PARSIPPANY — The Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Council Budget Hearing Meeting was held on Wednesday, April 10, 2024.

The 2024 Township of Parsippany–Troy Hills Municipal Budget was introduced to the public at the April 16, 2024, Township Council meeting and will be voted on for adoption after the public hearing at the May 21, 2024, Township Council meeting.

The preliminary $89 million budget for 2024 includes a 2.86 percent increase in the municipal tax rate. With the county and school taxes factored in, this would be a 2.78 percent increase. That represents an increase of $6.00 monthly/$72.00 annually for a home assessed at the township average of $313,513.

Click here to download 2024 User Friendly Budget – DRAFT 

5:30 – 5:45 – 2024 Budget Summary – Administration & Finance

5:45 – 6:30 – Police Department

6:30 – 7:15 – Public Works, Parks and Engineering Departments

7:15 – 8:00 – Planning, Zoning and Building Departments

8:00 – 8:30 – Water Department

8:30 – 9:00 – Sewer Department

9:00 – 9:30 – Knoll Utility

Click here to download the agenda.

Mayor James Barberio
Council President Paul Carifi, Jr.
Council Vice President Frank Neglia
Councilman Justin Musella
Councilman Matt McGrath
Councilwoman Judy Hernandez

PARSIPPANY — Sonia Diaz (nee Florian) passed away suddenly on Monday, April 8, 2024, in Parsippany. She was 75.

Born in Santa Marta, Colombia to the late Heriberto Florian and Filadelfa Urango, Sonia immigrated to the United States in 1979, settling in Hudson County. She had lived in West New York, and Florida before returning to New Jersey several years ago to live with her daughters in Bayonne and Parsippany.

A homemaker, Ms. Diaz was a loving mother and grandmother.

She was a member of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Bayonne.

Sonia is survived by her four loving children, Endrina Sullivan and her husband, Mark of Redding, CT, Amabilis Dario Fergusson and his wife, Monica of Panama City, Panama, Ninoska Fergusson and her husband, Marcos Zipitria of Parsippany, and Sonia Brown of Bayonne; seven dear siblings, Saul Florian of Englewood, Jorge Florian of Colombia, Marcial Florian of Venezuela, Lady Florian of Colombia, Ledy Florian of Colombia, Heriberto Florian, Jr. of Colombia, and Ligia Lucia Florian of Colombia; and her eight beloved grandchildren, Endora McNeary, Frankie McNeary, Mina Rakel Perez, Nino Fergusson, Lani Brown, Zachary Brown, Brittany Fergusson, and Junior Fergusson.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the visitation on Saturday, April 13, 2024, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at S.J. Priola Parsippany Funeral Service, 60 North Beverwyck Road, Lake Hiawatha. Private cremation will follow as per Sonia’s wishes.

Following the visitation, all are welcome to join the family at their home, 540 Vail Road, Parsippany, for food, and refreshments, and to celebrate Sonia’s life.

MORRIS COUNTY — The Morris County Board of County Commissioners unanimously adopted a 2024 Budget on Wednesday, April 10, with no increase in the tax rate as funding expanded for public safety, infrastructure, human services, education and training, and economic development.

Click here to view the budget presentation.

“Strong ratable growth and prudent financial planning made this budget possible,” said Commissioner Deborah Smith, Chair of the Commissioners’ Budget Committee. “We can increase services such as public safety and veterans’ affairs while maintaining a flat tax rate. We are very sensitive to the plight of the taxpayer amid inflation, despite increasing costs on the county.”

The $365.3 million 2024 Budget includes the 2024 Capital Spending Plan which puts nearly $35 million towards county infrastructure. This year’s fund balance grew by $2.5 million bringing it to $63.2 million, safeguarding Morris County against economic shifts and ensuring it maintains its triple-A Bond rating from both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

“Morris County has maintained a triple-A rating for 48 years,” Commissioner Director Christine Myers said. “This impeccable rating saves everyone money by allowing our towns, schools, and county to borrow funds for integral community projects at the most competitive finance rates.”

