Home Care In Clifton, NJ

A house in Clifton that sold for $922,000 tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Clifton area in the past week.

In total, 34 residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $598,206, or $375 per square foot.

The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of May 12 even if the property may have been sold earlier.

10. $670K, single-family residence at 861 Passaic Ave.

The property at 861 Passaic Ave. in Clifton has new owners. The price was $670,000. The house was built in 1956 and has a living area of 1,420 square feet. The price per square foot is $472. The deal was finalized on March 24.

9. $700K, single-family home at 88 Highview Drive

A 1,248-square-foot single-family residence at 88 Highview Drive, Clifton, has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in March and the total purchase price was $700,000, $561 per square foot. The house was built in 1949. The deal was finalized on March 19.

8. $700K, single-family house at 7 Rosedale Ave.

A 2,131-square-foot single-family residence at 7 Rosedale Ave. in Clifton has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in March and the total purchase price was $700,000, $328 per square foot. The house was built in 1952. The deal was finalized on March 20.

7. $737K, single-family home at 18 Samuel Ave.

A sale has been finalized for the detached house at 18 Samuel Ave. in Clifton. The price was $737,000 and the new owners took over the house in April. It was built in 1927 and the living area totals 1,660 square feet. The price per square foot ended up at $444. The deal was finalized on April 4.

6. $750K, single-family residence at 143 Clifton Ave.

The sale of the single-family home at 143 Clifton Ave. in Clifton has been finalized. The price was $750,000, and the new owners took over the house in April. It was built in 1900 and has a living area of 2,304 square feet. The price per square foot was $326. The deal was finalized on April 3.

5. $760K, single-family house at 72 Trimble Ave.

The sale of the single-family home at 72 Trimble Ave., Clifton, has been finalized. The price was $760,000, and the new owners took over the house in April. The house was built in 1925 and has a living area of 1,710 square feet. The price per square foot was $444. The deal was finalized on April 3.

4. $785K, single-family house at 215 Notch Road

The property at 215 Notch Road in Clifton has new owners. The price was $785,000. The single-family home was built in 1968 and has a living area of 1,752 square feet. The price per square foot is $448. The deal was finalized on April 4.

3. $891K, single-family home at 42 Holster Road

The property at 42 Holster Road in Clifton has new owners. The price was $891,000. The single-family house was built in 1955 and has a living area of 2,037 square feet. The price per square foot is $437. The deal was finalized on March 24.

2. $910K, single-family residence at 74 Fifth Ave.

The sale of the detached house at 74 Fifth Ave., Clifton, has been finalized. The price was $910,000, and the house changed hands in March. The house was built in 1901 and has a living area of 2,046 square feet. The price per square foot was $445. The deal was finalized on March 28.

1. $922K, single-family house at 127 Ackerman Ave.

The property at 127 Ackerman Ave. in Clifton has new owners. The price was $922,000. The house was built in 1900 and has a living area of 1,886 square feet. The price per square foot is $489. The deal was finalized on April 3.

Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data.

CLIFTON

3-minute read

NorthJersey.com

CLIFTON — It has been more than six weeks since former City Manager Dominick Villano abruptly quit on April 1, and the city seems no closer to finding a permanent replacement.

Two weeks after Villano's resignation, the city appointed an interim manager, Gary DeMarzo, the former Cape May County administrator, but it has yet to broach the topic of a permanent replacement at its meetings.

Some anticipated the issue would be discussed at the City Council's May 20 meeting, but it was not listed on the agenda released on May 19.

Some are asking why there's a holdup, as the position of manager is key in the city's form of government, where the City Council sets policy and the manager runs the day-to-day operations.

"We have not even gotten proposals for a national search that a few council members suggested we should do," said Councilman Joe Kolodziej.

The city's elected leaders have also had a tough time finding their footing since the longtime city manager quit.

In recent months, council members have not been able to address all the items on the meeting's agenda, usually pushing off some unresolved issues or discussion to the following meeting. The council meets twice a month.

Councilman Tony Latona said he doesn't want to be distracted by anything until the city tackles some immediate issues, including finalizing its municipal budget and then working on finding a manager.

