Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), a candidate for Jersey City mayor, said increasing payroll tax collections should only be the start.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
An early champion of maximizing payroll tax collections, O’Dea stated that if the city and Board of Education had a cooperative as opposed to a contentious relationship this issue would have been addressed years ago.
“It’s good to see the city finally making progress in collecting payroll taxes after six years of inaction, but if there had been trust between the city and the Board of Education we could have had an agreement where the city gets reimbursed for reasonable costs to collect the payroll tax years ago,” he said in a statement.
“That’s why my platform calls for a partnership between our city and our schools, so we can end the finger pointing and go after the real culprit — the State of New Jersey that adopted a political school funding formula that punished Jersey City to the tune of an over $400 million state aid cut.”
O’Dea has consistently called on city government to work cooperatively with the board of education and develop plans to increase compliance with the payroll tax put into place six years ago.
Despite some recent progress, O’Dea believes that much more should be done to stop developers and construction companies from skirting the law and costing Jersey City taxpayers millions of dollars per year.
“For too long developers have been allowed to bypass their payroll tax obligations, depriving our city of vital resources needed to fund our public schools. I was the first to advocate for a simple yet effective solution: deny permits and certificates of occupancy until payroll taxes owed are paid, period,” he continued.
“Until we demand full compliance from the construction industry we will still be leaving millions of dollars on the table and depriving our schools and children of the resources they deserve.”
The commissioner’s plan, introduced earlier this year, requires developers to estimate their payroll tax liability as part of the permit application process and mandates proof of payment before certificates of occupancy are issued.
This system, he noted, not only incentivizes compliance but could recoup millions of dollars lost during the city’s ongoing construction boom.
O’Dea has also called for retroactive audits of major projects completed in recent years, suggesting the city verify compliance with payroll tax requirements for developments exceeding $10 million in cost.
“With better enforcement, we can see a significant return on investment by expanding our staff to collect these taxes,” O’Dea added.
“We need to end the finger pointing and go after the real culprit, which is the State of New Jersey that adopted a political school funding formula that punished Jersey City to the tune of an over $400 million state aid cut.”
As Jersey City enjoys a growing influx of tax revenue, O’Dea emphasized the need to remain vigilant.
“This is just the beginning. We must build on this progress to ensure every business pays its fair share. While of course I wished the city didn’t wait six years to start to assign ample staff to collect taxes, better late than never. These funds belong to the people of Jersey City, and I intend to make sure they are used to improve the lives of all residents.”
On Wednesday, Ward E Councilman James Solomon, another mayoral candidate, said that a crackdown on enforcing the local payroll tax delivered $103 million to the public schools, up approximately 52 percent from last year, as HCV first reported.
Bill ODea has always worked for the people if Jersey City. He actually cares about the resudents!