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Zimmer Introduces 2013 Budget

Several public hearings and workshops will be held before the document can be voted on.

 

Mayor Dawn Zimmer is introducing a roughly $105 million budget to run the city in 2013.

A $104,742,373.29 will be introduced to the City Council on Wednesday night. Before the budget can be adopted — it needs five votes to pass — the city council will hold a round of public workshops during which all department heads introduce their own budgets.

The proposed municipal purposes tax levy for 2013 is approximately $51 million. The municipal tax levy makes up approximately 35% of a Hoboken property tax bill. County and School taxes make up the remainder, along with Library and Open Space taxes.

According to Zimmer, the tax levy is the same as in 2012. But, the mayor announced, it will "result in an estimated 2% reduction in the municipal tax rate due to an increase in the ratable base."

Zimmer is advocating to include a surplus in the budget, which in the past has been a point of contention between her and her political adversaries on the city council.

"Without the responsible rainy day surplus that we fought so hard to maintain, the $10 million toll from Hurricane Sandy would have been devastating to the City’s finances," Zimmer said in a statement.

According to the city, the budget includes funding for the planning process for complete street redesigns of Washington Street and Sinatra Drive.

Besides introducing the budget, the city is proposing  roughly $7 million in bonds for projects around town. While the budget needs five votes, bond ordinances need six votes. Currently there are only eight members on Hoboken's city council.

Zimmer is proposing $1.2 million for park renovations around town; $2.5 million for structural repairs at Pier A Park (according to the city, the South Waterfront O&M board has agreed to pay for the payments for this bond); $260,000 for municipal equipment; $3 million for pedestrian safety improvements and $500,000 for the construction of the city's 9/11 memorial.

Related Topics: 2013 Hoboken budget, Hoboken City Council, and Mayor Dawn Zimmer

FAP

3:44 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

So a proposed 2% tax cut? Not bad.

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Kids_First

7:50 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

After they raised the taxes 47% and have been over charging the residents ever since, she better give us our money back. We could have more if the city didn't have the HIGHEST cost of the legal department EVER!!!

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FAP

12:43 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

KF the tax increases happened under the State Fiscal Monitor and every year that Mayor Zimmer has had control taxes have been cut.

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HudsonStreet

12:43 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

That tax increase was done after the State had to take over Hoboken's finances after eight years of mismanagement and under funded budgets by the Roberts Administration.

We should also remember that Ruben Ramos was an integeal part of Mayor Roberts City Council Team for those years.

Outofcontrol

7:50 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

No, it's not a 2% tax cut. Our Taxes will not go down. What it means is that the value of property has been determined to be 2% higher than last year so the ratio is lower. In reality, most of us will see an increase in our taxes because spending is up. It may not be a huge increase, but do not expect your taxes to go down and please, for the love of God, don't try to mislead people into thinking they'll be paying less. In these difficult financial times, the last thing taxpayers need is false hope.

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KenOn10

7:50 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

If it pans out, kudos will be due Mayor Zimmer for a nice step in the right direction. Could be a big "if", though.

What is the "South Waterfront O&M board"?

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Ojo Rojo

11:34 am on Friday, March 8, 2013

I believe the buildings along the waterfront near the pier pay into a fund that is supposed to be use for maintaining the waterfront walkway & pier. They pay a set amount into the fund each year. The fund most likely doesn't have enough cash built up into it to pay for the repairs but probably gets more than enough to cover debt service on bonds used to pay for repairs.

recallbethmason

9:39 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

kids_first or whatever you are calling yourself lately, last i checked we need a legal department to fight off the lawsuits beth mason keeps filing against the city of hoboken? maybe you could tell beth the next time you see her to stop suing the city of hoboken, she is supposed to represent us not cause our taxes to increase because of her ridiculous lawsuits?

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