"We don’t have a budget. We have endless open important matters that have gone unresolved and a chaotic environment to get under control," Latona said. "My first priorities are to get the budget behind us, resolving endless unresolved issues that matter most to taxpayers like grants, sidewalks, flooding, restructuring, efficiencies, etc."

At the most recent budget meeting on May 14, the interim manager presented the council with a budget that increases taxes by 7 tax points or just more than 4% and uses about $12 million of its $14 million in surplus funds.

It was a proposal that very few on the council supported.

Council members Latona and Mary Sadrakula said the administration offered very few cuts in the budget.

Latona also asked why in the past when he proposed using 60% of the prior years' surplus he was berated, but in 2025, using as much as 80% is supported.

Some said the proposed budget dipped too far into the surplus.

Kolodziej said that for sometime the city council has refused to increase taxes, and instead tried to offset costs by dipping increasingly into the surplus and the millions provided by the American Rescue Plan Act.

Once the city burns through its surplus and ARPA funds, revenue shortfalls have to be made up through taxes. The city began the budget process about $8 million short.

DeMarzo said any savings from layoffs or other cuts in staff wouldn't be realized until the fiscal year is half over.

Councilwoman Rosemary Pino said while dipping into the surplus is not ideal, it could work if the council comes up with additional revenue, including taking a second look at whether to allow cannabis businesses in the city. Municipalities can levy up to a 2% tax on cannabis sales within their jurisdiction

A discussion of the issue is expected at the May 20 meeting.

The council has postponed budget talks until the anticipated forensic audit of the city's prior budget. A draft is expected June 1.

What happened to Clifton's last city manager?

Villano said the City Council's inability to work together to get things done, including not being able to pass spending budgets, was one of the many frustrations he had expressed during his last year as city manager.

For instance, it took almost two years for the City Council to adopt a bond ordinance to fund capital improvements. This meant the city did not borrow to pay for crucial items, including repaving and rebuilding roads.

"It's getting harder and harder to keep this ship afloat," Villano has told NorthJersey.com. He also lamented the city's FIre Department's equipment, which he said is in especially bad shape. While the city finally adopted a bond last fall, it is still playing catch-up.

Villano, who before his resignation had filed two tort claims (notifications that he planned to file a lawsuit against the city), told the council on April 1 that he could no longer accept what he called a hostile work environment and resigned on the spot.

The city named Villano city manager in 2015. Prior to that he served as the city's engineer.

Villano's resignation is just one of the many issues the city is facing. Also on April 1, City Attorney Matt Priore resigned and Personnel Director Doug Johnson filed a tort claim notice against the city.

At the beginning of the year, Municipal Clerk Nancy Ferrigno also announced that she was retiring, saying that some council members made her decision to retire easy.

Barstool Pizza Review - Bacino's (Chicago, IL)

CLIFTON — The city's Board of Adjustment unanimously rejected an application to construct a storage facility adjacent to City Green Farm Eco-Center.

At the May 7 meeting, the board said no to Geeland LLC's modified application, which would have involved the construction of a 110,000-square-foot storage facility on a 2.6-acre lot zoned for residential use fronting Route 46 and running along the Broad Street ramp.

The plan called for the removal of a one-story building and its replacement with a storage facility.

The matter has been before the board for 15 months, and parts of the application have been discussed at 10 meetings, attracting residents who opposed the plan.

The applicant reduced the size of the building from 125,000 square feet and reduced the above-grade height from almost 39 feet to just over 25 feet, eliminating the need for a height variance.

Existing zoning restricts heights to 30 feet and use to single-family homes, houses of worship or schools.

Geeland also revised landscaping and buffer plans, at the board's request, but in the end, the board noted that despite its best efforts to tweak its plans, the applicant failed to convince the commissioners.

"I think you did the best you could," board Chairman Mark Zecchino said just before he voted to deny the application.

Zecchino also mentioned traffic safety concerns. George Foukas said he was concerned about the impact on the neighborhood.

"For me, the quality of life is mostly what I make my decisions on," Foukas said.

Neighborhood issues

Among the concerns brought up by residents were the removal of hundreds of trees and the impact on stormwater runoff and flooding, the effect it could have on City Green, and the potential worsening of the area's traffic.

