pursuing to the provisional New Jersey open public meeting that adequate letter of this meeting was copy provided by transmitting the notice of the meeting for the publication to the asur park press the star rer on January 5th 2024 notes this meeting of the governing body has been posted in the corter of the municipal building and in the office of Cl wel council member an here counc member condos here council member Connor here council member CRA here council member rotunda here council president will here mayor pearon excuse thank you excuse Al to the the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all number five um than did everyone have the opportunity to um the minutes so do I have a motion I make you have a second second council member C yes council member Connor yes council member Amil no council member Condes I'm G abstain I was absent the last session thank you council member Renda yes council president V yes motion approv on the ordinates number six there's a final reading and Adoption of ordinance 2024 d04 Capital ordinance of the B seide Park County rtion state in New Jersey appropriating 101,000 for the moving BS make that motion public the public comment on um item a for read option that amendments see do I have a motion I'll make that motion second council president have a second second second council member C yes council member condos yes council member Amil yes council member Connor yes council member runda yes council president wilf yes Mo approve Item B first reading and introduction of ordinance 2024 d05 ordinates to establish the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank New Jersey sa 48 4- 4515 you have a motion on that no first reading thank you um I'll make that motion have a second council member craft yes council member Connor yes council member amabile yes council member condos yes council member counc president will yes Mo approve item C first reading and introduction to ordinance the code of B seite parking entitled theel regulations so as to create a new section 20- 56.1 to be titled tree removal and replacement you have a motion on that make a motion to approve the first reading second council member Condes yes council member yes council member Amil yes council member Connor yes council member rotunda yes council president will yes M item D first reading and introduction ordinance 2024-25 Article 1 Section I just had a yeah a question on it or maybe a comment I know um we have the fees down here going up to $30 for the fers market and the other things also uh down there and but the junior lifeguard I know we had to change that uh uh it still says Junior lifeguard for session like $40 which is the minimum but we did said we were only going to charge 25 so I don't know if that affects that in any way or we charge cuz we were charging 15 and we' said we probably charge 25 and then um this has a minimum of 30 on it so you're suggesting it should say 25 uh well we make it 30 you know I think you had that in your session last week right based on the committee discussions I wasn't here last week changed it then now it was just interesting enough it was 30 before also we were only charging 15 so I don't know does that make it make it the absolute like you could charge less than what it says minimum is nobody's going to complain that you charge them less or do you have to change it in the ordinance to be less I have to look at the exact language this is 07 right yeah 07 says a minimum and a maximum the minimum is the minimum you can't go below that okay so then you have to change the 30 to 25 the minimum if it says minimum then you can't go below that minimum is minimum okay because I mean that's F we have been it had been 15 so like I said minim you're talking about the life card it says minimum $30 I understand I'm just saying what happened yes so if you want to change it change it now before we do the first reading I don't know what the committee's proposal was 25 I think it should be 25 because then four weeks would be 100 and we said we charge 85 I know we raise the maximum to get it get that 85 in there yes okay okay if you want to amend section one capital letter B Junior life gr per session of 25 let's make that Amendment before we uh have a motion on the there would be a I would say you would might make a motion to amend uh the proposed ordinance to read $25 minimum on the junior lifeguard yeah need a motion second Mo I want to make yeah make a motion for the 25 but second okay second call council member Connor yes council member Renda yes council member Amil yes council member condos yes council member CRA yes council president W yes right the draft ordinance is now am minuted to read for the summer program jiz minimum $25 yes okay a motion to second on the so moved you have a second a second call please council member Renda yes council member condos yes council member Emille yes council member Connor yes council member crab yes president will yes motion approved next item e first reading and introduction ordinates 2024 -08 amending chapter 435 in to of vehicles and traffic part four article 6 section 435-445 Park change changes and fees have a comment on that morning yeah please we um originally we were going to raise it to $2 during the week 250 on the weekends and holidays we were informed that the chaos cannot take 50 cents so we want to change that to $2 and $3 um we need to do the same same thing you make a motion thank you Mr rund you would make the same motion to amend ordinance 20248 the draft section one uh cap letter a and that would be I guess B would go to $2 oh B would go to three C would go to three okay like to have the um motion on that please so move have second please Council Renda yes council member condos yes council member Ile yes council member Connor yes council member Craft um one point in in a of that section one there's verbiage in there that calls out the 250 so we also have to correct that to say $3 and and that occurs I guess in one spot that's that's the right okay so yes council president will yes Mo approve need have um St that we need to I'll give it I'll give it to Barry to to change and send back to Jenna next item at first reading and introduction ordinance 2024 d09 amending chapter 135 135 Article 1 Section yes council member condos yes council member runda yes council president will yes motion approve item G first reading and introduction ordinance 20 24-10 providing a supplemental appropriation of 329,000 for the demolition cost and providing for the issuance of 312835 in bonds or notes of the B Seaside Park adds the same have a motion move second call please council member Renda yes council member Condes yes council member anavil yes council member Connor yes council member craft yes council president will yes motion approved number seven is authorizations of event we have uh three of them weddinga we have an event you want me to do one at a time we'll do it um did you check there summary I think we can do we'll do next item is the pure yoga and then we have the Union Church Easter Service Sunrise Service any questions on those have ation make have a second please take I did review the yeah the insurances are okay Insurance I'll make a motion to approve all three yeah we're good we have a second I a second call please council member condos yes council member Connor yes council member an