Committee Chair: Borough Will Raise Taxes Less Than $21 per Household

The Mayor and Council are set to introduce a budget with a tax increase of no more than $21 for a home assessed at $537,000, they announced at Tuesday's meeting.

The budget, after the latest round of cuts will include a decrease in spending of $428,000.

This is the first year the Borough had to work under Gov. Chris Christie's 2% cap on the amount it could increase its budget, which amounted to a little more than $1 million. Because the Borough isn't increasing its budget, it can bank that $1 million toward the 2012 budget.

Councilman Alan Brundage, chairman of the budget committee, said that year's council could use the money toward a $6 million pension payment that comes due after it was deferred in 2009.

The committee started with a budget that was $2.4 million over the cap. It found more than $1.2 million in savings before delving into personnel cuts, to get to the budget that will be introduced at the next public meeting.

"We took every penny that we could before we went into the personnel aspect of the budget," Brundage said.

The specific cuts will be revealed along with the budget. Mayor Richard LaBarbiera said the Council would need to work hard over the next few weeks, and called for fairness in determining personnel cuts.

"When it comes to cuts, we must ensure that we call the outside strike for everybody," he said.

He added that Paramus is farther along than many other municipalities in the budget process.

The Mayor and Council meet March 15 for a work session.