HOBOKEN — Mayor Dawn Zimmer is set to introduce the 2013 municipal budget at a City Council meeting on Wednesday. The total budget is $104,742, 373. City spokesman Juan Melli said in a press release Tuesday the municipal tax rate will drop approximately 2 percent as a result. As of Wednesday afternoon, Council President Peter Cunningham said the meeting to introduce the budget is still scheduled, despite weather-related cancellations around town.
The municipal tax levy makes up approximately 35 percent of a Hoboken property tax bill. County and school taxes make up the remainder, along with a tiny portion for library and open space taxes. The city budget only affects the municipal portion.
The proposed municipal tax levy — which is the total amount of taxes to be collected to fund the budget — is approximately $51 million, a nearly $7 million reduction since Mayor Zimmer took office in 2009, said a City Hall press release.
Zimmer said the city is able to reduce taxes thanks to responsible management of the city’s “rainy day” surplus, and years of planning.
Zimmer said Tuesday and in a recent State of the City address that without the surplus, the financial impact of Hurricane Sandy would have been devastating.
The budget will come up for a final vote at a subsequent meeting, and can be amended before then.
For more on this story, please see this weekend’s edition of the Hudson Reporter.
To watch the council meeting live, click below. The council meets at City Hall, 94 Washington St., at 7 p.m.
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