yes council member CRA yes council member Renda yes counc president will yes number eight payr of claims approv payment itemized claims as set for on the cler's registered buess for the period March 8th to March 21st 2024 didn't have the opportunity to review those I there any questions on that I'll make that motion I have a second on that for the B second call please council member craft yes council member Renda yes council member Amil Iain and not B council member con condos yes council member Connor yes council president will yes motion approve move now's resolutions 2024 117 Governor's Council on alcoholism and drug abuse fiscal Grant cycle October 202024 to June 2025 next item is resolution 2024 d118 purchases of mob mats from the New Jersey state contract number 16d PP 000019 t- 0103 next item is 224-1983 and G Street next item is 20 24-120 authorizing the tax collection to cancel the designation tax sale certificate next slide is 2024-25 next slem is 2024 d122 authorizing a totally disabled veteran exemption cancellation of taxes and refund of overpayment of taxes next item is 2024 d123 authorizing salary increase for the Code Compliance supervisor next item is the 2024 d124 aort to report time Exel officer to the Seaside Park next it is 2024-25 appointing a seasonal appor for the borrow of Seaside par Lena next item 202 4 -126 establish the recreation fees as provided in the go thir chapter 225 Article 1 Section 225 D5 next item 20 24-27 accepting the resignation of fed SCH next it is 20 24-1 128 authorizing purchase of alcohol alcohol test from New Jersey state contract number 20- t l e- 9933 next item 2024 -129 authorizing increase for the r supervisor next items 2024 130 authorizing a shared service agreement with the town trips of Berkeley and the Seaside Park Fire Company number one for far Prevention Services last item is 20 24-31 authorizing tnm Associates to provide Professional Services for the submission of a fund funding application to the New Jersey Transportation bank for the boardwalk replacement project Wonder it's not required by law there are any questions from the public close okay um Haring 21 I Street it's not a question it's a comment um in raising the parking fees the kios from $2 to $3 on the weekend we just driving them down the side streets thank you now I'm M 145 Street uh referencing uh the ordinance uh 2020 4-08 and parking didn't we talk uh somebody suggested possibly offering season stickers for $250 that we have it on the books am I not we do have it on the books that is correct but I don't think it's that price but I think it was less than that but I think at these prices it may be something that you may want to offer to the daes who come over the bridge or whatever uh for $250 I could I me if they came four times a week and save four hours they're going to save well over $100 in parking fees for the summer if not more that's not coming on the weekends so I know we're supposed to be a friendly town so I'm just throwing that out there that we can put it on our website and somebody complain say well it's on the website or we can maybe atise it and say there's a possibility you can get a season when they're selling the badges say you know what we have a we have a Seasons car pass here for you for 200 or whatever price that you sit down and committee and come up with thank you thank you thank you thanks it is 21 Ros 122 M Street I was just curious as to what uh douas C's position was in the town it was a before sir how long did we have his presence he part-time right he was a part-time employee I I do not want to State the time period because I do not recall when we hired him okay so we're going to be looking for somebody else at this time we're not in the process of of hiring anyone I'm not saying we're not going to in the future but at this time we are not interviewing for another person okay thank I close the public motion not seeing any anyone else um do I have a motion Mar I have a question at 130 for I guess for Steve the um our shared service agreement with Berkeley expired December 31st 2022 the new agreement that they sent this starts January 1st 24 should that be backdated to 23 or just leave it the way it is cuz I I don't want to play games with them CU When we did that with the fire truck they backed away and didn't give us anything but that's just legality according to the resolution it said expired in 2023 no we didn't have one last year that's the resolution says yeah the copy I had said by to 20 in 2022 and last year instead of 30 they gave us 24 which they agreed to pay us but it's not in the um it's not in the new uh agreement the they at $6,000 I just want to make sure we get what's coming to us this is for 2024 through 2025 I don't know what happened in 2023 this is being okay it well this is for 2024 and 2025 okay a new it cherry on that second page though the second whereas paragraph where it says the amount of 35 per year and an additional 6,000 High under prev resolution okay all right that's fine okay any other questions any other resolutions make a motion to approve resolutions we have a second second M please council member condos yes council member Connor yes council member amab yes council member craft yes council member runda yes council president will yes Mo I just like to go back through we do have just to get back to the code enforce we do have multiple code en forces we don't have just one code enforcer so there's no lack of coverage on it just right now we we're f with code enforcement the answer the question there's more than one C personer at the building department and we did not add any other employees by hiring the um zoning officer if our other zoning officers retiring so there's no added there's no added employees to that department is there any other comments from the U C questions Lu to the project any any comments any public comments from anyone please 48 Avenue have a couple questions but before I do that and I know sometimes he's at the council meetings I'm sorry he not here I would like to publicly thank Joe to for the work that he does to arrange the senior lunches uh I was yesterday is and I was the one in February yesterday we had it at the community center and it was um it was really it was a very pleasant experience and I know that with him working fulltime uh as an educator that um you know he had to pull some time from somewhere to make the arrangements for this and I just want that to go on the record thank you thank Youk you two questions well one's a comment as far as the ordinance o C 06 I'm sorry the whole tree thing yes which I was somewhat hor somewhat haried at first when I looked at the agenda and saw a seven page uh uh ordinance but then I found out that this was required by the state am I correct in assuming that this verbiage is what the state sent as corrector we had the opportunity to tweak it it was um it was looked at by the planning board and it was looked that um by Eric from um PG um Public Works and that's our F final um version of it it really will not affect any property because of the the wording here yeah we don't really have good plan really it was required for for St and management that's why we have Bo I'm glad Steve you don't have to go through all this and create all this it was a mod or and tweak it if you correct um the question I have is um ordinance 07 about