The $131 million 2015 Bayonne municipal budget, the first by Mayor James Davis’s administration, will be on display at the Wednesday, May 20 City Council meeting, when it goes up for public hearing and further consideration.
The city has been working on it for weeks now, and chief architects Business Administrator Joseph DeMarco and Chief Financial Officer Terrence Malloy say the document is getting closer to completion.
On May 13, Malloy said that individual meetings with three council members had already taken place, with two more scheduled with the two other members.
“I don’t think anyone’s reached conclusions yet,” Malloy said. “It’s a lot of ‘what ifs’ and conversation regarding the consequences of certain suggestions.”
The state’s Local Finance Board had not yet weighed in on the budget sent to them by the city, according to Malloy.
The administration had previously announced that there would be a tax increase of 2.9 percent this year, following no increase last year.
DeMarco said if no cuts were made at this point, all municipal services will be maintained at 2014 levels. He said that minor increases in areas such as city garbage hauling were offset in savings found in other places, such as $150,000 reduction in legal fees in the new budget.
“Almost all others were flat or slight increases,” he said.
“We came in with what we thought was a good budget, one that could be adopted,” Malloy said.
Council seeking changes
But not so fast, said Councilman Gary La Pelusa, who met for a half hour last week with DeMarco and Malloy about whether the budget could be trimmed further.
“I got some concessions from them. I wanted the budget to go lower,” La Pelusa said. “I’m concerned about raising taxes.”
La Pelusa, the veteran of the current council, having also served from 2006 to 2010, said he sought “some movement” to lower some of the city expenses, giving specific suggestions.
“They said they would see what they could do,” La Pelusa said.
La Pelusa said his colleagues were “pretty much” in agreement with the modifications he would like to make.
He said he suggested cuts from several different departments, but would not say what those cuts were, how much they would save, or from what departments they would come.
La Pelusa said that no major cuts could be made since the budget has already been sent to the state, and any major changes would have to be explained.
“We came in with what we thought was a good budget, one that could be adopted.” – Terrence Malloy
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“We don’t want to go through all those processes again,” he said. “That’s the reason why we’ll go through with cuts to several departments. But I was adamant about getting some budget items lowered.”
Bond rating upgrade
Good news was received by the city during its budget preparations when Moody’s Credit Rating Service said on May 11 that it was affirming Bayonne’s credit rating, and upgrading the rating’s underlying outlook from “stable” to “positive.”
According to Mayor James Davis, Moody’s cited “improving financial position and reduced reliance on one-time revenues” as reasons for making the change. The report also referenced the “transition to structural balance” as a possible cause for a future credit upgrade.
Davis said that having a third-party company come and raise the outlook for the city’s rating was a vote of confidence about what is being done with city finances.
“The outlook upgrade is an objective sign that things are moving in the right direction, and that the plan put in motion is working,” he said.
Joseph Passantino may be reached at JoePass@hudsonreporter.com.To comment on this story online visit www.hudsonreporter.com. To comment on this story online visit www.hudsonreporter.com.