The Hoboken City Council approved an amended $161,250,498.68 budget with an 11.5 percent tax increase on first reading at last night’s meeting.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
“We have been laboring, and I say we, the entire City Council, the administration has been laboring over this for the last … [several] months. Since the last council meeting, we increased the pace of conversations and what we are proposing tonight for a vote is an 11-and-a-half percent tax increase,” explained 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher.
Fisher continued that this was down from a roughly 18.9 percent tax increase that their preliminary $152,128,410.25 the governing body approved in April, as HCV first reported.
She also said they were able to lower the tax hike after making cuts to group healthcare, salaries, and expenses.
“ … This is on top of the cuts that the mayor had initially proposed and the hiring freeze for police officers, the additional director that she had wanted to hire this year, we’ve taken that completely out of the budget,” Fisher further stated.
“This is one of those I don’t think there’s anyone up here who’s happy because it’s still a double-digit increase. I think there’s people that wanted to see it lower, I think there’s people that would’ve felt more comfortable having more cushion in the budget … I think we feel good about it, better than … we don’t feel good, but we feel fine.”
Fisher added that this proposal includes no cuts to services, replenishes the city’s surplus, and won’t lead to any credit ratings downgrades.
“I understand the State has approved it, because of the scale of the changes, we will have a hearing on June 11th, and we will get to hear from the public at that meeting,” she concluded.
6th Ward Councilwoman Diane Imus called this “a multi-year process” where the governing body will begin looking at the 2027 budget as early as September.
Councilman at-Large Joe Quintero deemed the amended municipal spending plan “a true compromise” where everyone’s ideas where considered, noting that this could lead to a special subcommittee dedicated to finding savings.
“When you walk into a grocery store and your in the produce aisle, and you see a sign that says 50 percent off apples or tomatoes, you don’t rush towards there because you know they’re probably going bad and they’re trying to get it out before they’re gone, but they put it on sale for a reason because they want to recapture something, they want to get a win,” began 1st Ward Councilman Paul Presinzano.
“A big discount from an astronomical tax rate is not a win, that’s what really concerns me here. I understand everybody’s worked together, we’ve come to this point, but when I go to bed at night, I can’t put my head on my pillow and say that I’m happy with 11 percent, that I’m happy with a double digit … because it’s happened year after year after year.”
He noted he worked with 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo to come up with an alternative budget proposal that could get the tax rate under three percent, though he said his colleagues and the mayor didn’t take it seriously.
“If all we do is negotiate the size of the increase without fixing the problem, we’re going to come to the same debate,” he added, indicating that they need to layoff and demote unionized employees because of the great cost of their contract.
5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, expressed that he was glad the budget was getting done earlier this year and that state was on board, but remained concerned about the surplus and that some of the best case scenarios presented were not tenable.
“Hoboken has the lowest tax rate in Hudson County, full stop. It also has the highest median income in Hudson County and this makes no sense. I believe that this amendment is intended to find a better balance than some of the other proposed that were floated and I had acknowledged our last meeting … has been a good faith effort,” he noted.
” … But i still believe that this amendment is overly optimistic when it comes to projected revenues. We should not be forecasting based on best case scenarios an assuming nothing but rainbows and roses for our fiscal year. I hope I’m wrong, I really do, but I don’t think I am.”
Councilwoman at-Large Caitlin Layson said she would support the amendment, but that does not mean she was comfortable where they are.
“It’s still a very difficult number, and I don’t want to minimize that for residents. I know people are frustrated … Costs have gone up to health care, salaries, utilizes… Hoboken is not immune from any of that,” she stated.
Councilman at-Large Steve Firestone noted structural issues have been lingering for a long time, admitting that no one is entirely happy with the outcome, but this is likely the best case scenario.
“If Councilman Presinzano and I submitted an amendment this afternoon, would all of you have voted on it? … I didn’t see this final amendment to just now,” Russo declared.“
He explained that if they had submitted their proposal so late, the timing would have been cited as an issue. In it, Russo said most city employees, except for directors, were not affected, but it also reduced overtime and healthcare benefits.
Russo said there was great resistance to the significant changes he had proposed with Presinzano.
“There were things that could have been achieved this. They were hard decisions to make: Let’s not pull the wool over everybody’s eyes,” Russo argued.
Council President Ruben Ramos reminded everyone that the tax increase started at 24 percent and they have been addressing it all year.
“No one is happy with where we landed …There’s a number of investments we’ve made in the city that drove this … We’ve made a commitment … to park and recreation spaces. That commitment comes with a price tag,” he explained, adding that he didn’t regret those decisions.
In addition, their $300 million debt service is also an issue, Ramos added.
The Hoboken City Council approved the budget 6-3, with Presinzano, Russo, and Cohen voting no.