"We’re very happy with the board’s decision," said Jasmine Moreano, City Green's director of community engagement and advocacy. "Thanks to the steadfast dedication of the Clifton community and the thoughtful judgment by the Board of Adjustment, the use variance has not been granted."

Moreano said the farm's case was augmented by City Green's attorney and planner with "legally sound and compelling arguments that the site was not a suitable use for the storage facility."

It is not certain what's next for the property. It has been vacant since Aerodyne Engineering closed its doors.

Members of the City Council have discussed the possible purchase of the property, which would add 2.6 acres to the city-owned farmland.

Councilman Joe Kolodziej said because Clifton passed an open space tax, it makes funding available while increasing the likelihood of obtaining county or state open space funding.

When asked after the board's decision if the city might entertain purchasing the property, Kolodziej said the "chances are real good as long as the council is committed to preserving open space."

CLIFTON

NorthJersey.com

CLIFTON — City taxpayers can expect a rise in the school portion of their property tax bill after the school board's vote to pass a budget that exceeds the state-imposed 2% cap on levy increases.

The Board of Education has approved a budget that exceeds the cap by an additional 1%, which will mean the school tax bill for a home assessed at the city's average of $178,000 will increase by $150.

The budget means the school district will largely maintain its status quo, with no job or program cuts, officials said, and total expenditures at more than $302 million to educate 11,300 students.

“I’m grateful to the Board of Education for passing a budget that not only protects the staffing levels that are essential to our students’ success, but also preserves the progress we’ve made in recent years," Schools Superintendent Danny Robertozzi said.

Gov. Phil Murphy's administration identified 281 of the state's 590 operating school districts that were not taxing their residents enough to pay for schools and were not spending enough money to educate their studentsadequately. Those districts, which include Clifton, were recently notified that they may be eligible to exceed the state-mandated 2% cap on local tax levy increases for the upcoming school year, if they have exhausted other avenues of balancing their budgets.

The district is eligible, under recently passed legislation, to increase the local school levy by almost 40%, or $54 million, officials said.

"At no point did this board or administration entertain that thought," Assistant Superintendent for Business Ahmed Shehata said Thursday.

Uncapping school taxes

The 281 school districts were notified in March that they may be eligible to exceed the state-mandated 2% cap, accompanied by an incentive in which those that increased the levy would receive additional state aid.

By choosing to increase the levy by 1%, the district raises an additional $1.4 million and gets an additional $70,000 from the state, via the tax levy incentive aid.

"This budget reflects our community’s deep commitment to quality education and ensures we continue to invest in the future of our district,” Robertozzi said.

Even so, "Agreeing to a 3 percent increase was not an easy decision," board member Judy Bassford posted on her Facebook page. "I feel it too, just like everyone else. But I could not, in good conscience, support cutting services or positions that directly impact our students."

Despite what the state officials say a district of Clifton's size needs to spend to provide a thorough and efficient education, Bassford said the city has "a long history of delivering high-quality education for far less than many other districts."

In recent years, budgeting has been especially difficult, Shehata said. The local taxpayer dollars also support more than 1,000 city students who opt to attend a charter school. The district sends $18 million from its budget to pay for the students going to charter schools, which are also considered public schools.

Additionally, the district must transfer funds to pay the tuition for several hundred city students who choose to attend Passaic County Technical Institute. That totals about $7.6 million.

The district also learned there is a possibility it will lose $11 million in federally promised pandemic relief funds, after the Trump administration in March canceled extensions that had been granted for spending the money on infrastructure.

Gov. Phil Murphy issued a statement on March 31 condemning the Trump administration decision, which he said affected $85 million for 20 New Jersey school districts.

Neither the governor’s office nor the state Education Department has provided a breakdown of how much money each of those 20 districts could lose.

On the local level, increases in health care benefits and salary increases also ramped up fiscal pressures, Shehata said.

Despite all that, the board rolled up its sleeves and delivered a budget, said board President Alan Paris.

"All of our commissioners do their homework and bring to the dais a variety of insights and challenges in a professional, deliberative manner," Paris said. "Our administration provided clear, comprehensive and understandable analysis to the board and community to help us make the best data-driven budget choices."

The district has one high school, two middle schools, with a third to open in the fall, 14 elementary schools and one early education center.