August - September 2002 Edition 

Average Tax Hike of $300   By Chris Neidenberg    A final analysis of cuts in school and municipal spending shows the average homeowner will pay only about $62 less in property taxes to fund both budgets, compared to the original proposals.   Yet those same homeowners will still pay over $300 a year more in school and municipal taxes than last year. The council completed the final piece of the puzzle after unanimously adopting the borough's $29.9 million 2002 budget. The changes trimmed the original municipal proposal by about one-and-a-half tax points.   The vote was significant in that Councilman Vic Amato, in apparently trying to offer an olive branch, supported adopting the spending plan after vowing to oppose it in the final weeks of the administration of now-former Borough Manager Barbara Sacks. Amato recently told Fair Lawn News that Sacks' departure, combined with the council's revisions to the proposal, made the switch possible.   Combined with an earlier two-point reduction in the defeated 2002-2003 school budget, negotiated by the council and school board, persons owning what the borough considers the average assessed house ($185,000) will pay only about $62 less in funding the operations of both entities had the cuts not been made. Thus, a planned 2002 tax bill of $5,476 has been trimmed - slightly - to about $5,414 for persons with homes valued at the average assessment.   The actions of the two elected bodies trimmed a total of only about $650,000 (or roughly three-and-a-half points), from an initial combined $68.8 million tax levy ($49.6 million of which accounted for the school budget. Voters narrowly defeated the proposed school tax levy in April).   Using rough estimates, what had been slated as an approximate $366 combined increase )$215 from the school, $151 from the borough) is now a $304 hike ($179 from the school, $135 from the municipality). The figures do not include whatever taxes Bergen County will impose upon borough landowners.   "We reduced the original proposed tax levy by about $310,000," explained Mayor David. L. Ganz. "At the end of the day, the average Fair Lawn homeowner will pay about $2.40 a week more in taxes to support the town budget than last year." The final municipal budget, introduced in late February, took about four months to adopt. Ganz said that, during the period, the council thoroughly evaluated the budget for reductions - line item by line item. "The reductions from different line items ranged anywhere from as low as $50 (fifty dollars) to up to $60,000," the mayor explained. "Cuts came in areas including (vehicle) gas expenditures ($20,000) and long-distance phone expenses. The administration has been mandated to come up with a plan to curtail long distance costs."   Employee gas use and phone costs were two areas of concern cited by Amato. He stated recently that the new administration of Acting Borough Clerk Joanne Kwasniewski is fully cooperating in providing him complete information - in areas including phone expenditures and employee Internet use - that, he alleged, her predecessor balked at giving him. "Getting the prior manager to leave was a significant development," said Amato, Sacks' harshest critic on the all-Democratic council. "That made it easier to support the final budget. I'm confident that things will change under the new administration." Amato, who had become so frustrated with Sacks that he had withdrawn his requests for the additional information in May, said he will examine it in seeing if there are ways the borough can improve and further economize its operations.   Note: Mr. Neidenberg is a talented local writer looking for a job. If you have a job tip for him, send an e- mail to chrisneidenberg@hotmail.com