the simmer programs the junior lifeguard um and I know that you are changing the um the minimum procession to $25 the other number the maximum per session could go up to $175 am I reading that right per yeah it just allows us it's a range that we can understand now first session is is that like if it's a six week thing that's every week it's $25 right now there's there's four weeks okay okay there's two sessions a week so if an individual wanted to register their children it would be $25 for that one week for per week per week and if they wanted to do it for the season it would be 85 not 100 it'll be 85 okay just seems like 175 is a lot but that could be 20 years well that's just a la yeah it's it's it's little leeway a lot of leeway thank you thank you Shing CEST 700 North B Avenue um I have a question on an ordinance that doesn't seem to be enforced in town uh it was chapter 45-27 and it's about what can be put between your sidewalk and the Curve and according to the ordinance and I remember what was pasted because I questioned my grass and that got cwed up it says grass not to exceed the height of 3 in stones or gravel pavers or bricks we seem to have an awful lot of people that have other things growing a lot of Doom grass and yes Doom grass is nice but it's gotten to the point where when you pull up a car somebody's getting out of your passenger's side the Doom grass is BU the door from opening I'm more aware of it now well also a Jee and ocean you cannot see down the street it is so high and we have an ordinance against it and I don't know why it's not followed um and I've become more aware of this since I have a handicapp grandchild I can't tell her to put her hands up in front of her face when the Doom grass is going to blow in her face we have to go at the Street and around back up I think it's wrong and and there's a lot of people that are handicapped that get pushed in wheelchairs and again you're going through these Doom grass and branches of trees that you have to duck under and we have an ordinance preventing that can we get this ordinance en forced with people I mean now is the time that people are starting to think about spring hopefully coming um but this ordinance was put in place and it seems to have been completly ignored and it's amazing you know it is tough for some people so is there any way we can start enforcing this ordinance that was passed was passed approved discussed surely I would suggest I I don't think they're going to have the ability to survey every single property in town to see if the ordinance is being complied with so I think the whole purpose of Code Enforcement is if there is an an area where you see that's being violated maybe contact code enforcement let them know a specific place and they can go out take a look and then issue with summons or give the notice of violation and things like that they're not going to be able to go to every single property in town to assess whether the Verge is being violated or not and I understand that the next issue is I'm sure a lot of these people don't know about that ordance that's why you get a notice violation is there any way that and I hate to say in letter but maybe this ordinance can be put out there so that people know I mean I have a friend that has new grass there and I know she has no clue about it well the only thing they could do is maybe post it on the website morein maybe by the way you know maybe do like ordinance of the week short beat maybe short beat and do ordinance of the week the ordinance of the week this week is going to be the Verge everyone be aware but also a complaint on a on a Case by case basis contact code say hey maybe go look at this area we think maybe they're violating it right away problem but you know I I thought that to our country appreciate I just said what you're saying sure thank you it's tough sure I remember drafted in the ordinance in 2014 very good thank you H burn 18 Brighton Avenue um with regard to the Moby mats I know you keep saying all you know Beach entrances but I know Brighton is the exception because of the of the emergency access is there a way that you could consider a pedestrian mat as some of the other towns do a pedestrian mat is off to the side still allowing the vehicles the WID to get on the beach as as in the be tray in the garbage and emergency vehicles and things like that right first of all you have that treasure ramp going up to the boardwalk to begin with it's a mess with sand but now we have to go up and over you know the walk area there too so what can be done can I help in any way can I contact somebody can I work with somebody to say could we please get in consideration of all Beach entrances having a m mat not to exclude Brighton just because of of being an emergency access is there a way that we can consider a pedestrian that you know one that's not as wide as on the other entrances thank you for bring that up this evening I have a meeting with the engineer on Monday I I'll discuss that issue okay if I can help in anybody I like kind of I'm advocating see if there's any Street before they all start calling you and going crazy with that too so and to that point Stockon in the same boat there so so maybe yeah we could do that on stock Stock's a lot wider than than bright so possibly might something I have a meeting Monday afternoon yeah oh okay thank you all right thanks a lot thank you Chuck 1807 nor b um there's been some conversation and some planning suggested for the property on Central and third I'm just wondering is there a plan to set a date where a decision will be made exactly what to do with that property not at this time there is no date set is there a process to you put in place to at least look down the future and see what can be done with that property I think we're looking at all options at this point but no goal we've been discussing it and I mean we bought that property a year ago right I think it's just about a year I I was I think the community is hoping that that property will be put to good use somehow in the near future okay anyone else okay say one close the public motion pleas that a Ocean County alert that there's a flood watch issue yes and that came out yes came and it goes till March 24 8 a um does everyone in the audience know about the website where you could sign up for that from stens you get the text alert okay I'm just putting that out there thank you um I hear a motion to Second roll please council member condas yes council member runda yes council member Amil yes council member Conor yes counc member yes counc president yes approve thank you --------- New Jersey open Public Act adequate notice of this meeting was properly provided by transmitting the notice of the meeting for publication the asberg ha press and Star Ledger on January 5th 2024 notice of this meeting of the governing body has been posted in the caror of the municipal building and the new office of the municipal clerk R call council member Annaville yeah here council member condos here council member Connor here council member craft here council member attenda here council president wil here mayor peeterson excused thank you we're going to introduce the uh for a public information budget work session for this evening that'll be the first item item number [Music] four and the yes and cop here I like that too je thank you very much