Christine McGrath

On Monday we had an important Council meeting. We started the meeting with our annual hearing on our budget. We received no comments from the public. We passed our budget 5-0 after authorizing several significant changes since introduction. Verona's budget is reviewed by the State of New Jersey, and they had some changes which impacted the numbers. The changes involved expenses that could not be allocated outside of the 2% cap on the tax levy. This year, we needed to move the pension...

We had a very short meeting on Monday, April 6th. The most significant action that the Council took was to introduce an ordinance to allow for a PILOT agreement for the project at 885 Bloomfield Avenue. The ordinance was introduced with a vote of 3 to 1 . I voted against introduction. A PILOT agreement is a long term tax abatement for a property. Instead of receiving taxes on the improvement on the property, the Township will receive a fee. As part of the process the Council just went...

On Monday, March 23rd we had a meeting. Here is a brief summary of the highlights. The Council introduced our 2026 budget. In an effort to reduce the tax increase from 5.8% to 2.8%, the Administration made a few changes since the budget presentations: The amount of fund balance used in this year's budget increased, from $4 million to $4.135 million. $200K of health care cost expenses were moved out of our current fund and into our water and sewer utility, to more closely match the fact...