The county’s robust financial health also helped the budget committee address growing expenses forced by mounting state mandates on operations at the Morris County Clerk’s Office and the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

The 2024 Budget allocates $38.1 million for Human Services and Health Services, which includes doubling to $300,000 a line item in emergency assistance funding to shelter and support people experiencing homelessness. The budget also commits another $150,000 toward funding allocated to prevent people from becoming homeless.

A combined $77.8 million will go towards public safety, including full dispatch services to 23 municipalities and daily back-up services to local Basic Life Support and Emergency Medical Service units for all 39 Morris County towns. Morris County’s Basic Life Support Emergency Medical Service Unit responded to more than 3,862 Emergency calls in 2023.

Critical Community Investments

The Preservation Trust Fund Tax will stay level for 2024, at 5/8 cent per $100 of total county equalized property valuation. It has financed many county park improvements, preservation programs, and restoration projects through grant programs like Farmland Preservation, Open Space Preservation, Historic Preservation, Flood Mitigation, and Trail Design and Construction.

Among the educational, cultural and economic development incentives included in the 2024 Budget are:

• $9 million to support the Morris County Park Commission which manages 20,455 acres of parkland, making it the largest county park system in the state.
• More than $24 million to support education, including career training at the County College of Morris and the Morris County Vocational School District.
• A record $900,000 for Economic Development and Tourism, including $100,000 for the celebration of America’s 250^th Anniversary.

Critical Infrastructure Investments

The county’s 2024 Capital Spending Plan designates approximately $35 million toward enhancing road resurfacing, improving intersections along the 287 miles of county roadways, and replacing bridges and culverts.

PARSIPPANY — Fast fashion plays into the idea that your social relevance is incumbent upon staying abreast with the latest runway trends and outfit repetition is a fashion gaffe. Feeding into this Gen Z and alpha frenzy are fashion houses replicating runway trends at breakneck speeds. The Fashion Industry is a $1.2 trillion Industry. There was a time when there used to be 2 fashion cycles in a year, in comparison there are 52 fashion cycles today. We spend $1,700 on clothes every year, each one of which has on average 103 items in the closet of which only 20% are ever worn utmost 7 times before being tossed.

According to earth.org, 1.92 million tons of textile waste is produced each year. Approximately 90 million tons of garments produced end up in landfills each year. The textile industry is responsible for 8-10% of global CO2 emissions greater than aviation & shipping combined. The textile industry uses 79 trillion liters of water and 98 million tons of non-renewable resources annually. 35% of all microplastics and 20% of industrial wastewater come from the clothing industry. Only 1% of garments are recycled back into the industry. It takes up to 80 years for garments to break down in landfills. 

There are many ways to put the brakes on this issue. Becoming conscious consumers is one of them. We can reuse and repurpose by thrifting, renting, and swapping. Clothing swaps divert textiles from landfills. As textiles decompose, they emit harmful greenhouse gases directly contributing to climate change. Keeping textiles out of landfills reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and microplastic pollution in land and water, and significantly curbs energy and water consumption.

Anika Arora, a Junior at Parsippany Hills High School, has undertaken several initiatives to educate and motivate citizens on steps they can take to mitigate the effects of climate change. Anika, under the guidance of Janice McCarthy, Chair of the Parsippany Environmental Advisory Committee, is organizing Parsippany’s first Dress & Accessories Swap in town. While fulfilling her Girl Scout Gold Award requirements, she sincerely hopes to encourage conscious consumerism and swap not just clothes & accessories but also behaviors. To register for the swap please visit Register For Dress & Accessories Swap. To find out more about Anika’s work, please visit https://www.simply-green.org or follow @_simply.green_

PARSIPPANY — Parsippany-Troy Hills Township will Review and Discuss the Mayor’s 2024 Budget Recommendations on Tuesday, April 9, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Law by filing the notice in the Office of the Township Clerk and by posting the meeting notice on the bulletin board at the Municipal Building on March 27, 2024, where it has remained posted since that date. A copy of this notice appeared in The Daily Record on April 1, 2024, and was faxed to The Star-Ledger on March 27, 2024. 