I'd like to introduce Joyce's our Chief Financial Officer and everyone goes to thank this is our 2024 Municipal budget Workshop um presented by Council it was put together by the finance team finance committee which is Bill Joe and Joe myself and Karen who's not here today um this is just preliminary numbers we're going to try to stay as close to these numbers as we can um but we don't have actual school taxes Regional School taxes or County taxes yet we should be able to get school taxes by the end of April beginning of May is when they adopt however we did get a letter from U from the um from the Central Regional School administrator which indicated depending upon how that V Cur for succession of Seaside Heights and joining Thomas River ased to St with Central reg that gets voted down by that's on April 16 that's it's voted down by Le Tom's River Seaside Heights stay the central regional the forecast would be that the Central Regional School CS would come down where um if they do like to succeed the school taxes will still come down to [Music] one similar to last year we had some budget hurdles that we needed to overcome um The increased cost of insurance general liability workers comp property insurance pensions General expenses with the cost of living and and meeting and exceeding our revenues that were projected um employee Group Health concern last year was $870,000 this year it's dropped to $800,000 because of second May 1st the burrow has terminated their agreement with the state health benefits program and have secured coverage with the Central Jersey Health Insurance Fund which is similar to our J The Joint Insurance Fund um I know that has that it's gone to the unions and you know basically May one is what it's going to be and it saved us money and it saved the employees money as well because the contribution rates are less does chapter 78 contribution percentages stay the same the actual annual number that they're facing those percentages on come come down so it saves US money and it saves the employee money and it's comparable coverage it's instead of Horizon Blue Cross it's at so that's basically it um next um just wanted to mention that the State Health Care is kind of um out of control I'll say um there are like $2 million in theole and you could see what the uh what the trend was it was continually gring up but by switching not only do we drop the cost but the projected forly cost uh is is much less as well I mean with the state it's always open ended what you're going to get the very next year and it's not just based on our claims it's based on claims for the entire State you know versus the the Central Central Jersey hi which is based on our claims and what we actually you know expend on claims a question are be committed just to one year no for the head no for the insurance other words it's for one year we're paying this yes that's the one year okay but what I'm saying is we didn't sign up for we have to sign a contract for two or three years with them our rates don't go up for three years and that and it's based on our experience think did we sign a long-term contract though part of that that's your question I don't think you're really we can leave leave you're not you're not locked in you wouldn't go back to the other one that's pretty much going up right I just wondering if they you get this rate did you have to say it was based on prior claims records and the current state of that Health Insurance Fund okay thank you plus you're experience after I believe it's 2 years if it's good you can actually get a decrease of like 22% and I think I can't remember the number but it never goes up more than a certain P you got a bad experience exactly go back my controls here okay here we go all right so the police and fire pension system went up 14,31 over last year these are expenses that are out of our control and this is based on the number of employees and salaries from two years ago so the use experience from two years ago so we W have what our employees now and what they're making will hit in 2026 so they're always two years behind on the police and fire and on the public employees um the public employees went up $ 26,200 over 202 don't only did only press the front and not the back [Music] you want us to turn that more can we turn the screen a little more then you don't have to look at the can you see the screen every I'm sorry uh the next is general liability property and workers compensation this has for the past two years general liability and workers comp has increased dramatically um actually General iability went down by $9,300 workers compensation went up $ 108,000 and property insurance went up by 23,000 which resulted in $122,000 increase over last year um now I'm going to talk about the budget process I think everybody knows the budget process so in October November we send out requests to the department heads they tell us what they need and then we take that information Karen and I take that information we bring it to the finance committee and then they go through line by line and choose what they want what they don't want to formulate this year's budget um we're also asking the department for Capital Improvement projects that they that they're looking at um and the results of that is what will be introduced at the April 4th meeting um it takes a lot of time takes a lot of people it's not just me it's not just Karen it's not just bill it's all the department heads it's everybody that comes together to put this budget together and then um the objective try to keep things as low as possible review all the operating expenses decide where we need to spend more money where we could spend less money things like that um I will say that for one of the ladies that took over paying bills she looked at the Verizon bills no I'm sorry she looked at all the jcpnl bills and then the J cpnl bills there was a third- party Energy company that was being paid by us so she called them and said what is this why are we paying this and they said well you didn't pick an energy provider back I don't know if you guys remember a couple years ago they wanted you to pick Green Mountain was one of them there were some others so they assigned one to us well she told them we don't want that we don't want to have a third party and they said okay well will refund your money and she got us $20,000 so I think that was great I mean and this is what she's doing she's going through all the bills looking to see where we can save money they just save money with the cell phone bills switch to Android to iPhones you know we so we are looking at ways to cut costs and save money all the time I mean not only did she get money back but going forward we have that much less of the these are the ly changes per Che value for the 2024 versus the 2023 budget so as you can see uh based on your assessment the local tax for this year versus the local tax last year the total annual increase for all taxes that's counties school and Municipal it for the average assessed value of 500,000 it comes out to be $ 22127 a year more that you would be paying is there way some of the lights to be because we don't have that it's very hard to [Music] see cpow on the last row moving up to the front hoving front you like to move up to the front move the chairs if you like this is like church you can you can go f it's fine