank control I know rank control is not a topic for the last meeting but um the rank control I understand is uh one of the models you're looking at is the low Pat rank control and the lowack rent control for the renters in filisur downtown will not apply the lowth rent control is uh BAS basically for larger than four units and it's really addressed at large complexes and um and there was a statement here saying that when you cut um and cut positions cut departments that type of thing that you have to do it uniformly you don't have to but you should you don't have to your PO council president your policy would be to do it uniformally right but that's your policy it's not something you have to do okay that's all I have and uh thank you very much and thank you I enjoyed the spirited debate you all care anyone else okay hearing none motion to adjourn the budget meeting all in favor meeting adour yeah but you got 8 minutes okay