Kearny 1st Ward Councilman George Zapata and 4th Ward Councilman Stathis Theodoropoulos are sparring with Mayor Carol Jean Doyle after being removed from the finance committee last week as election season appears to be starting early.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Theodoropoulos and Zapata were taken off the finance committee at Wednesday’s reorganization meeting, with a 5-4 vote to establish all committees sealing their fate.
2nd Ward Councilman Dennis Solano and 3rd Ward Councilwoman Eileen Eckel joined them in voting no. The two councilmen believed this occurred due to raising questions about a potential budget deficit, though Doyle said that was not the case.
“It is pretty simple, both were on the Finance Committee with me. I told Stathis and George eight months ago to be part of the TEAM or I would seek candidates to seek their respective seats. Neither one supported me in the last two elections and thought they could ‘get rid of me,'” she told HCV in an email.
“They both and two others continue to undermine. They are coaching their primary election for this June. If what they stated was the truth, that’s one thing, but neither one of them dug deep to find the shortfall. This was explained in detail by the CFO and they want credit. Pay close attention to their agenda going forward.”
Kearny CFO Shuaib Firozvi wrote in two separate emails on October 28th that approximately $10.3 million of surplus was used to balance a roughly $93 million budget, with about an additional $4.5 million in surplus generated.
He then extrapolated what that would mean in 2026 (Theodoropoulos and Zapata warned there could be a $10.5 million budget deficit this year).
I” did a preliminary projection of the 2026 Municipal Budget on a broad scale. Assuming the overall budget increases from $93,000,000 in 2025 to $95,000,000 in 2026, local revenues being increased by 2.5% and tax revenue being increased by 4%, it will require about $10,000,000 in surplus/reserves to balance the 2026 Municipal Budget,” he explained.
“The estimated balance in surplus/reserves at year-end 2025 is expected to be $19,200,000.”
Theodoropoulos and Zapata, who are seeking re-election in the June 2nd Democratic primary along with Solano and Eckel, accused Doyle of playing politics to the detriment of the municipal government.
“These sorts of threats and retaliation have been a constant theme throughout the mayor’s tenure. The most surprising thing here is that she would publicly admit it for everyone to see. Whether or not we speak out, Kearny still has a huge budget deficit that we need to address,” expressed Theodoropoulos.
“The mayor wants the council to be a rubber stamp, and now she’s saying that she’ll run candidates against us who she can control. The people of Kearny deserve independent leaders who will be honest about what’s actually happening in town,” added Zapata.
Doyle responded that she has “never been a control person” the way her predecessors Peter Santana and Al Santos were, who she said took charge of deciding what pictures went up on the town website.
“I will have county support moving forward, they know that as well. This is about honesty and integrity, they do not get it,” she added.