up here we shower today and everything every other Thursday I think that's good yeah do this thank you to turn back this one that one's got all the sheets these are the rates from the average resal value of 568 times the total ly of 1.68 five as a total tax that's annual tax for everything 95 8195 um for us one penny is equal to 117,000 and for this year we were able to stay under the ly cap by 37 ,000 um that's that 2% Levy cap with have the three and a half appr 3 and half% appropriation and the 2% Levy cap and that will go in our bank so we can use that part of that next year excuse me so what you're saying is for every 117,000 in change of assessed value it's going up one cent or that's one cent that's the equivalent to 1 cent so on that slide for the liability and the workers comp insurance for it was 22,000 that's equal to one penny of an increase so what percenting what percent of increase or or what amount for the assess value of 500 it's $200 7% 2212 221 value is 500,000 we go up $227 that's for our portion for the for the schools and everything else it's going to be 38083 a year that's everything so the average home of $500,000 their tax bill will go up $383 380 38083 that's for everything that's the total taxes but the far column is what we control yeah know I that and then that could go up or down depending on how the school taxes come out and the County taxes come out SCH I mean I think you had somewh in here that this was based on a 2% increase for schools and six for the county now I did read an ad question said they were going down to but they said that last the county have a cap increase they have a cap like you do too what is it I don't know I don't know I can find out that's yeah that's what that's what we can estimate when we put our budget together for County taxes if it goes down and school comes down yeah yeah I have a question on that slide this SL yeah that was up before Municipal tax percentage is up 7.5 yes it's a 4.4% increase for 2% yes that's overlast it there's a whole bunch of things that go into that 2% that get reduced from that 7 and a 12% the 7 and a half% isn't the ly C per se I wish I could explain better there's some things when you calculate 2% a lot of things things uh allowed to be put into that regulation so there's things there's things that are excluded from the cap such as those increases for the insurance work comp comp landfill garbage recycling they all come off because the state realizes that we don't have control over those okay let us take those out of the ly cap [Music] and this is basically the same thing the overall budget incl you know multi item for the library for the health even open space so they got a little different line on look at tax building and each one is called out and CH again is the the six for the county the two for the schools this is the tax rate breakdown of cost at of place is the local school this one here blue is the regional schools and this is the this basically said State funding program is based on the ability to pay I know that the state school funding calculation has been all over the news lately um I I think not that it affects Seaside Port but the governor told Tom Z to close one of every school how do you how do you just close the school I don't I don't understand that but um it's all influenced by the state by the state funding formula the formula is based on the equalization value of and the student enrollment um we may pay a higher portion of Central Regional budget than other towns because of our higher values um and and also like we said before we have no control we can just you know vent our frustrations with their [Music] budgets this is our 2024 budget this is just the municipality it doesn't include the school County or so it's all about Surplus and fund balance this year we ended in the Black by 2,80 and this is just on the general fund not water and not Marina this is just the general fund uh we have a balance at the end of the year 28553 3 of which we can use a portion of that I don't know if you can see 2023 but last year we used 2.1 million which was 78% of our Surplus um the year before we used 68% this year we using 70 I'm trying to get the burrow Surplus back up so that we have a little bit I don't want to call it a slush fund because it's not a slush fun but just a little bit extra that we can use to lower taxes by using our Surplus in case we have a not great summer and Beach revenues are down and stuff like that that we have a piggy bank that we can close some funds from last year we left it at I think 500,000 this year we're leaving it at 636 not a lot but just a little to build a little at a time limit on Surplus in dollar amounts or percentage there's no limit on Surplus the state wants us to use all Surplus I have nothing left for R day but we can use 100% of that Surplus what that be bad a little bit more to bring the taxes down um maybe you want to explain our rating our bond rating by what we're doing yeah it affects the bond yes um never okay when you have a healthy Sur or healthy U healthy Surplus or um fund balance fund balance um the uh like we just last week went out the meetings we get a bond rating for the bond set will be acquiring mid April um so we had that telecon sorry that video conference I believe was on Thursday and as a result of our healthy condition financially the ladies have upgraded our bond rating from a a A3 to a A2 so by having a better Bond ra it gives you uh lower interest usually when you go out the bar and a bigger pool of investors yes yes more people areest absolutely it's less of a risk for them when yes yes it's more attractive yes so this is the assessed value impact um we went up 6,869 th000 that's new construction added assessments things like that um it has a minimal effect on the tax rate and we did receive notification from the county that we may have to do a revil in the near future but the we got a letter the number six last year and the language that was in that letter made it almost seem definite that it was going to happen this is re as re assessment it's the same thing they when they come and they look at your property and the further away you get from 100% of market value they're going to come looking the county is going to come looking you know with the market the way it is and how houses boomed in the last two years since since Co theyed with water and the town has the option of and I only reason I asked is because I saw theight the heights is has to do the re Val they've hired their own firm I guess I don't think you can hire your own people to do that they've hired their own firm as opposed to what a county selected firm how does that work no the the municipality can pick whoever they want to do their Rebel they do they go out to bid to see who's going to give us the best you know rates and things like that and I will tell you that when you when they do the Revel you do have the ability to appeal that value with no cost it's not like when you try to do an appeal during you know I think it's in April that you can appeal your taxes during the reval you can meet with them and you can appeal that valuation at that time free of charge you meet with the the appraiser and you know you tell them why you think that it's I did it when they did my rebell and they actually had one less bedroom and one less bathroom and I said okay