Dear Editor:
Congratulations to The Jersey City Reporter for tackling the subject of the 84 percent tax increase under the Healy Administration. Jersey City tax increases spun out of control for two reasons: reliance on tax abatements, which are contracts, not ratable, and the administration’s inability to strike a tax rate at the beginning of the fiscal year. The budget was usually struck when two-thirds or three-fourths of the fiscal year passed, making it impossible to reduce the budget.
This article quoted a councilperson who stated taxes will be stabilized in the future, but that is not true. This administration wants a reval and the city assessor stated at several meetings that one-third will go down, one-third will remain the same, and one-third will increase. So the 84 percent might be inconsequential for one-third of this city. For this reason Councilperson Richardson is correct about having a business tax. We can’t stick our heads in the sands and pretend everything is okay.
Yvonne Balcer