With the municipal budget ready for introduction, residents can expect a 4.7 percent tax increase across the board.

The Council is planning to introduce the budget at its Sept. 15 meeting, which is in time to meet the Sept. 19 extraordinary aid deadline.

The mayor and Council will continue to discuss the budget after introduction and hold a public hearing before adoption later in the year.

The introduced budget has an approximate 4.7 percent increase to the tax levy from last year with a tax rate of $1.09. An average home assessed at $550,631 will pay approximately $6,000.

Borough Auditor Steve Wielkotz said it does not hurt to apply for extraordinary aid but the borough has a 25 percent chance of receiving it. He said last year the borough did well with its budget but the state did not reward them with extraordinary aid.

"Some towns are doing really bad [and need more assistance]," he said. "If you tell the state you had a revaluation and some people were hit hard then maybe we have a chance."

But Wielkotz said not to depend on it.

"Based on the revaluation the average tax bill goes down," Wielkotz said. "But that’s just the average."

He said some residents could see increases.

"In a revaluation the rule of thumb is one third get hurt, one third stay the same and one third get helped," he said.

Borough Administrator Greg Franz said that the operational budget portions have looked good so far.

"The department heads have been very good in keeping requests the same or similar," he said. "So for now there are no significant increases."

Wielkotz said some areas have mandatory increases, like contracts, pension contributions, the library and utilities.

The borough got $500,000 from the sale of its Municipal Utilities Authority to Bergen County. Wielkotz said the borough has the largest surplus in its history right now with $3.8 million. He recommended that the council not use all of that right now because the Municipal Utilities Authority money was a one-time deal.

Franz said the borough tries to make a five-year financial plan.

"Department heads gave their most pressing needs so we try to get an idea of what capital projects we’re going to need," Franz said.

The borough will be looking to purchase a rescue truck for the Fire Department and some equipment for the Department of Public Works.

"Whenever you have fire equipment [in the budget] it increases your expenditures," he said.