never mind I agree with this because they know had four bedrooms and three bathrooms they were going to say oh well you're going to go even higher so I was like oh no this is fine we're good um but that will may or may not be coming soon but you do have the ability to appeal at the phrase um a question about the chart um you have items on the left side you have items on the right side they are not the same nope uh what's so these were the these these these are the the property types so vac land residential commercial apartment we had 37 1951 in 2024 so vacant land went down in value from 2020 all right I understand now okay it's just a comparison of what those values were 2024 okay we really talked about this a lot um you know we're just trying to do the best we can with what we can with the expenses that we have and the things that we need to plan for in the future for Capital items and things like that cost of goods salaries and expenses those are union based um salaries you know there's three unions and they meet you know with people caring for the business administrator to get their you know what they want to be paid um so that's that we do not have a new contract for the police coming out till 2025 is that right police 2025 we good sure I think it's right and then Public Works is till 2026 so we don't have to worry about anything with that okay these are the results of our revenues from last year from 2023 so we anticipated 2.6 million in local revenues and we made 3.1 million energy receipts tax that's that gas tax that they took from municipalities and now they're giving back in DS and grabs uh UCC fees were down from what was projected um and we received more in Grants what we anticipated but that's good because during the year we're looking to get more grants trying to get as many grants as possible um and so there's your difference in your revenues this year we're anticipating 12.89 6 last year we anticipated 12307 I guess the um Surplus anticipated for 2024 I yes so the more grants we get could potentially answer the Surplus yeah because it's unbudgeted well but grants lower our expenses because when we get a grant say we get a $100,000 Grant we have to bring it in as Revenue as 100,000 and then we have to expend it as 100,000 so it's kind of a washing in and an out yeah but at the end of the year you have money left over because we didn't have to pay out pocket for it yes exactly and need of the 2024 Appropriations salary and wages 5.2 million general liability proof Insurance workers comp other insurance that's like the firefighter insurance and flood insurance uh waivers or when the employees don't take Health Care utilities was receiving money part of it is that $20,000 but also where our utilities haven't been as as high so I lowered them to what we actually spent last year um Pur and pfrs we've gone over Social Security that's our 7.65% and then other operating expenses which is you know anything that's not included here office supplies copy machines things like that a bunch of other things but we R those this year too um these are the shared services that we were able to get that we've been using um The Heights Transportation Bley C sorry berley Township Animal Control the Ocean County Animal Shelter uh Schedule C which is Road materials and Paving that Public Works uses uh 911 dispatch did not go up this year it stayed the same um we have the Firearms range uh the court administrator the CFO meet you see I only went up a little bit because I lowered my I took a lower Insurance um and then we have grants this year we' already taken in 374,000 one of those was an NJ doot plan um Capital Improvement plan that's what we plan on spending for down payments and paying for projects and then Debt Service went down a little bit this year and the total of operations excluded from caps is 1.9 million and total General Appropriations March the revenues which is 12.89 yes what is debt service that's our debt that's what we pay for the notes that we've taken out money that we borrowed interesting princi uh what is the uh Marina in come listed that's on that's we're going to get there this is basically current F which is the meat and potatoes of your tax it is your taxes wean county, yes the port administrator our share is 61,000 yes whoever that minister is making is making over 100 it could be um Health Care maybe she had single coverage and now she has family coverage um could be a number of things her salary went up be wor to have that person we had in the past any time number would been double that it's not your salary yeah it's yeah yeah when you look at that number for me I do not make that number dou believe I do not now this total other operations excluded from caps is that that 2% cap that no there's a three and a half appr 3 and a half% appropriation C but we're way under on that on what we could go to versus what we're at now we're going to talk about Capital uh managing debt and incurring additional debt minimizing oper expenses and long-term capital programs um which we're going to go into and show looking at more services um know try to prepare have greater transparency like these meds um you know and trying to keep operating expenses look and this is our Capital program we try to forast the what we're required by the state to do a three-year Capital plan every year it doesn't mean when you see this list and you go it doesn't mean that we're going to do all of those projects these are things that we would like to try to get done in the next three years that Council has you know pinpointed these things as what we want to get done in the next few years yes some of these items that are on this list of things that could could have been done over the last few years but because of material Co related issues and um uh you know Source pipeline you know equipment just wasn't available Supply CH problem so now it's coming to loose then we have to adress it [Music] so last year's Capital was 322 this year we're 251 600 for the water utility the capital Improvement fund is 4,800 versus 100,000 last year and for the marina 297 800 versus 169 well 369 but those are all for projects they're going to be fully funded projects for the for example one item is the U one of Marina is going to handle the fifth ad per get that done as well as the lighting at the [Music] Marine so here's the project what I looking at um St bottles for the fire department paid for those fully funded um M mats will be done for all Beach r year so there won't be you know every other fourth one every Beach ramp is going to have a mile we're only to use7 it's 101 you see a small number for what you think should be big that's down payment money if it's a big number like the beach rake for 70,000 that's us buying the beach rake outright the same thing with the parking kiosk the new parking kiosk we're going to buy those out right the lightning detector that's needed uh you know that 47,000 that's just buying it outright not borrowing money it's just buying buying um the rest of it parking lots lots two and three Desert Palm demolition uh Bayfront Improvement Boardwalk reconstruction Stockton and Lake Avenue B fielded Park improvements J Street improvements uh desert Palm construction which right now we're looking at a municipal pool um finger PE a pool yeah that's one of the right now the finger Pier repairs