e I call this meeting to order it's council's budget meeting number three and it's on March 21st 2024 roll call gaas yeah here Mandel here Weiss here Whitfield here have we been adequately noticed for this meeting yes we were adequately noticed on March 12th 2024 to the times Princeton packet and posted on the township website would everybody please rise for the salute to the flages the for it stands one nation indis andice okay so with us this morning is John mder Chief Financial Officer for the township good morning good morning good morning um today we're going to be going over um budget revenues fund balance cap ordinance and a local examination and hopefully um budget up um just a little bit of housekeeping um the budget was presented to Council on February 27th um the next meeting on March 26 you will be get an emergency temporary budget resolution which allows us to increase our amount by 25% so we can continue to operate um we're scheduling the budget introduction for April 8th um and the public hearing and adoption on May 13 at 7 o'clock at town so that's basically our our our budget schedule remaining um couple Tings before we get into revenues when um as you U council members that have been here are aware of the fact that this item budget item has to be translated into a state document so um it's not as detailed as this it's just basically salary wages OE by Department inside cap outside cap so I will do a Reconciliation so you can take this book and we reconcile it to the number that's in in the sheet so there's no misunderstandings or or any misinformation um a couple items that I know of right now that will be changing state aid increased by $1,977 I'm also going to be adding in the Mercer County arpa funds Grant of 76,000 that you approved late fall for the senior center um I'm going to be lower ing the amatory services third party Billings by 10 grand and the amount to be raised will just be adjusted by A9 18736 so that's what I know right now um there's a possibility of one or two outstanding items and most and those items are grants so if I get the approval before I give you this uh uh introduction budget copy by next week then I will put it and if not we'll have to do a chapter 159 later chapter 159 allows us to add items during the year once the budget's adopted um the schedule is to give you the the introduced State copy next Thursday at the latest next Friday so you'll have it a week before introduction okay yeah the ambulatory third party what why are we going um down on that because we we had what is it realized last year it went up pretty substantially we've been lagging a little behind this year so I just being conservative um it's not changing the bottom line um so I lowered it by $10,000 what if we collect more like hopefully we will then it'll just go right to fund balance next year okay so this the state a the 10K that goes in the operating yes it's it's part of the budget Revenue I yes okay and the arper is that going to go into that's just a grant okay it's a reimbursable grant it's the items of where we're going to redo the kitchen and some items so that goes into Capital no it's part of the Grant fund which is part of current fund okay thank and we'll be reimbursed from the Mercer County with that they're using AR PA funds for that okay so that's what I have right now and I will give you a reconcilia sheet like I said when I give you the estate format so this way you can take the figure that's in the book and then translate right to what I give you okay on to revenues on page 69 we can start with fund balance um as you can see we're anticipating another million dollars in fund balance um the township had a had a very good year in revenues as we did the prior year um we started out with let's see 17 million 36,000 in fund balance we Ed 9.425 in in the 2023 budget and we in uh brought in excess revenue of 10.6 so that left us with an ending fund balance of 18.24% 000 so that's allowing us to anticipate a million dollars um revenues other than a couple items such as amatory and a couple small items are uh so so but everything else is doing wonderful this year as you know with all the construction going on the revenues there are are are increasing this year and um our hotel tax we'll go through it here as also is is back to pre pandemic um revenues yeah well the uccc money is coming in but that has to be yeah spread out over a few years two to three years because you may collect it now but do inspections right for several years correct yep yeah so people understand that yep um all right so fund balance any questions on fund balance because that's probably the biggest Revenue increase I me could any more money be taken out of that particular account if we wanted to do more projects the problem is uh you could but you got to remember that it leaves us 7.8 and we have to replenish 10.4 so if we have an issue with Revenue you have to look two three four years down the line at some point our revenue is going to start scaling down so you can't over anticipate a fund balance because then you can have spikes in your in your um rates so right now it's recommended that we carry between seven and 8 million and we're at 7.8 last year we were at 7.6 but because we're using an extra million we bumped up the carry amount to 7.8 for emergencies you know similar to what happened in the pandemic we were able to absorb all that lost revenue and um if I recall we kept taxes flat during the pandemic because we had those reserves and we had those extra revenues too to to Lena we're in a also period of growth we are so and and that's where our issue it's Revenue our issue is is the appropriation cap which we'll talk later that we're really tight on that and um there's not much we can do about that I I think there's a lot of confusion out there because when we say we can't spend on something and people say oh we have this big fund balance why don't we spend it and people don't understand that there's caps on all different directions there's two caps we have a levy cap which is the bill that you give to the taxpayer that's your tax rate you're only allowed to go 2% there are exceptions for certain things a year and you can Bank it for two years so it allows you in case you have a bad year one year to increase it more than 2% the following two years um we have about