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dasuberblonde t1_iszeglg wrote

Reply to comment by OkAbbreviations4982 in Allies on Jersey City council take shots at Fulop’s $724 million budget, then begrudgingly approve it by OkAbbreviations4982

City Hall is supplementing the BoE right now because they've been so irresponsible with their finances

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OkAbbreviations4982 OP t1_iszncu9 wrote

Explain further. As far as I know the state was subsidizing our school taxes with state aid at a disproportionate level. It was the removal of that aid, which was phased out over a few years, that led to the recent third quarter increase. The municipal budget, which we are discussing here, is entirely separate.

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PrincipleOfMoments t1_it2wz5p wrote

You're right about the article you posted being solely about the municipal budget, which is the only one the city council gets to approve/reject.

I referenced the separate issue of the huge increase in the BoE budget, apparently not offset by the subsequently "discovered" windfall, because it is a factor in the total property taxes and emblematic of the overall problem, which is that the politicians (BoE members are elected, do they're politicians, too) responsible for setting the taxes generally take the same, totally insincere and pandering approach of condemning tax hikes and vowing that this will be the "last time" they agree to an increase and that "things need to change", and then put on the same performance again year after year.

I also referenced it because an alternate approach might have been for the city council to have increased the payroll tax to account for the BoE claimed shortfall instead of raising taxes on the homeowners instead of approving a budget that put the burden on the residents. I'm sure the response to that would be that they don't want to drive businesses away. Hey, that's great, but the alternative is forcing residents to move.

And, of course, we the public are partly to blame because while we grumble now, we keep voting in the same people.

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OkAbbreviations4982 OP t1_it3g1yy wrote

No you didn't, you blamed the BOE for this.

"Well, clearly the BoE and City don't, since taxes are going up again, allegedly due in major part to the BoE budget."

The payroll tax isn't working because people are refusing to pay it and Fulop has describes it as unworkable. Mack Cali and LeFrak took the city to court over it and lost and then the city asked the BOE to forgive any interest these huge companies accrued, a courtesy not afforded to home owners.

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PrincipleOfMoments t1_it3re96 wrote

I blamed the BoE and the city council, just as the portion of my original quote you clipped says.

The BoE most certainly deserves blame because their budgets go up seemingly without concern for the economic realities the residents that fund them face.

The city also deserves blame, and if you accurately described the situation with the payroll tax, then that is a terrible job by the city since the tax was upheld by the NJ Supreme Court so there is no reason for it not to be fully enforced.

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