at the marina water distribution repairs um stal repairs for this building due replenishment and dredging the 13 ay and these are just the ones that I could fit on here when you get the budget you'll see there's a lot I think we had that sheet so what is the number on the ballark Improvement um right this is just like the dreamless um doesn't mean that it's going to happen it is B Park Park in bfield $1 million million doesn't mean it's going to be done this is your dream like the bucket was that for the lighting is that included in central no Central is that included in no not on this so this is UST this is the illustrative list based on what each department and the committee submitted not necessarily anything that's been approved agre to but it gives you a sense of what those capital projects might be over the next two years fing the security the buildings all the build including the wells Beach control yeah yeah we have Beach control police station it's it's a security family I just to say maybe going forward might help if some of this stuff is replacement if that's noted rather than for example we own the be and we need a new the one we have is very very old and it's more costly to repair it no I understand that but it help us understand better if we some of this was brand new and some of it is to repace for exle security cers I'm sure the environment choose up anything that's sitting outside so maybe that could be the budget just an IDE something street legal vehicle for recreation still golf Street Legal golf cart for them to go you can explain that we only have one that's street legal that I think Fred Flintstone used back in in the day and um the other one is not street legal uh so it's it's desperate and and also we share it what we share we use finally Beach up uh control but also Recreation too so it really hems Us in with only one that's um it just does sh like I said this is just like you know justification from the 700,000 original proposal given and why might be a million what the discussion on that I I I I think it's important to know that this is just things we put down to talk about to have here nothing's being done on anything nothing's cast concrete nothing's there and we've explained that I mean it's not like we're going to go let a check for a million dollars tomorrow and have the number 700,000 propos was a good number to begin with and now it's even more placeholders it's a place it's a placeold they're not an exact thing unless they Ian I mean this is your preliminary I think I mean that's you have to go if it's a preliminary budget you have to make assumptions in order to know like what might you spend versus what might you bring in and then see if you're going to be able to balance to that if you can't balance to it you might cut a whole thing off a list well I think the the struggle here as I perceive it I could be wrong is that when the presentation for the ball field was made and the application for the loan it was like 700,000 now of a sudden million like what wasn't the a million you know I think that's that's where the confusion if you'll call it fine we'll change it to whatever that number is in the it all has to go in front of the public as a bond ordinance you know before we can do any of these projects we have to do a bond ordinance and at that's you know if you don't like it that's when you can come up and talk about it this is just of nothing on this list is going to happen tomorrow nothing on this list could get done in the next three years it's just you know it's just an idea of what's been through for the last couple of years I think it's just thees no this list is not everything that's on there this is but I think most of your stuff is on there turnout gear Scot bottles what else was there J oh that's that's on there it's just not on I mean we got like three pages of things so um that we and Flor there yeah yeah no it's all on there just that's on there I I only had some of yes anybody else wait a little confused here does this affect our taxes though I mean are you putting all this in and then if we don't use it the money just gets carried over to call year or can some of this be deleted out this would be deleted out I mean $14 million for the boardwalk yeah yeah know we could not do that all at one time we're not going to borrow $4 million because so that's not effective [Music] Noor yes but like I said there's everything that is done through Capital has to be done through a bond ordinance and there's public hearing on that and everything are yeah these are by the time we get to the presentation on April whatever some of this m won't even be there oh no it'll still be there yeah yeah the state requires us to put out years worth of yeah and if it's not on this list we can't do it yeah so yeah yeah so we we just throw it all against the wall and some of it not on this list but U maybe you folks know something that I don't know that reserve for the un collected taxes is like jumping about a half a million dollars for 2024 so that's just a placeholder in the budget to have the debits equal to credits it's not really uncollected taxes no us around 98% colle thank you okay okay this is the water utility finally um rents for this year versus last year so this year's budget for the water utility is 3.2 million last year it was 3.1 million um I will say that we did better in rents this year because Annie was able to send to tax sale all the people that hadn't paid because they didn't have to pay because of Co so once she sent the tax sale notices out it just at a lot of people like oh I got pay now so um that helped with the water Revenue this year um salaries and wages 417 other expenses 709 Capital Improvement fund 400,000 Capital outl 7,000 payment on bond principle that went down this year interest went up because we have notes and uh it's 113,000 on Miles versus 3200 usdaa notes that we have for phase one two and three 3 B which is going to start next and contribution of Pur Social Security and unemployment so it's a little bit more this year for the budget for water department and this is the marina we're going to use 150 of their Surplus this year because they did well this year um their budget's up to 600,000 look uh revenues up to 600 400 in slip rentals 50,000 in salaries and wages you'll see that it went up from 47 to 112 that is because we took some employees that work toward not just public works like we'll say the girl that does payroll she does payroll she does accounts payable now she does the re she posts the revenue for the water she posts the revenue for the marina so we split her salary up into the three different funds um same thing with Karen she's the administrator for the whole burrow so her salary that split up between the three budgets um so that's why you're going to see that uptick there because there's two more people have you know a third of their salary uh Bond principal down interest on bonds is down think we only have one or two years left on the marina de of the bonds that we took out and they'll be finished the Green Acre Big Green Acre that was used to purchase the marina what 20 years ago that was paid last year so and the marina is doing well obviously Revenue wise and we're going to try to not borrow money for the marina and do the pay as you go so we have a projects we have the revenue that they take in