Dear Editor: The January 11th budget meeting must have been my 13th or 14th but it was the best scapegoating charade I’ve seen. As I sat there, I watched union officials and council members blame the state for not giving Jersey City enough inflation adjusted aid. But then I remembered the April 13, 1999 budget meeting which was only seven short months ago. The same City Council voted on the FY 1999 budget which was 10.5 months late and was begging for an additional $10 million from the state, which they got, to avoid layoffs. That’s over and above the additional tens of millions the City has received for the schools and Distressed Cities monies. Whitman has been more generous with Schundler than any previous administration has ever seen. Then I take a quick look at the budget and Salaries & Wages for SFY2000 are up $9,623,000, which is an increase over last year of 6.79%. Considering that the rate of inflation for the last four years has been under 2% per year, and the City in August was threatening 2,000 layoffs, that’s criminal. The SFY 1999 budget, voted in April 13th, increased taxes even though there was a buyout and $10 Million of additional State aid! It seems that even with buyouts and threats of layoffs, Schundler went out and hired more people when he knew he couldn’t pay the ones he had. And it’s like this every year under Schundler. The 1999 increase over 1998 salaries was 7.9%. In 1994, Schundler offered rich buyouts which cost the city an additional $28.1 Million in just added pension costs plus 33 years of interest since he floated bonds to pay for that boondoggle. Now he gives out six months salary and three months health benefits which is extravagant for any company let alone a City that has been fiscally devastated like J.C. He includes people who were to retire like Joan Earls. But not to be outdone, Councilman Gaughan lines up Secaucus resident Nick Fargo’s next political job while Bret hands him a $60,000+ buyout! How can we have so many expendable employees after 1994’s 95 layoffs and hundreds of buyouts, hundreds of outsourced jobs in addition to the Water & Sewer Department to United Water, and more buyouts in 1997 and 1998? The City’s annual payroll increase keeps going up 3 times the rate of inflation when the overall payroll expense should be dropping like a rock. As I said that night, the real culprit is Bret Schundler supported by the Council President and his cronies which will result in the genocide of this City. You can bet Bret’s friends, gubernatorial campaign workers and city paid charter school staffers will be protected at all costs to the detriment of Joe Citizen and the City. Mia Scanga, CPA Jersey City