5:30 – 5:45 – 2024 Budget Summary – Administration & Finance

5:45 – 6:30 – Police Department

6:30 – 7:15 – Public Works, Parks and Engineering Departments

7:15 – 8:00 – Planning, Zoning and Building Departments

8:00 – 8:30 – Water Department

8:30 – 9:00 – Sewer Department

9:00 – 9:30 – Knoll Utility

Click here to download the agenda.

Mayor James Barberio
Council President Paul Carifi, Jr.
Council Vice President Frank Neglia
Councilman Justin Musella
Councilman Matt McGrath
Councilwoman Judy Hernandez

PARSIPPANY — Over a hundred residents from Parsippany gathered at the main branch of the Parsippany Public Library on Saturday, April 6 to interact with Councilman Justin Musella on various local hot-button issues — ranging from overdevelopment in the township to traffic congestion overburdening Lake Parsippany, to a much-needed solution to the arduous, drawn-out permitting process.

Residents actively participated during the extensive interactive question-and-answer session with many in the audience noting the constructive dialogue empowered them and fostered a sense of community involvement among attendees.

Musella has been holding monthly “office hours” with residents since his election to the Township Council in 2021. Now Musella is offering residents a more expansive platform to express their opinions and grievances in detail and collaborate on potential solutions. The conversational format of Musella’s town hall is in stark contrast to the traditional township council format that only allows residents five minutes of speaking time without any response from or dialogue with township officials. Many times, the five-minute public speaking time at council meetings is arbitrarily shortened by the sitting Council President, as was the case during many controversial township proposals including the highly controversial PILOT projects.

Parsippany Board of Education members were on hand to speak about their ongoing feud with the mayor regarding the impact of the PILOTs on their funding. Board Member Tim Berrios addressed the crowd saying, “Unfortunately the Mayor continues to ignore the Board of Education and has not responded to our many attempts to meet.” Musella emphasized that a collaborative approach to the Board of Education would bring many benefits to the taxpayers of the town as “There are millions of dollars in savings by sharing services and the only people the mayor is hurting by punching down at the Board of Education are the working families of the town.” Musella was also asked for some advice for blue-collar municipal workers on getting a fair contract from Mayor Barberio, to which he quipped “They should hire John Inglesino as their attorney since we all know the magic he can work on the (mayor’s) administration.”

Assemblyman Brian Bergen joined Musella’s town hall offering residents additional insight into how state and local governments collaborate on a wide array of matters and how his office’s constituent services help residents navigate around the complex state sub-agencies. 

The meeting ended with residents thanking Musella for caring about residents during a time
when other municipal officials avoided answering tough questions. There were also calls from the audience for Musella to run for mayor which was met by a long, robust applause from the crowd.

Looking to give back to your community this Earth Day?

Click here to register for the Boonton Reservoir Cleanup! on Saturday, April 20th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

If you’ve ever driven on I-287 between Boonton and Parsippany, you’ve surely seen the Jersey City Waterworks behemoth. The Jersey City Waterworks, more commonly named “The Boonton Reservoir”, has long been a vital drinking water source for Jersey City and other local towns and a staple landmark for both Parsippany and Boonton. However, this massive body of water has faced extreme environmental neglect through excessive plastic pollution on its shores for many years. Bottles, bottle caps, toys, sports equipment, food wrappers, buckets, drinking straws, cigarette packaging, drug paraphernalia, plastic bags, hair combs, deck chairs, writing, and eating utensils have all surfaced in great numbers on the shores of the reservoir. Although plastic waste is the most abundant, various other items including sheet metal, tires, broken glass, chain-linked fencing, mylar balloons, clothing, cleaning products, and 50-gallon drums are also polluting the area. 

