The West New York Board of Commissioners introduced an $80,197,483 budget that would come with a 1.95 percent tax increase at a special meeting on Thursday night.
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“The overall tax increase is a little under two, it’s about 1.95 [percent]. My finance department, my CFO [chief financial officer], everyone else, worked very diligent,” Revenue and Finance Commissioner Sue Colacurcio told Hudson County View after the roughly 10-minute meeting concluded.
“The commissioners are resourceful, we all came together as we said we would. The small [tax] increase that we have is basically determined by contractual obligations and state mandates. Other than that, we have a very tight budget.”
Colacurcio added that keeping taxes stable has been a top priority for Mayor Felix Roque’s administration, who was re-elected with a fresh slate of commissioners just over a year ago.
“We’ve done a lot, a lot is to come and we’ve done it with less,” she also said.
Roque also gave credit to the commissioners and town CFO Margaret Cherone on a job well done, expressing that one of his top priority’s in office is to keep West New York affordable for everyone.
“I gotta say I give credit to all my commissioners, because they’re part of the team and they’re the ones that have been doing the sacrifice, cutting the costs, and at the same time, providing fantastic service … at all departments,” the mayor stated.
“… We’re all working for the same purpose: to help the taxpayers. Because it’s very hard, at the end of the day, to pay taxes and not be able to eat three meals a day. And that’s the kind of constituents we have here in this great town. A lot of people cannot afford to go out and enjoy life because they can’t … pay for their needs.”
No members of the public spoke at the special meeting.
The proposed budget is about $3.5 million more than last year, which came with a 3.82 percent tax increase. That budget was approved at an unusually brief meeting that lasted just eight minutes back in July.
The next board of commissioners meeting is set for June 16th at noon at Town Hall, located at 428 60th St.