will pay for those projects instead of borrowing money for them this is The Debt Service basically this is what we're paying for bonds notes the Green Trust loan for water sewer water sewer and the marina and then the general fund um I will want I do want to point out that the debt ratio for 2020 the end of 20123 was less than 1% 950 last year it was 1 .12 the burrow has the ability to go up to 3 and a half% of the threeyear average assessed value so our debt is very very low um comparatively speaking I know other towns they're they're almost at 3 and a half% which to me is crazy but we're very very low under 1% that's an exceptional debt ratio um and then asking to talk about this is there anybody here that doesn't know about the senior free you you never heard of it okay it's a program that you're eligible for if you're over 65 and receiving Social Security either over 65 Social Security or SS disability Social Security um you get a portion of your taxes reimbursed there's a form you have to fill out there's a p that you have to fill out the PTR if you come to the municipal building we can get you the book and explain how everything works um uh there are income guidelines for 2023 you cannot make over $1 16350 so I mean not limit the dollar amounts are pretty high um but this is the website that has all this information um and you flip to the next one these are the restriction if it's a vacation home or a second home property that you rent to somebody else property that consist of more than four units or if you're in a pilot which nobody here is or if you're exempt from paying property taxes on your house from the veterans you know 100% that you wouldn't get reimbursed because you're not paying anything but these are the only things that would you know that would keep you from getting this reimbursement and and the income limits so if you want to stop by Hall I can get you the paperwork and you can fill it out um they have to be turned in by June 30th 2024 that's it any maybe tomorrow you could create a PDF of the presentation and then put it under the um Finance there's a session there for present years ago so you their Department finance and then Jo few there access look at the pag the worst part is Talking Machine General testify to this every time you print it prints both sides why did you not both sides today I can testify does do that huh I can yes it does automatically does when you don't want we [Music] okay my question goes back to the sheet on assess valuation impact where it gives the type of a property and how many of the town has in each category keep going that am I reading this correctly that between from last year to this year there's only been 10 additional properties Residential Properties assessed in this town was 1941 in23 and 1951 in this year is that that's this year to day or is this running a year behind this is of October 2024 okay so from October 2022 to October 2023 there have only been 10 properties added to the tax ta is all the building that's going on in town how long does it take from the issuance of the CEO the co to the tax assessor assessing the properties I'm not you may not know I don't that's my question because that seems like not a lot of houses in the year given the building were they houses that existing these are new these are new properties prop added not okay so let's look at the valuations valuations have only gone up by $122,000 you need to tell me that the 10 milon be let let me tell you 2023 new construction 9,487 1985 additions 1, 399,900 alterations 3,775 469 and demolition 13572 of a total of 14,7 9,130 now what what is that number is that this is the construction permit activity report for 2023 so I don't understand what just the 14 million that's how much more of assessment went out for 2023 from what it was before my question the names and this is not a question the can I don't who do I who do I asked this question of from the time the co is granted to the time that the property is reassessed approximately how long is it I mean does it take I'm sure it's more than a week but I'll exaggerate does it take a week or does it take two years I mean it s to the tax assessor and it's the next they'll get a bill for the next tax cycle prated back to the time of Co yeah doesn't make a difference it's from the day of Co right yeah they'll get they'll get a partial bill for added omitted with their July taxes and then the next year you'll be the full boat so it's the year or the quarter goes from the day of the co it gets per rated from the day of the co on to your they'll get a you'll get a weight a dum Bill yes and then that's what you have to pay on your next quarter from the time that bill is issued from the next quarter not the next year okay and just so you give you more thetics last year 2023 there were 234 permits issued and updates to the permits for 108 that 108 of the4 updates that means that one that fromit expires no update means is that when you take out your perit and just give you an example just a hypothetical say if you um put in that you're putting in 14 outlets and when the inspector went out there's 16 Outlets that means you perit needs to be updated okay to use a hypothetical elal Outlet okay thank you and for the time frame you can ask Gary so clst are the tax assessor he's there every Wednesday from 8 till I'm just curious because there's obviously a l build in the key thank you Joyce thank you okay the next item is number five it's for information purpose only it's a discussion of a bill introduced in New Jersey Senate and assembly establishing a occupational heat stress standard and occupational Heat related illness and injury prevention program it's only for information purposes in our packet pretty detrimental um if it was passed there just something for us to read through well I think it's a brutal yeah it's pretty brutal it's um I don't know how towns especially uh along the beach who have like seasonal employees and things like that I can actually read through it how we can actually some a full-time job to manage what they're asking for in beer the proper way pretty expensive and there's fines and everything if you don't I thought it was an ail posture I you know it's almost that's exactly right nobody in the kitchen to work in a kitchen Beach control yeah Jesus yeah it was sponsored by what union of Hudson County yes I don't know how many beaches there I'm sure they have some life but um and pools but it's just I I don't know how it be managed even mys are Beach control people okay next item number six is for the work session discussion of a quote from Drager Inc dated October 23rd 2024 for the purchase of Al alatest listed as resolution 2024-25 um yeah it's just mandated by the state the old alatest machine is is expiring and the new one has to be uh boed to service so it's the one alest machine with some MTH pieces and whatever else it's mandated by the state so anything else for Council Members not work s not in the work session I going to open up to the public there any questions on the specifically on the work session from the public I'm going to close that portion um like to have a motion one to adjourn there's something [Music] else Council Conor uh yes council member CRA yes council member Amil council member kondz yes counc membera here yes counc president will yes motion approved take 15 minutes