a $5 million Levy Bank right now going into next year which is pretty substantial because we haven't had increases because our revenues have been good so we're good on the levy cap okay and that's on the revenue side that's the revenue side I think the people don't understand when it comes to the appropriation cap when I handed you that budget we were $790 under our appropriation cap appropriation cap is your this the DCA at a certain point in the year gives gives you a rate it was two and a half perent this year which was the Max and then we have to do a what they call Cap B ordinance to add 1% to that which is our recommendation that we do because we need the banking for this year's budget because um the good thing is the divisional local government came out with a local Finance notice about three weeks ago and I just got the the file from them to do the update and our our um cap calculation is going to go from $742 190 to a little over 163,000 which is not a lot we used to carry 8 to 900,000 um when things were you know just chugging along but with the growth we've had to you know absorb a lot of additional costs so our cap is not as what it used to be the division is allowing us to our liability insurance our workers comp our pension and um they're allowing us to put that outside of cap this year and it's a year-to-year basis it's a special exemption so we're allowed to put that out so that's going to allow us to carry over 163,000 next year as a cap Bank oh okay so our $700 we down to the nickel has gone to about and I will give you an updated sheet of this when I give you the um C bake ordinance I usually do a memo and Analysis and I'll give you a copy of the sheet that ties to the budget that you receive and anything we don't use from this go goes right into next year you have two years you can carry it so if we have other you know like if insurance goes up again next year and they decide not to um give us the cat Bank ordinance you know we we can on that any questions I know it's kind of you know the two items are and people do get confused it's probably the most confusing thing about Municipal Finance is the two Ls everybody thinks 2% 2% 2% but that's just on the levy and what you can charge your taxpayers and there's a lot of EX Debt Service things of that nature and then you got the appropriation C which has been around since 1978 and it it's tried to control expenses but as you know the last couple years has been very um strin then the other item they're allowing us to put outside is garbage and recycling um you're GNA if you notice we have a $600,000 line item outside cap because we have shared services one of the benefits of shared services is they allow you to put it outside C so we used Mercer County for our recycling pickup so we're allowed to put that new contract outside C so that helped the C tremendously too that's really going up and just the up we're going to be going out for a garbage bid this year because our garbage bid ends in February of next year so we we have a meeting schedule in a couple weeks to put the bid specs together it's a big process because we have to send it to the state and have it reviewed and um we'll probably have information for you after Labor Day on where we're at with that that's going to be a big one we've been seeing 80 to 100% increases in garbage pick up is anyone why I mean just expenses expenses um yeah expenses uh not a lot we've been lucky to get one or two bids sometimes one yeah you know um we've been very fortunate we had a fiveyear contract at a very low rate so we we've had to towns in the last three years have their garbage collection going way up ours has not well because we had a fiveyear contract our timing is pretty good there but it's coming to an end and we can only go are you going to try another fiveyear contract yes we'll do options our our contract bid is very complicated we we will have different levels of service and different lengths um you know one year about two bids ago it was cheap first to go four years so we want four you know um so it that's why we give ourselves options any chance that the county would be looking at a shared services for that uh they don't pick up guard Gage they're not interesting just think just thinking they have enough they have enough clean up to do already yeah they don't do garbage they do recycl yeah I know they've done recycling for long time but okay even with recycling I think they have become very strict lately about how they pick up and stuff so son can you repeat yourself no I would I would you're saying even with recycling Mercer County county has been very strict on how they pick up their recyclings yes not in their green or yellow buckets they're not picking up anymore so yes that's a trend all over and if you have one item that's contaminated they won't pick it up so and and we probably have about the most um generous garbage pickup of any of the towns around here so we do yeah well garbage is in this in certain time frames you know before Memorial Day one week before forage no gar what we pick up for garbage and how we pick it up compared to say something like Princeton where they've got one buckets pay for a second bucket anything past that or planes burrow where they don't even pay for it so we have we have for a lot of the compared to a lot of the towns very generous garbage what we're willing we do yeah so good job that we were able to get good uh we'll see how the bids come I'm not looking forward to it yeah yeah okay um the next one is uh we increased the next large largest increase for Budget revenues is interest in investment on deposits um we've been averaging about 100 or couple hundred thousand as you well know interest rates went up we also negotiated and out and did an RFP and came up with a better rate from a bank um so we're moving we're in the process of moving it so our rates are even going to be better so I we felt comfortable bumping that up to 600,000 from 50,000 that's quite a bump it is because uh the revenue um increase for um our interest rate is pretty much trippled so we're doing pretty good now and part of that was negotiating and put we did an RFB request for proposals you know we had eight banks give us proposals and we picked the most responsible bank and um yeah it's it's Hamilton uh it was actually ocean first they have