In an editorial, Hoboken mayoral candidate Dini Ajmani explains why she believes fiscal mismanagement at all leaves have led to budgetary crisis in the Mile Square City.
At the council meeting on May 7, Hoboken’s own Business Administrator, Jason Freeman, exposed eight years of fiscal irresponsibility and dishonest budget practices.
For years, the Mayor has used—and the City Council has approved—gimmicks to hide undisclosed structural deficits in the ballooning budget. Apparently, they have now run out of creative ways to conceal the mismanagement.
Mr. Freeman believes the only remaining option is significantly higher taxes than what we pay today. Not one current City Council member stood up to say, “This is unacceptable.”
Are we not taxed enough?
Last year, our property taxes went up 8.5%. They are heading toward a similar increase this year. When is it enough?
How did we get here? Eight years of unchecked spending on an expanding government, generous labor contracts, borrowing for pet projects, and tax breaks for developers—the list is long.
Just the cost of pensions, healthcare, and borrowing has grown by 133% since 2017. This Council must own its role in creating this crisis.
It approved labor contracts with high salaries and pensions. It approved contracts with generous health benefits. It approved incessant borrowing. This City Council’s fiscal irresponsibility and dishonest management of our budget created this crisis.
Mr. Freeman suggests City should be collecting at least $82 million. Currently, our city is collecting $66 million. This would be a 25 percent increase in taxes. TWENTY FIVE PERCENT.
Mayor Bhalla’s office proposes to increase Hobokenites taxes by 6.9% and then use one shot and budget gimmicks to try to balance the budget. Here’s the reality: without drastic reduction in spending, we are about to be crushed under the tax burden.
Given the gravity of the financial situation laid out by Mr. Freeman, I hoped to hear real solutions from the City Council on how to fix this impending crisis.
What became clear during the discussion is that the Council does not understand the fiscal implications of its past votes.
The Mayor and his Council have pushed us over a fiscal cliff—and what is so nefarious is that it was hidden from the public. All the while, many of them were pursuing higher office, either in the city or across New Jersey.
This City Council has been complicit every step of the way.
Hoboken has lived through this before. Tax levy went up 73% in 2008. Many long-term residents had to leave the city they loved. Young families were priced out. The same thing is about to happen again—unless we stop letting the same people control our budget.
Hobokenites deserve a year-by-year accounting of the structural deficit. After all, this is your money, Hoboken. This is your city.
It was never about serving the residents of Hoboken Bhalla was always only concerned about advancing his own political career.
Since ~2017, if NJ ELEC is accurate, Ms. Ajmani and her family members have spent roughly $17,900 supporting Mayor Bhalla, his congressional aspirations, and his team. If she truly believes what she says above and it is not pure election puffery, why did she not raise these issues of “[ei]ght years of unchecked spending” to the people she so generously supported? Or ask the mayor to not to pursue higher office when her household gave him $6600 to do so? I am no fan of the mayor, but does Ms. Ajmani believe that the people of Hoboken are idiots or have no memory especially when she was originally running on the mayor’s slate in 2021? Why only now is she raising them publically?
Hoboken, we have a problem. She’s a Ravibot in sheep’s clothing. Disqualifying!
While not having any record of public advocacy in Hoboken other than being a one-day council candidate for Ravi Bhalla, this clear statement on the fiscal cliff Hoboken is facing is certainly welcome.
But let’s not play politics with it. Ravi owns it. It’s been his budgets that got Hoboken into this foul position.
Okay, let’s await Ravi’s bot army to show up and call Ajmani a “racist.” That’s always rancid Ravibots default attack. We’ve seen it for seven years and we’ve had enough. Don’t even get me started on that cynical Ravi Terror Flier.
Well, some of the folks in Hoboken are clearly not as sharp as they think they are. As a more astute, long time resident once told me – Ravi is a typical Hudson County hack who spouts enough progressive BS so we can live with ourselves after voting for him.
Let’s stop that, please. He has taken the City down in pursuit of his own political agenda, we are overspent, underfunded and looking at a bunch of lawsuits resulting from flawed planning and execution.
The former Biden operative is a little late to the party. Had she recognized the Mayors obvious flaws back in 2021, stayed on the ticket and raised her hand with some objectivity – we might not be in this mess.
Dini, Tiff and Emily are clearly fighting for the brownstone base of voters.
The very folks Zimmer, Bhalla, and earlier reform candidates won easily.
This time much harder as there are 3 and all 3 are wealthy anti-development and have rarely opposed a single tax increase.
Fisher is famous for dragging out legal cases and redevelpment plans for decades. She approves spending on consultants you would think she was a DC Lobbyist…
She supports curbside restrictions on all cars and wants to bring back congestion pricing on Washington St.
She has been part of the failing HUMC board
Emily Jabbour Supported the 600 mil High School and everything Bhalla wanted until now
Dini, while obviously smart and of considerable wealth has no record of doing anything locally other than supporting Bhalla’s bad policies, stayed silent on his spending and STILL TO THIS DAY has never uttered and criticism of her pal Bhalla…
These three progressives are the yes that lead us to dirty streets, a Library that’s more of a homeless /warming and cooling shelter and a city hall that worrises more about virtue signaling rain gardens that within months of completion are filled with rats. weeds human poop and sleeping vagrants
Kevin Brennan (assuming it really is you), Dini donated to Emily’s campaign in the prior year and Emily is directly linked with the mayor since she ran with him twice.
And speaking of ELEC, it looks like your household donated over $3,000 to Emily and it wasn’t all Oreos from Mondelez or subscriptions to the Washington Post.
Attacking Dini while not disclosing that you are obviously schilling for Emily is somewhat disingenious.