The Accomplishments are Shared

There are so many accomplishment to be proud of from the last 8 years.

However, these are the successes of many authors - Various Council Members, the Mayor, His administration, the previous Mayor, his administration, professionals and volunteers. Most importantly they are accomplishments are of a community.

Extensive flood mitigation.

Downtown Improvements.

Property maintenance and environmental protections.

New turf fields.

Extensive road paving & improvements

Ordinances that help things like the Farmer’s Market succeed.

Some of the lowest municipal budgets and tax impacts in decades.

Outstanding Township employees that have been hired like the Administrator, our Township Clerk and Deputy Clerk. 

Most amazing of the many successes, The way a community came together to rebound from the devastation of Hurricane Irene. The professionals, the responders, the Council and the Mayor-elect at the time were the right people in place.  Denville had the right leadership and more importantly the unbelievable strength of our residents to rise above the water and rebuild stronger than ever. 

There are two other resources that are products of the outstanding foundation Denville provides. Two accomplishments in progress that I am most thankful for and proud of. They are in the audience this evening. One is 7 years old, Quintin and the other is 2, Zaeger.  My sons who are benefiting from the greatest town to raise a family in, Denville. 

For all their lives they have shared a good amount of their Father’s free time with Denville. Often 3 nights a week Dad was not able to read that bedtime story or join them for family dinner. Their mom, and my wife Wendy, I also thank for being able to wrangle these 2 outstanding maniacs to bed at night alone and supporting me through 8 years.  I believe it was worth it if we were able to keep one less drop of water from flooding our neighborhood, or that kept one more firetruck on our streets, or filled a downtown building with a store to enhance the experience of the best downtown in the county, or helped the best police department in the state stay well equipped and staffed. 

The strong community they are a part of has taught them

⁃ to pick up litter on the street when they see it. - a power promise

⁃ to thank our fireman and our veterans with a handshake

⁃ to respect our flag 

⁃ to help those in need and support Denville’s Social Services

⁃ to continually give back and so much more

While their success is still a work in progress they are joined by many others. The other children of our firefighters, school volunteers, social services workers, other council members (and future ones) and the countless volunteers that help beautify, protect and energize Denville.

They are have been infected with a beautiful contagious virus than runs rampant in this town: The contagion of volunteerism. The spirit has taught us, and teaches them a simple truth in life; As individuals we need certain things to survive, food, water and shelter but most importantly…we need each other. We need a community of people that can tackle challenges stronger together than alone. 

These two little accomplishments, God-willing in making, will be the product of this outstanding community —A result of Denville.

Tonight is my last night in this chair, at this dais, the last time to contribute to tough decision making but I am still excited, invigorated & proud to know this is just the beginning of a long run at still being very much part of this great community.

Thank you Denville for allowing me to represent you the last 8 years, The pleasure and honor has been all mine.

Gene Fitzpatrick

Councilman, Denville 

2015 Municipal Budget

I was traveling on business last week when the Town Council introduced Denville's Municipal Budget so I wanted to post my views on the budget.

THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT A MUNICIPAL BUDGET

- About 2/3rds of your property taxes go to our schools (Regional H.S. and Denville)
- The Municipal Budget portion is under 20% of your overall taxes
- The Township is still responsible to collect all the taxes and pay the Schools & County after the collection.  This can obviously be a challenge because whether the taxes are collected or not, the Township still has to pay the School & County portion.  Often it has to front the money.
- There are many predetermined items in the budget due to State and Federal regulations, existing Union Contracts, etc..


I SUPPORT THIS BUDGET

First I support the municipal budget that was introduced.  I continually push for lower taxes and more efficient government.  We are improving greatly.   However, we will be faced with a small tax increase again this year.  It is just under a 2% increase, which is about 30 something dollars to the average Denville household.  However, I believe this is a responsible budget especially looking ahead at future years.  As well, the main reason for the slight increase is something beyond a Councilperson's control.  We had a huge tax appeal by one of our biggest ratables over the last two years.  It is fundamental that we pass a budget or else we can not do anything in town.  The governing body has to pass a budget.  I am very against when a Council member votes against a budget, unless they have shown very clearly how they would change the budget.

TAX APPEAL

Franciscan Oaks, files an enormous tax appeal of several million dollars that was settled a short time ago with Denville's tax assessor.  Most townships could be put out of business from this tax appeal or would be forced to have an enormous tax increase.  However, credit to the Townships Administrator, Director of Finance and our Township Auditors,   we were able to quell that huge storm from conservative fiscal management over the last few years.  That appeal will be paid off this year.  If the appeal didn't happen, Denville residents would have seen a significant tax decrase of nearly $20 on the average household.

EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT

When looking back over the years I have been on the Council, We have had the slightest tax increases in Denville's history, short of some years that there has been no tax increase.  However, nearly every time there was no increase in the municipal budget, the township was hit with a very large tax increase the following year. Generally I am weary of budgets that have no increase whatsoever during a time where so many other costs are going up.  This historically has appeared to be politically motivated in years past from my perspective.  There would be a no tax increase during an election year but then the following year the budget would be in horrible shape and require a huge tax increase.


OTHER COSTS

Many of the other costs of the municipal budget are difficult costs to control such as negotiated union employee contracts, benefits and health care (which is greatly rising everywhere).  Additionally , we have managed to maintain Denville services very efficiently over the last few years without interrupting quality.

THINGS LOOKING GOOD FOR NEXT YEAR

A budget also must be looked at over several years.  While we had a small increase this year, there are signs that next year can be a very positive year in terms of Denville's budget.  I really am hopeful for potentially a budget next year that barely has an increase.  The reason why I think this is possible is because it is likely that Saint Clare's hospital will go private and pay taxes and we will most likely have a large new ratable with the residential area in development by the train station.

The Budget is now introduced and will be open for public comment at the April 7th, 2015 meeting 7:30pm at Town Hall. The budget is available here.

The Houses Are Down, Now What?

Within the next few months the final of the 11 homes purchased along Riverside Drive, as part of the flood buyout program, will be demolished.  It has been an unbelievably long and trying process to get these homes closed and then the process of gaining approvals from the utility companies and contractors to remove them but we are almost there.

The next step is "Rain Gardens".  This will essentially be a natural environment that will also act to absorb and maintain water without impervious coverage.  This can be maintained with attractive landscape and a natural surrounding.  The township can provide support through our Department of Public Works and other services but a project this big will require massive community involvement, ideally from that neighborhood.

The Denville Administration and Township Council will now begin exploring the funding of this endeavor as well as appropriate planning.  Once that is complete we are hoping to have some of our volunteer organizations helping creating an attractive Riverside area that protects and preserves the neighborhood from excessive flooding.

Please consider being part of this process.  I will keep you posted on the progress and needs over the next few months and look forward to working with the neighborhood again !