BAYONNE – In a rare appearance in the City Council chambers during a regularly scheduled meeting, Mayor James Davis spoke during the public portion on Jan. 21, addressing an ongoing battle between his administration and that of the Bayonne Board of Education over what he said is unreimbursed school construction funding.
Davis said that in a fall meeting between his administration and the New Jersey Department of Education’s School Development Authority, he learned two things. One was that the state had given the BOE $7.4 million in funding for completed Bayonne school projects which had not been reimbursed to the city, which had to bond for the projects. The other was that the SDA owes an additional $4.4 million to Bayonne, but could not send the payments for those projects because the school board had not met the SDA’s requirements to provide the necessary paperwork to close those projects out.
The mayor pledged to stop the game of “kick the can” on projects like these that he said has existed “for two decades.”
Davis said he would write a letter to the state Department of Education regarding the matter.
“It’s time for the [Bayonne] Board of Education to get its financial house in order,” the mayor said.
School Business Administrator Leo Smith Jr., reached on Jan. 22, said the payments referred to by Davis have been made to the city by the school board.
“We’ve paid them everything that we’ve owed them,” Smith said. “That’s our position.”
Smith said payments have been made to the previous administrations of mayors Richard Rutkowski, Len Kiczek, Joseph Doria, Terrence Malloy, and Mark Smith, Leo Smith’s brother.
To explain what the Davis administration is now asking for, Smith used the analogy of a bank changing its name and then asking a homeowner to pay a mortgage a second time.
“They’re looking to be paid twice for the same things,” Smith said.
Smith said the board of education’s books are always open, and invited city officials to come look at them. – Joseph Passantino
Bayonne mayor addresses City Council at its meeting