an office in Hamilton but we don't um we don't have to go to the bank they're gonna have AR armor car service pick up for us three times a week at no fee so um we should be starting that shortly in the next three to four weeks okay the next uh major increase and if you want to talk about something else please let me know um is like a hotel occupy tax as you could see we're we're we're we're revving back up to the 700 range which it was between could you give us a line when you're switch sure 104 280 28 still on page 69 so that's the hotel occupant tax uh we we've increased that Anticipation by 150,000 because the revenues are now back up to where they were pre pandemic um they would average between 725 and 825 so that tax goes to the state and then from the hotel and then they reimburse us but do we know if that number is accurate is there yeah there's a report they send us and they're they're two months behind so there's always a two month we get 12 payments a year but there's a two-month lag um and yes they do s this report and there has been errors in it so um check it yeah do we anticipate like there's several new hotels coming online no because we're on a cash basis um and you would need special written permission for that so we can only the most I could put in there let's say this year would be oh no not in the budget I I know you're not oh yeah yeah no no yeah we anticipate that number going up with the new hotels coming in correct okay I mean we lost one um they just tore out one down right and then couple more yeah so yep that there's other businesses coming in so yes and that's so that's pretty good because that thing that Revenue item during the pandemic was at 200,000 based on what people paid for hotel room percentage percentage of it's a better hotel or a more expensive hotel we we get more income from it percentage of what they charge a question about the sewer connection fees sure why is the anticipated Revenue so much lower than the realized Revenue let me just find that real quick some 265 13,000 yes okay um because that number fluctuate dramatically from year to year um this line item um we use to help offset the capital Improvement of the sewer system so I don't like to anticipate that too much into the budget uh it's been standard 13,000 probably for 10 years there's been some years that it was less than that um the last couple years it has been running um around that number because we are in a growth period but then as you know it's we we've like there's 1.9 million this year we're putting in for sewer improvements so that money right there helps pay for those improvements so these are new connection fees new connections correct like brand new like apartments homes things of that nature thanks um this number 10 14301 it's the energy receipts tax program as I said before we have 22,25 177 but that figure has increased by 10,977 so you'll see that figure going up the state gave us a slight increase which is good yes it is it's better than a decrease and it's it's our money yet right it's our money the municipal Relief Fund Aid right underneath that is money they gave us after our budget was introduced last year the year before it was 114 last year it was 228 so we anticipated this year um but this year for 2024 Murphy's budget does not have any money in there for this line item at the moment that doesn't mean it won't change but but they're um they have not funded the municipal Relief Fund Aid uh as of uh last Friday so does that mean we might not get it we may not get that correct the next one is uniform construction code fees uh we increased that to 1.8 um the in 2022 we we were a little over 3 million and in this in 202 3 we brought in 2.5 we like to be conservative with that because of the fact that we have to fund the inspections over a couple year period versus receiving the revenue in one year when an applicant comes in and they do they get a permit they give us the fees for the entire project for that whatever section that is but that could be a project that lasts two years three years depending on the scope of the project okay the parking authority you will be getting a resolution shortly with a detailed explanation um they were they had to renegotiate their lease with newy Transit and part of the deal was we were going to lose our ticket Revenue if we didn't take over the expense for enforcement which right now New Jersey Transit pays for so the parking authority had to take over the enforcement so we reflected that in our agreement and that's why it went from 154 down to to uh 59,000 you'll be receiving that in the probably not this meeting the next meeting uh we have to do an amended agreement but it's going to allow us to keep the tickets from the the revenue from the tickets if we didn't take over the enforcement costs then New Jersey Transit was um going to take away all the revenue okay uh the shared services between the towns went up a little bit 2% that's a grant the grants come and go you know some years we get them some years we don't um so that's why it's um and the grants do skew the total numbers um some years you have a lot of Grants some years you don't have a lot of Grants but um that's how the system works okay this year we went out and I took a temporary note for one year because the long-term bond market right now is not necessarily the best and it's been a little unstable so our financial advisor advised us to go out and do a one-year note which comes due in November um in doing so we um got a pretty good rate of below 4% it was in the threes for a one-year note of over 22 million and we received a premium where the note actually says on its space that it's 4 and a half% but we're only paying three in change and that premium is this money that I bring in to offset the cost of the interest uh by the way our accounting goes It goes to fund balance and capital on that year and then I just bring it over so even though we're paying 900,000 it's 900 minus this 293,000 is our true net interest cost any questions um and let's let's see amount to be raised it's going to go up about 1.44% um but that's because we were able to increase it because our total assess value also went up 1.44% so the overall break will not increase and if you go to the front on page the second page there's an analys that shows you that our anticipated