The Hudson County Freeholders held one of their budget workshop meetings in Hoboken last night in City Hall. I attended the meeting and observed part of the budgetary process. Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, Mayor Dawn Zimmer, and Mayor Richard Turner of Weehawken made opening remarks and these are on the video below:
Hoboken is facing a 10% county tax hike in the proposed Hudson County budget. Of the total increase in the budget that is raised by taxes, $13 million, Hoboken is paying an additional $5 million in taxes and we are only 7.8% of the total county in terms of population. The County Executives and Freeholders can blame it on the formula and they would be correct but the real question is what are they doing about controlling expenditures? As far as Hoboken is concerned, not very much in terms of tax impact. Hoboken may have higher property values but we were hardest hit from Hurricane Sandy and are still very much recovering.
It is the fact that nothing has been seriously addressed on Hoboken's disproportionate tax burden since I last ran in 2011 that I am considering running again in 2014. I will be reaching out to local and county officials in the near future to explore potential support.
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