Dear Editor:
Last Thursday evening, the Hudson County Board of Freeholders approved a $512 million budget that raised Jersey City’s County taxes by 5.8 percent.
Before the freeholders voted, I took the microphone and spoke out against this budget as unfair to Jersey City’s residents. I believe that the freeholders need better tools at their disposal to get Hudson County’s spending under control. I called for the budget to include funding for a top-to-bottom independent performance audit of all county operations to give us a road map to identify inefficiencies so we can reduce spending without reducing services.
People whose families have lived in Jersey City for generations fear that they can’t afford to stay. People who hoped to raise their families here and retire here fear they must leave the city they love.
Hudson County’s leaders think raising the tax levy each year from 3 percent to 5 percent, as it has done for the last 5 years, is okay. It’s not okay. Jersey City’s residents need Hudson County’s leaders to go back to the drawing board for next year’s budget and deliver us a flat levy.
Enough is enough.
Phil Cohen