tax rate for this year will be the same as next year any questions on the revenues okay let's go to the next tab which is supplemental information and I kind of went it over a little bit but I'll go over it again and this is the fund balance um we started in in January 1 of 2023 with 17,36 th000 and fund balance we had we created 10.6 million in excess revenues from operations which is you know the extra Revenue that we anticipated we used 9.425 in fund balance which left us with $1,242 fund balance on December 31st 2023 um creating a $1.2 Million result of operations um so that's why we're anticipating the 10425 this year still leaves us a hefty balance um of 7.29 five no sorry excuse me 7.61 one um unencumbered in fund balance any questions so for next year how much fund balance would you we have 7.6 uh revenues are trending very well I anticipate us to hopefully be able to replenish fund balance yet again I think I don't think revenue is going to be a problem probably for two to four years at least um it's it's been pretty good so far um with the construction going on and like I so um we just have to be careful when we start seeing downturns then we're going to have to make some adjustments but that's why you need to keep a certain reserve on the side so this way you don't get hit all in one year you can you can feather back in um some slight increases see that's one thing you don't want are spikes no would you explain Reserve fund violance well it's it's not it's considered un unreserve fund balance you know once you um fund balance is just Reserve fund balance is really unanticipated it's what's left over once you use it for the budget so that's your balance after the far right the 7.6 yes the 7817 million 7611 on the very far right on 2023 that's your ending fund bounds yeah last year that's they call it a reserve because it's it's it's a reserve in the current one it's just an accounting term it's not reserved for anything it's just it's there for emergencies or what you want to use it for in the future okay so we're going to move along to the um cap calculation um like I said I when I give you the budget I also will give you a res resolution for uh let's see let me give you the proper term you will get a resolution for the Govern body to certify that we are in compliance with the equal employment opportunities it's state requirement every year that we have to do when we introduce the budget it's a group affida that all of you will have to sign once you uh approve the resolution um so that will be coming before we introduce the budget also I will give you the cap base ordinance which will allow us to go from 2 and a half to three and a half it's an extra 1% and with that I'll have a full analysis of the cap base adjustment and the cap analysis and a detailed memo on why we recommend right now if um we need a for vote for the cap ordinance in order to introduce the budget if you don't adopt the ordinance then we F the budget and then we go from there um and as I discussed earlier we are because of the state exemptions we will be able to carry about 163,000 versus 790,000 so we'll have a little cushion to carry over next year um like I said this is probably the most complicated portion of Municipal finances is trying to explain to Residents the difference between a cap appropriation and Lev they think they hear 2% 2% in in the newspapers and they don't realize there's another cap out there for Appropriations yeah if you can put that in layman's terms more especially at the budget hearing yeah we will try we will try I think a simple we have we're not allowed to spend more than 2% more than we did last year and and then two and a half and then if we do two and a half and add 1% I mean but but I think people do understand and that's that sounds good but the problem is there's so many exemptions you know if you look at when you look at the budget P page 20 on are all your exemptions Debt Service Capital Improvement fund shared Services Grants I mean so there's there's a lot of exemptions and that's where people getus well I mean that's cave change a little I give him a general bullet sounds good I think what makes it more confusing is that if you look at last year our total Appropriations is actually more than this year so technically if you look at it in that singular view our budget went down right but we also are getting cap so that's year was very special because of the arper money but people were confused way before that yeah and that's because of the cap because of the grads yeah so but people were confused even before that happened so I think I think it could be really simplified I mean people understand there's exceptions to all rules that and most people aren't like sh me each exception because they're not that um but but but I think I think a simple thing saying we have we are limited the if we won the lottery and it all went to our budget we are still Limited in what we're allowed to spend um and Bas basically it's a two and a half percent with there we we also add 1% which can ALS can be put into following years so that makes it a ma total maximum of three and a half and I think that's that would simplify it pretty well for them uh and and you know just lay that out without um worrying about whether or not there's this fund or this thing or this exception that this year and stuff that yeah sounds good I think it's the grants that make things complicated because very very much so because we were very fortunate in the last three years to to um receive a lot of Grants from State Health Department grants are not C correct correct they're not C they're like if we get we win the lottery if the lottery comes in forms of Grants then we can spend the money well that only if they come in the form of a grant for a specific item so so I I think people understand that they know that the federal government put a ton of grants in there and that we were able to do things we weren't we weren't able to do that's the story to tell yeah most most people they look and they see all right well what if you what if you increased our tax by a little bit or what if you did this and I'd like to have this done and I'm willing to pay for it or or you have all this money in reserve do we really need it and some kind of an explanation saying that there is a limit to what we're allowed to