The biggest concern, however, is microplastics. To briefly summarize, plastic photodegrades by breaking down into smaller pieces over time instead of biodegrading. Once material becomes less than 5mm in size, they are then classified as ‘microplastics’. Microplastics have been found in living organisms including humans all over the world. They are easily transferred through drinking water and come from so many products like those mentioned above. Microplastics are especially lethal to marine species too. Due to their small size, fish and other marine species often confuse them for food, like roe and phytoplankton. When consumed, blockages occur in their digestive tracts and airways. Much like the renowned images of seagulls choking on six-pack rings, fish are being caught with microplastics choking their internal organs. The shores of the reservoir are covered in swaths of microplastics which not only threaten the marine ecosystem but Jersey City’s drinking water too. According to Veolia Environmental, the Boonton Reservoir currently supplies over 274,000 residents per day with drinking water. We must remember that our global environment is a shared space, and as we continue to neglect the Boonton Reservoir, Jersey City will experience its worst burdens. 

If this concerns you, then sign up for the Boonton Reservoir Cleanup on Saturday, April 20th! The event takes place from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Participants will have the opportunity to celebrate Earth Day while giving back to their global environment. Moreover, you will be able to experience a mesmerizing hidden gem in Parsippany and help preserve Jersey City’s drinking water once and for all. For more information on how to participate, go follow our Instagram and Facebook pages @boontonrescleanup. There you will find information on how to participate, and insight on how this pollution affects our local ecosystem.

Every action reacts. We have one planet and one chance!

PARSIPPANY — On April 1, Child Abuse Prevention Month begins. The Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany launched the campaign by creating a pinwheel garden display at Parsippany Town Hall.

“Let’s unite to raise awareness in our community about the significance of guaranteeing excellent childhoods for all children, as they are the cornerstone of our future,” said Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany President Carol Tiesi.

Parsippany-Troy Hills Mayor James Barberio will issue a Proclamation at the Council Meeting on Tuesday, April 16, officially designating April as “Child Abuse Prevention Month.”

April signifies National Child Abuse Prevention Month, spearheaded by Prevent Child Abuse America. In 2024, the theme “Building A Hopeful Future, Together” underscores the importance of fostering a nurturing and supportive environment for children and families nationwide.

Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany advocates for the power of prevention and the significance of community support. They are committed to guaranteeing that all children grow up in safe, stable, and nurturing environments. Their mission revolves around addressing the structural and social determinants of health and well-being, such as poverty and systemic racism, aiming to establish a more equitable society where every child thrives.

For more information on the Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany, click here.

PARSIPPANY — The Parsippany United Methodist Church will host its annual Roast Beef dinner on Saturday, April 20 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

These dinners started about 60 years ago as a fundraiser for the church and have continued almost every Spring since then.

Church members volunteer to prepare every aspect of the dinner from Roast Beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, vegetables, rolls with butter, cole slaw, and the best homemade desserts!!

It’s a great time of fellowship and fantastic food. Tickets can be purchased at the door for just $18.00 for adults, $15.00 for seniors, and $8.00 for children under 12. Take-out dinners can also be provided. Enjoy a homemade dinner and dessert made with love from us to you.! All are welcome!!!

Parsippany United Methodist Church is located at 903 South Beverwyck Road.

PARSIPPANY — On Monday, March 25, at the General Meeting of the Woman’s Club of Parsippany-Troy Hills, Alona Reyes became the latest member installed by Janice Carrubba, Co-Chair for Membership. So far in 2024, the club has welcomed five new members, with Alona being the latest addition!

Alona is thrilled to be joining the dynamic group of volunteers united in fellowship and service, dedicated to advancing projects that yield positive results in education, culture, and civic betterment within the community. She eagerly anticipates making a meaningful contribution and collaborating with the club members.

The Woman’s Club of Parsippany-Troy Hills is a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) and the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs (NJSFWC), which are the largest volunteer women’s service organizations in the country/state, providing opportunities for education, leadership training, and community service. General Meetings are held on the fourth Monday of each month September through April at 7:00 p.m.  If you would like to attend our next General Meeting to find out more about what the club does, call Ginny at (973) 887-0336. Click here to view the website. E-mail the club at womansclubofpth@gmail.com, or follow on Facebook and Instagram.