Dear Editor:
Well, if it wasn’t clear before, it is now. The Future of Hoboken is up to us!
The “bad” news is that it was just announced that a homeowner assessed at $250,000 can expect a reduction of only roughly $125 in their 4th quarter bill.
The “good” news is that Hoboken finally has an accurate budget of $123.8 million, flabbergasting as it is. With a real number and no hidden “Roberts” gimmicks it sets the stage for preparing a transparent austerity budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
When Mayor Roberts took office almost eight years ago the budget was a mere $52 million. We need to get the budget down into the $85 to $90 million range, based on “benchmarking” against similar cities in New Jersey.
State appointed Fiscal Monitor (“Mayor”) Judy Tripodi noted:
“Prior budgets had been underfunded and the city had to raise enough tax money to pay for the cost of services. The city of Hoboken had not had a significant property tax increase for the past 16 years …… and was carrying a structural deficit of about $15 million. Costs went up, but the city lacked the funds to pay for them. This is the result of not raising taxes over a long period of time and not having tax revenue keep up with cost. This has not been born overnight.”
The litany of malfeasance, mismanagement, and mistakes by long-term City Hall incumbents is outrageous:
– A mayor who has been AWOL for at least six months
– Some City Council members with serious Conflicts of Interest making them incapable of moving the City forward
– An Early Retirement Program that was not properly vetted for State approval necessitating repayment to the State of $4.2 million
– The rushed Church Towers PILOT extension rather than thoughtfully re-crafting it into a “Smart Pilot” using transparent criteria demonstrating “value added”
– Saving Saint Mary Hospital by converting it to a City-owned hospital with a $50 million City bond guarantee, then no City Hall oversight of this “investment” and no exit strategy
– Health benefits to ineligible individuals and their families
– An “autonomous” Board of Education accountable only to itself (even if the tax rate stays the same, since ratables go up the BOE budget could continue to grow)
– $ 24 million in uncollected taxes
– Failure to implement a city-wide Property Revaluation as required by the State (the last “Reval” was 20 years ago)
– Seemingly no effort to lower the County’s $400 million budget and to fight to reduce Hoboken’s disproportionate share versus services received.
So….
It’s up to Hoboken voters to replace those in City Hall who failed to control the budget and taxes over the last eight years with new leaders with bold ideas and a commitment to accurate, transparent and an on-time budgeting process.
It’s time for the biggest voter turnout in Hoboken municipal election history!
Thanx!
Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.