spend regardless of uh even if we wanted to I think that's that's the key we'll do yeah yeah you put that in in writing and maybe yeah I may I actually made I may just do a simple slide and just take this cap calculation and just throw a couple lines in there so I'll take a look at it sounds good and that' be during the public uh yes okay sounds good yes true okay so just go over to cap real quick like I said we we went from 790 to to 163,000 and that's because they gave us exemptions for liability insurance workers comp pensions and um there was a slight error on our new construction of about $12 so it's just kind of rounding so um at this present time we would be at 163,000 and change that we can carry over for next year um any questions on that okay local exam um state of New Jersey allows me to certify um the budget and not have an exam done by the state two out of three years well this year we are under review so it's our turn um every municipality um has to be reviewed at least once every three years so this year I will be under review by the uh division of local government at the DCA so um once we introduce I'll ship the budget to them it's actually an online system now and then they will review it we'll do some um and we'll go from there there may be some minor changes there may not be we'll see how it goes shouldn't be budget's pretty clean shouldn't be anything crazy um they do that prior to introduction no you have to introduce first and then there's a system that I have to upload everything to and then um they wait to the very last minute and they'll call with some questions or actually email you questions and then you answer to questions 95% of the time you take care of it uh 5% of the time you might have to do a budget amendment if we have to do a budget we can still have a public hearing on that date then we do a budget amendment just for that one line we advertise and then the next meeting at least 10 days later we just have another public hearing for that long right so this process doesn't intercede with our ability to pass the budget no it does not and then once we do that Amendment we would have passed but I mean I don't think we've had to do amendment in a while so we'll see so if if they come back with just uh minor amendments and the introduction stands it's we go ahead pass the budget with an amendment yeah and we're in a we're on a good schedule this year um because um as long as we get our budget adopted by in the June we shouldn't have any issues now of course we will be waiting for the county and I will give the County Credit this year that they've been in communication they're looking to introduce in May and they will let us know if they're going to be late because if they're late we may have to have a serious conversation and what I would have to bring you a resolution to do estimated bills um instead of waiting for the certification I assume if we knew how long it was going to take last time yeah if we knew last year we would have done estimated and there's an additional cost so and we never really had to do it we don't have a cash flow problem so a lot of towns had to do it because they do have a cash flow problem um so we kind of wrote it out um we were fine with that but the issue was the residents had to pay in October and then turn around pay in November and they weren't very happy so they're on a schedule we'll try to keep it as close to that schedule as we can okay oh and the the capital budget uh when would you would that be uh June July usually we give that to you like early July you know or end of June you know you can have it for a couple two three weeks and review it and then we started at what several years ago and and then we go from there and then we can introduce it's uh two meetings have to have an introduction and then you have a public hearing similar to the budget and people come up and ask questions and then you would adopt same thing you need four votes for that you talking about the bonding ordinance or we have a bond we'll have probably have two ordinances this year last year we had three we'll have an open space one which is no bonding it's fully funded through the open space so that just doesn't require supplemental debt statement the bonding requires four um and a supplement Bond because it's a bond well the soon to the better you know because we want to get projects done and you have to correct out appr we like to get it rolling now if we we're a little earlier this year so if we adopt on the 13th I could probably have it done by the end of the month just get it right out sooner the better for your review and I don't have any problem with that because as soon as you get that you get the ball rolling then you can get projects done and everything takes time and you approve something and then there's maybe another 20 days yep what the stopple period yep you know after you do the public hearing then we have to advertise and then it's the advertisement date then you have to wait 20 days that allows the public to sue us in if they really don't like the ordinance so it's just something that gives the public their last chance to object because when you go out to bid you have to have the money correct so we gota keep this moving yep so effectively in the 2024 capital budget none of those funds really can be spent until you do the ordinance it's just a management tool as you know I've said it probably 20 times in this process but we're really talking now the middle of the year yeah what's in 2024 while we're currently still can improve things from 2023 yeah we're probably working on 22 23 money right now older in some instances but because especially when it comes to Dot and things of that nature or D Mo mostly DP they kind of hold a lot of things up for different reasons um but yes and we can't do our ordinance until we adopt our budget because we need the down payment money to fund the ordinance which I call the capital Improvement fund that's the 5% we need for the ordinance okay I think that's it for what's on our agenda um we can maybe discuss a wrapup joh are we are we aiming for um the bond ordinance in May or June um I'm looking to give it to you either end of May or be or or beginning of June okay for your review couple weeks um you know I don't want to rush it and then you give it if you give it back in a week great