Ridgewood trims $2.45 million from 2025 budget; projects 3.14% tax levy increase

Ridgewood officials said at a special village council budget meeting April 1 that they have identified $2,445,834.50 in cuts, grant transfers and trust-fund draws to bring the proposed 2025 appropriation under the state-imposed appropriations cap, and that those moves leave the village facing a projected tax levy increase of 3.14% for 2025.

Chief Financial Officer Bob Bruni, who walked the council through a multi-page packet of line-item reductions, said the center column of the “budget cuts impacted by department current fund 02/2025 introduced budget” shows the total reductions: “That center column there, equates to, $2,445,834.50. That's the total number, that's been able to be removed from the appropriation side to be raised by taxation,” Bruni said.

The cuts and offsets span most departments. Bruni said reductions include: about $70,000 in police salaries and wages (including overtime and compensatory time reductions), $100,600 in police operating expenses, $118,000 in engineering charged to capital, $189,007.19 in parks operations (including not hiring four…