Even though Hudson County spent no more money than it did last year, county taxes for each town will rise.
The Hudson County Freeholders passed the $346 million budget on June 12 despite a last minute realization that 11 out of 12 municipalities will see a hike.
Total spending remained the same as the 2002 budget, but loss of revenues will force the county to seek $15 million more from taxpayers.
Because Jersey City is the biggest taxpayer in the county, it will have to make up the biggest part of this year’s shortfall in revenues. Bill Ayala, representing Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham, spoke during the public hearing, protesting the earlier reports that taxes would remain stable. In April, county officials anticipated an increase in revenue, not a decrease. This was based on the increased value of property throughout the county.
Freeholder Barry Dugan was concerned with the mistaken report that county taxes would remain unchanged. “We were led to believe when this was introduced that there would be no increase,” Dugan said.
Freeholder Bill O’Dea, who voted against the budget, said the presentation of the budget in April had apparently unintentionally misled the Freeholders into believing taxes would remain the same or go down this year. He said overall rateable (taxable property) increases are calculated on the price of recently sold property, not on the actual assessment most homes actually pay. This creates a gap between the value reported in the budgeting process and the actual taxes the county collects. This combined with revenue lost from last year’s budget caused the gap.
County Administrator Abe Antun said that revenues fell from $162 million in 2002 to $143 million in 2003.
Louis Manzo, a former freeholder and currently a Democratic candidate for the state assembly, said Jersey City actually faces a 2.5 percent increase in County taxes.
“In these economic times, residents in Jersey City – who may have lost their jobs – may be using their savings to pay their mortgages. Any increase is unconscionable.”
Rich McCormick, a resident of Jersey City, also spoke out against the increase.
Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons, however, said Jersey City gets a significantly greater portion of county services, where as Hoboken, which pays a hefty $30 million each year, gets only a small portion.
Estimated increases to each town show that Jersey City will pay $6.2 million more, followed by North Bergen at $1.9 million, Hoboken at $1.8 million, Bayonne at $1.5 million, Weehawken at $900,000, Union City at $800,000, Kearny at $620,000, West New York at $550,000, Secaucus at $250,000 and Guttenberg at $220,000. Only East Newark saw a decrease in county taxes of $10,000.