we'll get it on the next meeting because I have to give it to the bond or once we pass it I got to ship it to a bonding attorney he's got to review it he actually does the ordinance because um of the bonding laws which have just changed recently but that's for next year um and then we can just do we need two meetings so if we get it in July then the money will be spendable in August so until we pass that bounding ordinance whatever we say here on the capital doesn't really it doesn't this is a management tool we can change it if you decide in four weeks something happens and we need to change that all we needed to do is a resolution to amend the capital budget before we introduce an ordinance and that will cover us along with the supplement that that's that that I have to do regardless is that assuming that the amount doesn't change the total amount doesn't change or what if that's if the total amount doesn't change and I don't have to do a resolution but if you decide to change things or the total amount changes I have to do a resolution it's just a management tool right now as far they want you they want this in the budget so people can see that you're at least planning for the future okay you know things change from year to year but they want to S know that hey you know you're looking at your infrastructures and we still need to have available the 5% correct down payment from the operating budget and that's where the budget has to be approved before we can move forward what exactly is that that 5% can you define that is it it's whatever you whatever if we do a bond ordinance of 10 million and it's a little less because you don't have to but it's 5% of 10 million let's say so you would have to put up 5% of 10 million I that comes out of the operating it comes out of the operating Capital Improvement fund is a line item there is but how's that used specifically that it's just it's just like when you're buying a house and it's your down payment on a loan that's exactly what it is if you don't have the 5% they don't want you borrowing the money yeah now if we don't have the 5% then there's a process that you can go to the local Finance board and ask for exemption but that's a long and tedious process it's generally only given to towns that are in financial distress and generally that 5% do comes in under that cap it's outside the cap outside the um propriation cap yeah the appropriation cap it's outside it's outside the appropriation but you always got to pay the money back remember that yeah but that's a revenue issue no okay gay your wrap-up list most of it wasn't budg I don't think too much of it was budget at all no do you guys have any any additions that you want to give to the budget well why don't we start with the list and then we'll okay okay because most of the list is not really truly budget like in some years past um was the status of the sprinkler system this is from council meeting one for the West wer Volunteer Fire Company there was a street tree question if it's Street tree is removed can the owner of the property um in front of it not ask for another tree to be planted uh you want to receive updates on the grants whether approved or not what is left in the bike lane Capital Improvement fund new updated list of Road improvements would like post it and sent to the council I believe that was done correct Miss Schmid believe it I think it's on the website yes I believe I saw that did somebody send us something yeah I saw was was the color coded and scor oh you're talking about that was the um streets yeah that was the that was the list of the grading of the streets that was the grading assessment it was assessment list but it wasn't a list of like what projects had been done or anything like that well the projects are in the capital book but crosswalks beacons would like a list from police engineering on locations oh sorry go ahead I think what's still missing is sort of a more detailed view of what streets are actually on the list get done so now we have a nice ranking version but do we know it's is it the you know the top 5% the top 10% trying to get a measure of what's actually scope I think it based like I believe in the capital it breaks out which roads that um engineering has and then it depends on the money and Independence right and this year's capital budget lists certain roads that were planned to do for this coming year right but we not don't really know previous years when that was in the capital budget which ones actually were done I think that was the kind of question I'll see I will we can look at what contracts were issued because that would show us who what roads were done how far back do you want to go uh basically there were roads that but how many years do you want me to look at contracts because you issue the contracts I don't think it's a matter of the contracts either you know there were certain roads that were supposed to be done are they done or not all right well that's more of a more of an engineering question yep for Community Development and um we can we can get back to you on that because there's a list of roads that are in the description but we don't know the next year if they were done or not maybe they you know you know what I mean so we're just trying to in the planning stage you may be in the bid stage can we can we look at like for to answer Gay's question maybe last two years and see where where we are at would that yeah we can have a discussion with Francis the township engineer and see you know what kind of information he has on that okay okay crosswalk beacons would like a list from police engineering on locations and what capital projects include pedestrian safety improvements that one I can answer for you because um Marlene and I sat with the engineer yesterday under the roadway Improvement Capital counts they always for residential and collector roads there's always funds to as part of that road project to do pedestrian safety under the regular let me expand on that just real quick y so if you go to your summary sheet where we we basically uh allocate so if you go to the six-year Capital I'll get you a page number in a second okay page three of the big summary sheet what Gay's referring to is the basically the $2.7 million that we allocate under 24-16 um any of the monies in that as globally when they ever do