Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), a declared candidate for Jersey City mayor, is explaining why he’ll support the $655.5 million county budget at a special meeting later today.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“I am voting in favor of the 2025 county budget because its impact on Jersey City taxpayers and rent payers is a positive one [and] the overall increase in expenses and amount to be raised by taxes is reasonable,” he said in a statement.
“The county continues to adhere to a program of not deferring costs and expenses as well as avoiding the use of one time fixes to balance budgets. This enables the county to maintain a strong credit rating. The county, and especially the county prosecutor’s willingness to, embrace during this year’s budget process the creation of a mental health court – which I advocated for earlier this year – is something that I will continue to push this year so it becomes part of the 2025 budget.”
He continued that he plans to lobby the state legislature to enact a law that permits the creation of an additional judgeship and public defender positions, also calling on the county to set up a task force to figure out how to sustain programs that use American Rescue Plan funding.
While O’Dea is satisfied with the Jersey City aspect of the budget, with taxpayers responsible for about $180.8 million, roughly $2.8 million less than last year – with a slight tax decrease of about $25 for the average homeowner – though he does have one gripe.
“Lastly, my one disappointment with this budget is that it fails to address the unresolved issue of hero pay for those county employees who risked their lives coming to work during the height of COVID,” he added.
“Individuals such as those at Meadowview Hospital and the HCCRC deserve to be compensated for putting the needs of others ahead of their own health and safety during those critical months in 2020. One of the primary reasons for ARP funding was to compensate those employees and we continue to have a moral obligation to do so. I am asking the county administration to sit back down with those unions and come up with a proposal to address this.”
The overall tax increase for the county is a little over four percent, with the municipalities seeing the biggest tax hike being Bayonne, Harrison, and Union City.
The county makes up one third of residents’ tax bills, with the local school boards and municipal governments making up the other two thirds.
The Hudson County Board of Commissioners are slated to vote on the final budget at a special meeting this evening at 5:30 p.m., at the county administration building located at 567 Pavonia Ave.