Residents speaking out in the public portion of the June 15 meeting of the City Council urged the city to push ahead with a state-ordered property revaluation.
Joan Terrell, an African-American resident of Ward F, said the poorest sections of the city are being assessed at the highest rates.
“This apparently has been going on for many years,” she said. “It’s time for it to stop. In the past, people of color were not allowed to buy houses in certain parts of the city even when we had money. My people have suffered enough. It’s time to have justice.”
A revaluation is designed to update the value of properties for tax purposes. Many properties in the city have tax valuations based on out-of-date information, meaning they are paying lower taxes than they should be. Newer properties bought during a good economy may be paying higher taxes than necessary. Revals are politically unpopular because of the people who end up paying higher taxes.
Jersey City has not performed a revaluation since 1988.
The previous administration started a revaluation in 2012 after a delay, but this was only partially completed. In 2013, newly-elected Mayor Steven Fulop ordered the revaluation stopped, claiming that there was a conflict of interest in the process because a former city employee went to work for the West New York firm hired to do the revaluation. The terminated company sued the city and won its case for payment of its fee.
“The reval was canceled by Fulop for political reasons.” – Daniel Sicardi
____________
Daniel Sicardi, another frequent critic of the administration, called the decision to cancel the first revaluation “political.” Had the revaluation been allowed to continue, many believe it would have had a significant impact on taxpayers during Fulop’s first year in office.
“The reval was canceled by Fulop for political reasons,” he said. “Ward A and Ward F have been getting screwed for years so that residents in Ward E can get a free ride. Next year, a lot of people are going to be upset about the city dragging its feet on the reval.”
Ward E is considered the wealthiest part of Jersey City.
Councilman John Hallanan, who recently served in the city’s Law Department, said the city is moving forward with the state-mandated revaluation.
Yvonne Balcer, a frequent critic of the city’s development plans, questioned whether the city was trying to fight a recent state court order to resume a revaluation that was interrupted in 2013.
City Corporation Counsel Jeremy Farrell said funds allotted to appeal the decision ordering the city to pay the West New York firm are not being used to delay the revaluation the state recently ordered the city to undertake.
Security cameras registry proposed
At the same meeting, the council introduced an ordinance that would allow the Jersey City police to establish a private outdoor surveillance camera registry.
Hallanan, who worked on the ordinance prior to being named Ward B councilman last week, said this would allow the police to have a file of privately-owned security cameras and those used by businesses as a possible resource for solving crimes.
The program is authorized under legislation enacted by the state last year.
“The purpose of the act is to facilitate law enforcement investigations into criminal activity and save valuable time and resources,” authors of the legislation stated.
The city would keep a registry that includes the name of the person who owns the camera, most recent contact information, the street address where the camera is located, the number of cameras, the outdoor area covered by the camera, and the means by which the footage is stored, and how long the footage is saved before it is erased.
Currently, if a crime is committed, police must physically scour the area to see if there are video cameras other than those owned and operated by the city. The registry would allow the police to know which houses and businesses have cameras without a physical search.
Participation in the program would be voluntary, Hallanan said.
Those who participate would remain anonymous.
“This is exempt from OPRA,” he said. “The bad guys will never know whose cameras the Police Department used.”
This, he said, is similar to current anonymous tip programs currently employed.
While these private cameras would not be part of the public system, the police would know what resources are available in the event of a crime, and would seek these out to see if they can help in resolving a crime.
Councilman Michael Yun said this would be good idea for Jersey City Heights and its business district.
Unarmed guards to replace some cops in public buildings
The council has authorized seeking bids for unarmed security guards for public buildings and the municipal courts.
This controversial ordinance was pulled from previous agendas partly because of the objections of several council members who did not want private guards taking the place of police officers in critical areas.
The proposal was brought to the council two months ago by Public Safety Director James Shea, who wanted to get more police officers on the street and out of security guard positions.
Councilman Richard Boggiano, a retired police officer, said he did not want public buildings guarded by armed security guards and wanted to retain police in those areas.
Shea said police would still have a presence in these buildings, but that the move would allow a private firm to take over routine security matters.
The ordinance as introduced would include a restriction against hiring armed security guards, so that the public safety department will hiew unarmed guards instead.
Hotel liquor licenses offered
The City Council also introduced an ordinance that would establish new liquor licenses for hotels, costing the hotel $25,000 to purchase one, and the law would also generate a $50 fee per room annually from the hotel as additional revenue to the city.
City officials said the measure would affect only hotels with 100 rooms or more, and is actually a bargain, since the sale price for existing liquor licenses runs between $190,000 to $250,000.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.