Will Hoboken Pass a Budget?

Hoboken City Council may pass a budget for Fiscal Year 2010 during this week's council meeting. The agenda includes a hearing on an amendment to the budget as well as a vote on its adoption.  

Fiscal Year 2010 started on July 1, 2009. The city is currently being run on emergency appropriations that were approved a few meetings ago. 

The adoption of a budget—and approval from New Jersey state government in Trenton—would mean the end of the state's control. State Fiscal Monitor Judy Tripodi will leave Hoboken after a budget is adopted and approved. Tripodi was called in to oversee the city's finances in 2008 and given the power to overrule council actions after the mayor and council failed to properly handle Hoboken's budget.

Finance Director Nick Trasente quit last week to take a job in Middletown Township, but said he'd be available on a part-time basis if Hoboken needs his help adopting the budget. 

The council is also set to discuss the police union negotiations. The police unions are more than two years into their four-year contracts (which were never fully negotiated or signed), which means many police officers are entitled to retro-active payments. That back pay will have to (partially) come out of the FY 2010 budget. 

The city is also on the hook for a $4.2 million penalty from the state for early implementation of city workers' retirements that proved to be part of an illegal buy-out scheme. Hoboken implemented the early retirement program in 2007, without permission from the state, according to newspaper articles from that time. The early retirements saved Hoboken money in the short term, but taxpayers will most likely have to pay for it (or part of it) this fiscal year. 

Councilman-at-Large Ravinder Bhalla wrote a letter to all Hoboken residents earlier this week, encouraging everyone to attend the meeting. 

"These two items—the budget and union contracts—have a substantial impact on our annual tax levy in Hoboken," Bhalla wrote. "As a Councilperson I want to hear your perspective before voting on these important matters."

Second Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason sent out a release also, encouraging her fellow council members to vote against the proposed budget, because she said there's an 8 percent tax hike in there. Mason also said she hopes that Mayor Dawn Zimmer will attend the meeting. 

"Mayor Zimmer has been silent on the budget and the many other troubling issues affecting our city for too long," Mason said in the release. 

In an interview with Patch in February, Zimmer addressed her campaign promise of cutting the budget by 25 percent. 

"We're not going to see it in this fiscal year," Zimmer said then. "I don't foresee it being much of a tax break."

Mason stated that the budget doesn't provide the people of Hoboken any tax relief. 

"In fact," Mason said, "it represents more of the crippling tax burdens that have been leveled at Hoboken taxpayers over the past few years, and a clear indication that City Hall is continuing the failed policies of the past."

For those for whom budget discussions aren't enough to lure them to City Hall: Buddy "Cake Boss" Valastro will briefly attend the meeting at 7 p.m. to receive a proclamation from Council members Theresa Castellano and Michael Russo. 

The Councilmeeting will take place Wednesday March 17 at 7 p.m. in City Hall. Meetings are held every other week.