roadway improvements they also do Crossroad improvements uh bike lanes and some curving Etc so when they say roadway improvements this is all incumber and so we're allowed to use monies for that project also okay they are yeah okay there there was a special project last year involving the crosswalks and involving different I'm using crossworks generically I'm using it from everything from a paint on the ground to to uh flashing beacons generic crosswalk uh Crossing issue and that project and and I know Francis and and everybody has said that when we do an improvement we go in there and we make we make improvements to the um pedestrian and bicycle but there was a special project last year to go beyond that and to spend an additional 20,000 to look at other areas that are not under the aaces of oh we're improving that road and they were going to basically look at the town as a whole and they were going to come up with where there are areas that perhaps do not have to be rebuilt totally but that need um special uh that would need a crosswalk uh there have been a number of that the community has has um um including bicycle pedestrian that they have suggested there have been uh there were things that we may not even know about and so this was going to be proactive and then they were going to use that money to not only uh maybe even hire somebody if we needed and then to use whatever money was lefted from that to go and actually do some of those improvements and that was a set aside $20,000 so what I'm trying to figure out is what's the status on that so the police the 20,000 and where did the $220,000 go so as the police chief spoke to you about his traffic Sergeant along with our engineering staff is working on the areas that need to be whether they're a road Improvement project a street or a sidewalk Improvement project all of this is being reviewed with the data that the police have along with engineering's um Department I don't think that money has it has not been spent so the we're still in the planning phases and the review phases along with all the other projects um so I mean most of your engineering projects like the sidewalk the signage and striping and Crossway improvements all and I believe we put it in the Crossway improvements fund didn't we John that 20 I forget which line it specifically in the in the crosswalks ETC corre fun yeah it was an addition think it was an additional originally 50 whatever we had add it's on page two 20 24-4 correct last year we had we had asked for 20 it's in last year and now you got money additional this year's St to is that 20,000 in here in a fund somewhere on page two it's Bond ordinance it hasn't been it's in last year's Bond ordinance that you approved avability of Prior year funding for on page two there's $20,000 available for that project yes there is not been spent correct and this year it was spin it would have come before you all correct this year um engineering requested 20 the mayor asked us to bump that to 70 so right now you have 70,000 allocated in the capital Improvement fund for that I'm looking well but besides the exension program let's stay on the one okay what what page what page are you on because two is C correct yes because we are pretty much caught up on the sidewalk uh programs for the street bre um which capital page you want page two on the summary sheet I mean which um project sheet page 2 24-14 you're looking for the crosswalk Improvement it's page 29 in detail so year to year the numbers are shifting around but if you look at the rollup we actually are less we're we've budgeted Less in 2024 total by about 20 grand uh's this one all right so we're saying that 20 so we're saying that where it says $70,000 here there's actually an additional $20,000 last year's money still there we can use it for that yes okay I'm just trying to ,000 yep we haven't spent an Andrea I'll let you know if we do no we I promise we have not I'm 99% of the time it would come across this day for so I'm zeroing y the struggle here is that doesn't matter what the numers say we don't actually spend the money doesn't mean anything so we can put as many as much money in here as we want but we actually need the administration to action that and they are and it's being reviewed okay so there all the other but are we s that bicycle and pedestrian improvements as a category that's down 50,000 no no it's down it stayed the same oh you're talking a sidewalk extension pram extension program that's down 50,000 it is but then we upate the crosswalk Improvement and let's they say we shift it there we shift 50,000 from sidewalk extension to specify Cranberry Road sidewalk improvements SP lifted the 50 from the sidewalk repair program sidewalk extension yeah went 175 12 but the next line item is plus 50 so that's a there you go but then the next line that's what we're that's what we tried yeah I have a lot of notes on So reading it correct but you're saying it's a net 20 loss then for that yes the whole row of 20 24- because this this has been sort of I will say themed from the public how about how's this let's increase the 30,000 where do you want to put it sidewalk repairs I mean U crosswalk crosswalk we can make that 100,000 yes crosswalk are we all in agreement yes okay you're talking about the with 2024 for 2024 d4d yep yes we would go from 7 70 up to 100 to 100 and you still have the 20 from last answer the okay good thank you you got that I got it yeah does that include category um flashing beacons it we will we're specifically going to put that in the description I will give you an amend I will change that sheet make it 100,000 we'll change a description to specifically put it in there it had been actually in the description before but we will put it in there and I will give you a Revis sheet to put in your book okay and summary so we'll be able to do this project this year and we'll have more money to it all right so we're going to add 30,000 to 24-14 D crosswalk Improvement program thank you okay good okay so we got through meeting number one now we're on meeting number two followup um should the capital budget for aeds be increased to 15,000 for 20 24 what you saying I'm sorry 8s aeds let me find I I just I just want to make sure that we have working aeds in all Municipal owned buildings all public and and all public building where we