Although the Hudson County Freeholders claim they are determined to reduce the $442 million 2010 county budget before June 21 when they are scheduled to vote on it, taxpayers in Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne will face stiff increases if the freeholders don’t make cuts.
One significant problem this year is the fact that the total value of property throughout the county has decreased for the first time since 2001 by 2.85 percent.
While property values rose moderately in Hoboken, Harrison, North Bergen and Weehawken, all the other Hudson County municipalities saw a decline.
“All budgets are essentially a set of choices, large and small.” – County Executive Tom DeGise
________
This means that the tax rate – which property owners get charged – has to increase by 28 cents per $1,000 of equalized value from the current $3.83 to $4.11 per $1,000.
Since the tax levy is drawn from the 12 constituent municipalities based on the equalized value of each community’s real estate, this causes variation in how much each pays.
The tax tab, per town
This year two cities, Secaucus and East Newark, will actually see a reduction in county taxes. However, this state-mandated approach to how the levy is assessed does leave Hoboken, where equalized valuation continues to rise significantly, with an increased share of the total burden. Indeed if they had not requested any increase in the total county levy, Hoboken still would have contributed $3.9 million more than it did in 2009.
Bayonne will be paying $688,000 more, Guttenberg, $330,000, Harrison $177,000, Jersey City, $3 million, Union City, $522,000, Weehawken, $190,000 more and West New York, $683,000 more.
“All budgets are essentially a set of choices, large and small,” said DeGise when presenting the budget in early May. “Once again, our administration seeks to control, rather than to mask costs. We reject gimmickry that might lessen the tax burden in a single year, but which often leads to long-term structural deficits that require huge tax increases in later years. It is no coincidence that the three major bond-rating agencies have raised our bond ratings six times in the last eight years. Recently, Standard & Poor’s did so again, taking us to AA- with a stable outlook.”
He said the improved rating came as a result of the county’s ability to pay down its debt, requiring employees to contribute toward the cost of health insurance, controlling its workforce through attrition, freezing non-union wages during the recession, and reducing the number of county cars.
“It is also why we have been able to get through two difficult budget years now without either massive employee layoffs or massive tax increases,” he said.
County spending – excluding off-setting revenues – went up from $426 million last year to slightly more than $442 million or about 3.8 percent.
This year’s budget reflects as 2.1 percent increase to salaries and wages, due to contractual obligations.
“It is worth noting that overall, salaries and wages rise only 2.1 percent in this budget,” DeGise said. “This is due primarily to our continued wage freeze for the third of our workforce that is non-union and ongoing efforts to decrease the total workforce through attrition. The appropriation increases requested are all mandated costs: pension contributions, health insurance increases and contractually required union salary increases. There are virtually no new positions in this budget, salaries and wages of more than a third of our workforce remain frozen and we are seeking to reduce the total number of employees through attrition. “
For 2010, total spending will be $442,348,417, an increase of 3.8 percent, compared to 2009. Approximately $3 million of this increase will be offset by federal dollars provided to the Division of Family Services. The remainder will fund $9 million in increased pension obligations, $3.5 million in increased health care premiums, and $2.6 million for union-contracted wage increases agreed to well before the economic downturn.
“Outside the local budget process, we continue to seek solutions to reduce costs through greater statewide and regional cooperation,” DeGise said.
West New York Freeholder Jose Munoz, however, said the 4.9 percent tax rate increase is unacceptable, and that he intends to find a way to trim the budget until it is only a 3 percent increase before the final vote on June 21.