Fair Lawn council adopts 2025 municipal budget, introduces multiple ordinances and applies for Avenue of Heroes grant

The Fair Lawn mayor and council on April 22 adopted the borough's 2025 municipal budget after a public hearing and unanimous roll-call vote, and during the same meeting introduced a series of capital and administrative ordinances for public hearing May 20. The council also voted to apply for Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund money for the Avenue of Heroes restoration project.

The budget adoption was preceded by a brief public-comment period during which resident Pamela Coles thanked borough staff and officials for their work compiling the document. "I really want to acknowledge our CFO and auditor and borough manager, because I attended all of the budget meetings, and I know how diligently you worked to have this budget passed," Coles said. The council then voted to adopt Resolution 156b-2025 (the 2025 municipal budget); the roll call recorded all members voting yes.

Why it matters: The municipal budget determines the borough's operating and capital spending for the year and sets the fiscal framework for services residents receive. Council members said the budget process required multiple meetings and close work with finance staff to maintain services in a challenging cost environment.

In other formal actions, the council introduced three Special Improvement District (SID) budgets'Broadway, River Road and Fairlawn Avenue'and set each for public hearing May 20, 2025. The council also introduced multiple ordinances on first reading that, if approved at the May 20 hearing, will authorize capital projects and administrative code changes. Among the introduced measures was Ordinance 27-38, which the ordinance text lists as appropriating $4,207,000 for various capital improvements and authorizing the issuance of $3,996,650 in bonds or notes; Ordinance 27-39 addresses road improvements and lists an appropriation of $1,000,000 with associated bonding. Several ordinance texts presented at introduction contained typographical or garbled figures in the reading; the council set public hearings so the full, published ordinance language will be available prior to final votes.

The council took several additional votes on resolutions presented during the meeting. Resolution 158-2025 authorizes the borough to apply to the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund for the Avenue of Heroes Restoration Project; the application motion passed unanimously after a short public comment in which veteran and Veterans Council chair Jim Florio praised the project as "a place to go and reflect" and called Fair Lawn "a veteran friendly town." Resolution 159-2025, approving the borough's 2024 corrective action plan, also passed by unanimous roll call.

The meeting included a consent agenda (Resolutions 160-173), covering routine purchases, professional-service agreements and project approvals; the consent agenda passed in a single roll-call vote with every member recorded as yes. Notable items on the consent agenda discussed in public comment included a $52,388 contract to complete a master-plan reexamination report and a structural-engineering proposal to assess the Cadmus House so the borough can determine whether and when to open it more broadly to the public.

Public comments at the meeting also touched on local projects and services: residents thanked the council for veterans'related work and asked about cleanups and Route 208 lighting maintained by the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Borough staff said the DOT had been notified and will replace the string of lights along the route. Council members reminded residents that the borough's budget hearing and the public hearings on the introduced ordinances and SID budgets are scheduled for May 20, 2025.

The council adjourned to an executive (closed) session later in the evening to discuss collective bargaining and personnel matters under NJSA 10:4-12.b; the closed-session resolution said discussion will be made public when disclosure would not harm the borough's interests.

Votes at a glance - Resolution 156b-2025 (Adopt 2025 municipal budget): Approved; roll call recorded all council members voting yes. - Resolution 157a-2025 (Introduce Broadway SID budget; public hearing 05/20/2025): Introduced on first reading; roll call yes. - Resolution 157b-2025 (Introduce River Road SID budget; public hearing 05/20/2025): Introduced on first reading; roll call yes. - Resolution 157c-2025 (Introduce Fairlawn Avenue SID budget; public hearing 05/20/2025): Introduced on first reading; roll call yes. - Resolution 158-2025 (Authorize application to Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund for Avenue of Heroes Restoration Project): Approved; roll call yes. - Resolution 159-2025 (Approve 2024 corrective action plan): Approved; roll call yes. - Consent agenda Resolutions 160-173 (purchase agreements, professional services, project authorizations): Approved as a block; roll call yes. - Ordinances introduced on first reading (public hearing 05/20/2025): Ordinance 27-38 (capital improvements, appropriation listed $4,207,000; bond issuance $3,996,650), Ordinance 27-39 (road improvements, appropriation listed $1,000,000; bond reporting $1,615,000 listed in text), Ordinance 27-40 through Ordinance 27-46: all passed on introduction and set for public hearing May 20; roll call yes on each introduction. - Ordinances adopted on second and final reading at this meeting: Ordinance 27-35 (amend zoning regulations; River Road building height adjustments): Adopted; roll call yes. Ordinance 27-36 (property maintenance standards): Adopted; roll call yes. Ordinance 27-37 (exceed appropriation limits / establish cap bank for 2025): Adopted; roll call yes.

What's next Public hearings on the introduced ordinances and the SID budgets are scheduled for May 20, 2025. The borough will publish finalized ordinance texts prior to that hearing; residents who asked questions at the April 22 meeting were told detailed figures and scopes will be available in the published ordinances and budget documents.