Monday, May 6, 2013
The mayor has put out a survey asking residents for their feedback on the idea.
Mahwah’s administration is asking residents for their thoughts about whether or not a dog park should be built in the township. Mayor Bill Laforet announced Monday that he posted a survey on his website asking residents for feedback on the possibility of a dog park. “I’ve heard a lot of times from residents that they’d like to see a dog park in town,” Laforet told Patch Monday. “I thought this would be a good way to gauge the feelings of the whole community about the idea.” There are not yet any concrete plans for a park, he said. Officials have not yet debated options like how big the park would be, or where it would be built. The survey is meant to be more exploratory, Laforet said. “The first step is really just to get the pulse of the …
Thursday, April 25, 2013
The Bergen County Court system recently identified four towns, including Mahwah, that had a relatively large number of backlogged DWI cases. Check out the map to see how Mahwah's numbers compare to other towns'.
So far this year, superior court judges have singled out four municipal courts in Bergen County that have a “significant” number of backlogged DWI cases. According to Judge Roy McGeady, the Superior Court judge in Hackensack who presides over all municipal courts in the county, court officials identified the courts in Mahwah, Fort Lee, Cliffside Park and Elmwood Park as having a backlog issue. The county defines a “backlogged” case as any one that has been pending in the municipal court system for over 60 days. The county divides backlogged cases into five categories for review, and according to McGeady, it’s analysis of the municipal court system focuses on DWI cases. “We are most concerned with DWIs because of the potential disaster for …
Saturday, April 20, 2013
The township council adopted an operating budget that calls for a 3.45% tax increase over last year
Residents in Mahwah will pay a 3.45% increase in their tax bills over last year, as township council members adopted a $35.6 million municipal budget Thursday night. According to township Business Administrator Brian Campion, the budget calls for a $56.40 annual increase in taxes for the average home in Mahwah, assessed at a value of $470,000. Earlier this year, Mayor Bill Laforet proposed a budget that called for a 4.9% increase. Over the past several months, the township council has been amending the proposed budget during public hearings. A bulk of the tax savings came from a decision last month to use $145,000 from the township’s surplus fund in this year’s operating budget. Last month, township CFO Ken Sesholtz advised the council …
Friday, March 29, 2013
Near the close of ongoing budget hearings, Mahwah officials say they will look into shared services in an effort to cut costs moving forward
Do you think Mahwah should have its own fire department, police department, and school system? Though no specific plans, or even proposals, have been made, township government officials said recently they will start researching shared service options moving forward. During the last installment of an ongoing Mahwah township council budget hearing, Councilman Roy Larson suggested the administration look into shared services as a possible way to save money in the future. Providing services to township residents “is just costing too much to do at the micro level,” he said. Larson asked if the town could look into what could be done at a “macro level.” He made a few suggestions, like figuring out if there would be a cost savings in combining …
Monday, March 25, 2013
Do you think Mahwah township council members should be paid?
Mahwah township council members will not be cutting the annual $7,000 salaries they receive. During a municipal budget hearing last week that cut police overtime and turned down a proposal to outsource recycling, Councilman Chuck Jandris proposed eliminating the salaries of town council members as a way to save money in the 2013 budget. Jandris said last Thursday night that when he first took office in 2011, he was offered health benefits and a $7,000 compensation package from the township. He said he declined both. “I consider it an honor to serve,” he said. Last year, the township removed council members’ ability to receive health benefits through Mahwah. “I would like to ask my fellow council members to join me in [giving up the annual…
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Mayor argued plan would have saved money without laying off any township employees
The Mahwah Township Council voted down a plan Thursday to outsource recycling pick-up. The plan would have switched the job from that of township Department of Public Works employees to that of a private company. Thursday night’s vote marks the second time in the last year that the council has voted recycling privatization down. This time, privatization was presented as part of Mayor Bill Laforet’s 2013 proposed budget. Laforet made a presentation Thursday night on privatizing, which he said would save the township money and would not cost any DPW jobs. According to Laforet’s presentation, recycling pick-up currently costs Mahwah $625,184 a year. A private hauling company bid $178,000 to pick up the township’s recycling. In contract …
Friday, March 15, 2013
A state-appointed arbitrator will now decide the terms, officials say
Mahwah’s government officials and members of the township PBA union have reached an impasse in contract negotiations, and will turn to an arbitrator to decide the terms of their 2013 contract, officials said this week. This is the second time ever that the two sides have declared an impasse in contract negotiations. According to Mahwah Township Council President Harry Williams, the council voted to declare an impasse after over an hour of discussion about the issue in a closed session of the March 7 township council meeting. “We talked around every aspect of it over and over [before voting on it],” Williams said. “We considered what the differences of opinion were, and whether we felt the two sides were close enough to continue, …
Friday, February 22, 2013
Township Council attempts to curtail rising overtime budget at public hearing
According to a budget presentation at the township council meeting Thursday night, Mahwah Police officers were busy in 2012. Last year, cops arrested a higher number of people and gave out more tickets than they did in 2011, Chief Jim Batelli told the council during the hearing. Overall, arrests in Mahwah were up over 21% over 2011, with some categories like juvenile arrests and drug-related arrests spiking in 2012, Batelli said. The number of tickets written jumped, too – from just over 5,000 in 2011 to 7,605 in 2012. While Batelli said the arrest increase is “significant,” the number of tickets issued by Mahwah police typically fluctuates between 5,000 and 9,000 per year, he said. Thursday night, the town council entered a lengthy …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The township council voted to cut the Mahwah Senior Center budget for 2013 by $6,000, which the organization's director said will likely lead to fewer classes for seniors
Mahwah senior citizens will likely have fewer classes to choose from at the township’s senior center this year, thanks to a $6,000 reduction in funding that will likely be part of Mahwah’s final municipal budget this year. At a hearing on the proposed 2013 budget last week, Councilman John Roth suggested reducing the Senior Center’s budget for professional services from the requested $36,000 to $30,000 for the year. The money is used to pay class instructors. The cut “is not a reflection on the senior center…but we need to start making reductions [to the budget] without doing severe damage,” to services offered by the township, Roth said. According to Roth, the Senior Center hasn’t actually spent $36,000 on teachers for senior center …
Sunday, February 10, 2013
The township is considering upping recycling pick-up to once-a-week
Mahwah is in the middle of the 2013 budget season, which means the mayor and town council are in the middle of deciding which services the township will offer residents this year, and which it will not. Part of the mayor’s 2013 budget proposal is privatizing the township’s recycling department. According to Mayor Bill Laforet’s proposal, hiring a private company to pick up the township’s recycling would allow for pick-up to increase from every other week to once-a-week, and save the township money. While an in-depth discussion of the proposal has yet to happen in front of the township council, Councilman Roy Larsen suggested at a meeting last week that a better alternative might be to return garbage pick-up to twice-a-week year round. In …
Mona Lot
6:34 pm on Friday, May 10, 2013
Hey Andrew,had a great thought since you seem to be up on ALL Mahwah happenings maybe you should be the dog park pooper scooper expert and report to the Mayor how its done. more ›