Hopatcong council narrows 2025 capital plan, agrees to short-term borrowing to lower tax impact

Hopatcong Borough Council members agreed during an April 15 budget work session to trim parts of the 2025 capital program and pursue short-term borrowing to reduce the size of a proposed tax-rate increase. Council members discussed and adjusted capital requests across several departments and signaled support for issuing a short-term bond anticipation note of roughly $300,000 as a bridge to damp the tax impact this year.

The council spent more than three hours reviewing departmental capital requests — from police vehicles and public-safety building work to field repairs, firehouse maintenance and sewer equipment — and made multiple reductions and rephasing choices. Administrator Shelby (first name recorded in the transcript as Shelby) and CFO/finance staff Judy (first name recorded as Judy) led budget…