The annual Hudson County budget, totaling $544,582,544.36 with a 4.2 percent tax increase in fiscal year 2016-2017, was approved by the board earlier this week.
By Sibrena Stowe Geraldino/Hudson County View
The Board of Chosen Freeholders voted 7-2 on the measure at a special hearing inside their chambers, located at 567 Pavonia Ave., on Tuesday night.
Freeholders Tilo Rivas, Gerard Balmir, Al Cifelli, Kenny Kopacz, E. Junior Maldonado, Caridad Rodriquez and Anthony Vainieri voted to pass the budget budget, while Jersey City Freeholder Bill O’Dea (D-2) and Hoboken Freeholder Anthony Romano (D-5) voted against it.
“Our votes against it were more about some of the problems with the first equalized evaluations that’s required by state law, which shifts the burden of increases and spending to those cities, based on how much their property values go up year-to-year and we find that to be unfair,” explained O’Dea after the meeting.
“That’s the counties fault, not a state one. That was really the reason for not voting on it.”
Jersey City, Bayonne, Weehawken, East Newark and Kearny have all been notified by the state that they will have to perform tax revaluations in the next couple of years.
The amount of taxes expected to be raised for the 2016-2017 fiscal year is $337,343,763.11 and the total revenue for the county is $540,084,367, a $15 million increase from last year’s total budget revenue of $524,944,837.
No members of the public spoke during the special budget hearing, which lasted only a few minutes.
A copy of the budget can be read here.