Bergen County Real Estate News: November 2005 – Week 4

Bergen County Real Estate News

Bergen county news with an emphasis on aspects affecting real estate, residency and community issues.

Two Bergen County Schools Receive Prestigious Award

The Ridgefield Park Junior-Senior High School and the Lincoln Elementary School at Hasbrouck Heights, both in Bergen County have received the Governor’s School of Excellence Award. This statewide award recognizes improvements in test scores and has been given this year to the 22 schools across New Jersey that showed significant improvement over the past two academic years. The state Department of Education cited Lincoln School for gains in mathematics, where the number of students who scored “advanced proficient” more than doubled. District officials, school administrators and teachers were presented with the $25,000 award by Acting Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy. The Ridgefield school was cited for its overall environment.

Edgewater Finances Major Construction Projects

Several projects in Edgewater received the green signal of financing, as the Borough Council recently voted to appropriate $469,170 and issue $445,709 in general improvements bonds for the capital projects. These include improvements to Veteran’s Field, repairs to various municipal buildings, improvements to sidewalks and curbs and the installation of speed humps. Money would also be spent to buy a new fire truck for an estimated $12,000. Also, the council voted to appropriate $1.6 million, which would be received for various capital projects, including the preservation and renovation of Borough Hall, roof repairs for Borough Hall and improvements to Veteran’s Field.

Bergenfield Introduces more Tax Relief for Residents

The budget of Bergenfield will now face a spending cut of over $1 million, as the Borough Council introduced an amended budget on Monday, November 14, 2005. As part of the council’s various initiatives towards reducing residential tax, the cut of approximately $1,098,000 would come from various wages and operating budgets. Bergenfield also underwent a state-mandated revaluation that increased property taxes up to 90 percent for some homeowners. Also the adjustment is set to yield a tax levy reduction of 4.5 cents, or a $180 cut annually for a home assessed at $500,000. The change will be put into effect from the beginning of next year.

Juvenile Detention Center Draws Protest

Residents of Northern Valley strongly voiced their opposition on the placement of a county juvenile detention center at Rockleigh. Over 150 residents participated in the opposition during a biweekly Bergen County freeholders meeting on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 stating that they feared inmates escaping and endangering citizens. They added that the location was inadequate because of the lack of social services in the area. They also said that families of the inmates would have trouble visiting because of lack of public transportation. As per reports, the current center at Paramus is deteriorating badly and the county had abandoned a proposal to build a new $10 million facility in Paramus after people there complained.

Bank of America Shuts a few Branches

At least 12 branches of the Bank of America situated in New Jersey will soon be closed. These branches would close in February next year and the accounts would be transferred to other branches within close proximity. While it is unclear whether workers would lose jobs or not, the bank has stated that it will notify the customers of the transfers within 90 days of the closings. As per notices that were filed with a federal regulator, the North Jersey branches slated for closure are on River Road in Edgewater, New Bridge Road in Bergenfield and Valley Road in Long Hill Township. As per the bank, the branches were being closed as they were not used enough and there were many banks nearby. However, industry experts stated that the bank is under pressure to curb deposit growth while it awaits regulatory approval of an agreement to buy credit card issuer MBNA Corp.

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