have a lot more you know public events and stuff because both fire companies should be we have them they have them we have them all right so if you go to the summary sheet four under 24-24 so we're talking about aeds the automatic defibrillators right now we have $10,000 um I think they run around two to three grand yes for a new setup so certain boxes too yeah so that's why I'm saying cost yeah do you want to increase that 5,000 yeah I just want make sure we have enough that we can increase buildings is that include the art center well the only one that doesn't have it is the art center well that's a that's a building that is used a lot would you like to increase that 5,000 yes please okay then we will increase that 5,000 I have a a question if do these I had thought these require some kind of somebody they walk you through it you can't you can't make a mistake it tells you what to do they come up verbally saying train uh we only train our employees at request um but the they're pretty simple instructed like yeah I know that I know it comes out and it gives you verbal instructions and it gives you the whole thing I've seen them work but all right just but I I think what what I was saying is that if you have one someone in a building whatever building there should be maybe some training some familiarity so because when you're in a crisis almost like where is it in the building explained this to me it's usually right in the front where the public can access it so that it's not hidden in a closet because that's not the purpose why you would use it what situation we do that but we can't force a art C let's if we put one in Arts Council we can't force them to do that but we can do it on okay I don't they're not qualified it would have to be through someone who can teach it and I don't know that right across I don't think so because if you use the system you gota you can't use the one that's on the wall to train with you would have to have a training um am I correct because you're so you'll have to have a training module that we used here years ago when they had time to train us but right now the staff is um you'll be amazed at how many normal citizens know how to do CPR and um the units there's a lot of nonprofit organizations that require CPR learn you know all your coaches and things of that nature right Martin yeah yeah there's actually YouTube videos that are quite um informative that that could be watched I I just from a liability okay there is no okay so we're going to increase that line that's 2024a $5,000 so we can add a defibrillator to the art center okay in 2025 look to increase the volunteer fire companies's annual um Dona or thing police chief to send monthly stat reports to council uh would like to know in which capital budget The Pedestrian which we just went over so I think that was all I had any other questions um just as a followup I would like um Timothy Lynch to if there's a memo that we can get regarding um one of his comments on the 2023 accomplishments regarding Staffing levels and um and the there's one major injury just so Council was aware um I I don't know if these uh Staffing levels how they are defined it says defined by Statute and consensus standards so I don't know which statutes yeah that's referring to um that's but I something a follow up on that because that to me that's a concern I mean Emergency Services Staffing levels um y like I said before we just reorganized we hired two EMTs we hired another fire person uh the issue you're going to have in the future is your cap if you if you think you can go 24 uh and increase the Manpower that he would like um there's no way we could do it um we would have to have to have some serious discussions about some alternative methods of coming up with that type of coverage right well I assume that will is or will be be happening but it's just a strong statement was I got I agree I agree 100% that I agree 100% I said we re the reorg was implemented November 13th so we're gonna we're going to roll with it for a year or two see how it goes um because now we hire just straight EMTs as you you guys know because you were a part of it um you know they're not firem maner cmts so we're able to get them at a lower cost um but all they do is EMT stuff so they don't respond to fires right okay any um further comments questions council members see none okay so just to recap it we're going to make two changes we're going to increase 30,000 to the crosswork Improvement under 24-14 in the capital plan we're going to increase $5,000 to the auds which is 24 24a Okay and like I said that'll cover at least one yeah absolutely probably more but I just want to be conservative put it at the AR Center yeah that's fine we can put them in the plan seeing it's the it's probably the only building it doesn't have it so okay 24 24 D what number D it's it's number a they have the defibs or for the RO defibs which number John you'll update only it 204 242 24a on page four John you'll update the capital sheet I will I will update the cap two Capital sheets and the capital summary and I'll have gay given to you okay you got it page 4 24 24a that's the a aeds that we were just discussing oh 242 24- 24a yes sorry lot of 24 is there no no thank you well Linda anything else I think we open the public else okay see none all right we'll move on to public comment like make a public comment please come to the microphone state your name and address and you'll have up to three minutes sopia ascarelli 27 mville road representing the West Windsor bicycle and pedestrian Alliance thank you very much for adding another 30,000 to the sidewalk Improvement program as you all have heard from us we really feel strongly about adding um rfbs the blinking pedestrian activated lights to intersections where pedestrians have either been killed or injured struck by cars that would be Bennington and rabbit hill and Pen L and Cano Brook to start so again thank you very much for increasing the amount and we look forward to seeing some rfbs over the course of the next fiscal year being added to the town hopefully thank you thank you okay anyone else all right seeing none um public comment is closed is there any need for a closed session no okay um so motion to adjourn so moved second all in favor say I I I opposed this meeting is adjourned thank you thank you John do