I guess Bayonne will have an influx of Jersey City students.

The JC police union printed a decal when Schundler was mayor that said "Schundler Lies". He got fired because the governor said, "He can't lie to me."

My neighbor has an income of $40,000 (social security & rent) from which she pays taxes, $10,000 water $2,000 and all the other expense associated with owning a building. She will receive less than $200 from the senior freeze. But her board of ed taxes will go up as well as the other taxes. The people who want these services - charter schools should not be exempt from paying for them. In fairness I said JC should have an income tax.

I have senior neighbors who I help fill out forms. They live on Security Security plus rent from their buildings. They do not qualify to buy a condo at the Beacon, but they are required to pay board of ed taxes that Beacon residents will not pay. This is unfair. As I stated earlier, JC should be off property and pay income tax. This is serious since the state is reducing its responsibilty to JC. The criteria for less state aid is a wealthier community, but the wealthier residents is not paying board of ed taxes but some expect a charter school from board of ed taxes.

This is the reason Jersey City needs to be off property taxes and use an income tax. The Beacon does not pay Board of Ed Taxes but will receive those funds for their charter school. Many people who pay Boad of Ed taxes cannot afford a Beacon condo. The Beacon has a 30 year tax abatement.

It is 160 days, not 120.

They are cancelling because the biggest cost is overtime for police. Probably in the area of $250,000.

The people who are quoting from the article was not present at the council meeting. First I said, "We should privatize the service and give contracts to Hoboken, Union City and Bayonne. Then I said, the empty fire houses should be staffed with volunteers. Presently, our fire department are far away from a fire. Due to congested traffic, they are moving around 5 miles per hour. How does that benefit the public? The public is better off staffing the empty fire stations with volunteers than waiting for a fire truck traveling at 5 mph. The majority of this state is staffed with volunteers including Secaucus which has high rises. As more buildings go up, the city code requires sprinklers requiring a less need for firestaff. We cannot afford paying these outrageous salaries with these golden parachutes at retirement.
By the way, our city has many empty fire houses. Some are being sold at autions.

Ed Toloza, City Assessor spoke before the Van Vorst Park Association on the upcoming Revaluation which will take effect January 2013. The last Revaluation took place 1988 and Downtown JC received the highest assessment. Commerical properties decreased and tax abated properties were not affected. The show airs Mondays on Channel 51 at 10:30 PM and Tuesdays 9:00 at 9:00 on Comcast.
http://vimeo.com/11992446

Speak NJ interviewed Steve Lipski on the closing of CREATE Charter School. The show airs Monday, channel 51 10:30 and Tuesdays 9:00.

CREATE Charter School from Speak NJ on Vimeo.

This show will appear on Comcast, Mondays @ 10:30 PM and Tuesdays @ 9:00 PM on Channel 51.

2010 Budget Hearing from Speak NJ on Vimeo.

I want to make some corrections. The city does broadcast the caucus meetings, it does not broadcast the council meetings. Fulop is talking about the council meetings. Also, when I tape a council meeting, it is seen on public access channel 51 on Comcast, Channel 1 is the city's public access. Although, the city does allow some private groups to use that station. By comparison, the city of Bayonne broadcasts all public meetings: council meetings, and other public meetings. Chiappione pushed for this.

It is a good idea, except most people do not have Comcast. It would be aired on Channel 1. It is one reason why I tape some meetings and post on line. I am hoping people like me who video meetings would not be denied if this go through.

http://vimeo.com/9112446

I am glad other people are now reading the budget. Many times I am the only "Public" to speak at a budget hearing. You must attend the hearing. Yes, police, firefighter, and pensions make up a large part of the budget. But also important is the bonding. The budget is a problem because of the games previous mayors play. Only interest is paid while they are in office, once they leave, then principal kicks in.

70% of the budget is public safety. While I am not in favor of layoffs, the police overtime must be cut. The overtime happens during the summer when the police patrols the parades. Yes, the city does require the parade committee to hire cops but the bulk of officers are on the taxpayer's dime. Also, the city should stop giving out $5,000 of taxpayer's money to festivals. Some festivals come to Jersey City to get the grant money.

Land is not tax abated, only the improvements. Which is the building. The tax abatement is also deducted from the land taxes.

Most people have a stoop sale in front of their house. If you are a tenant then ask your landlord for permission.

You don't need a lawyer to appeal. You go the tax assessor's office located in city hall (the county also one). Know your lot and block number. There are books filled with recent sales. Look for recent sales with assessments lower than your assessment. It must be in your geographical area. You need 3 sales. Ask if you need help.

I have been attending budget hearings since the 1980's. Sometimes I am the only member of the public to speak. You must attend and you must ask questions. It is more than mismanagement it is games the state allows the municipalities to play. The state has allow Jersey City to bond above its cap under the Schundler administration. If the state said no, then those debts would not be haunting us today. Also, let's look at the Board of Ed. When he state took over, the new person Scambio brought new job titles that didn't exist under local control. The budget increased. Now the state is leaving and expects local tax dollars to pick up more of the tab. But the state created a bloated budget.

People do not like me to state the obvious. Your taxes increased because Jersey City give out abatements. The waterfront is not paying any board of ed taxes and those school taxes increased over $20 million during the last several years and abatements are not ratables, they are contracts so the county do not include them as ratables when the county strikes the budget. Over $2 billion of abated properties are excluded from the tax roll.

I always believe we should eliminate municipal government and just have county government. Some town are very small Secaucus 15,000 and East Newark is even smaller.

One of the reasons taxes are out of control is budget gimmicks of the past. Example 1, in 1991 the state of NJ told large cities to change from a calendar year to a fiscal year. The governor, then Florio did not give aid to cities and told municipalites to bond for operationing expense. Jersey City should have bonded for $30 million. Instead it bonded for $128.9 million. We are still paying that bond debt for 1991. Example 2, Former Bret Schundler constantly refinance old debt over and over again. He structured the terms to pay only interest during his tenure. The principal kicked in when he was out of office. The state should only allow debt to be refinanced once. These are only two examples of why taxes went up.

I don't know if you are joking or if you have a weird humor. Our taxes are higher because former Mayor Schundler did privatize our services. An example is the water department. Under city control it made $1 to $2 million in profit after expenses were paid. Schundler privatized the system and our bills went through the roof. Unlike Jersey City, United Water is in business to make a profit. Let me give you an example of how much our water bills have increase. In the 1990's before United Water, I have work done in my house. My contractor discover I had a broken water pipe under my basement floor. With a leaking water pipe, I probably paid $300 per year. Water pipe fixed but now paying in the thousands. The rates go up 3.75% every year, not including 24% increase for sewage. The worse thing a government can do is privatized a service. The same thing happened in the county under the previous administration. The public is told of the benefits they will recieve but after the initial contract the services begin to increase. The county privatize the hospitals, then the contracts increase. Public officials only want to privatize services because they will now have a vendor to make public contributions.

Money is always the solution according to the experts. Apparently, Bayonne system is working and it is not the dollalrs but the dedication. In the State of New Jersey we hold taxpayers accountable for not spending enough money. Besides the teachers, we must hold students accountable.

The Jersey Journal ran a story a while back, perhaps 5 years ago, it listed the average salary of teachers in Hudson County. Surprise, Bayonne teachers made the lowest salary of any public teacher in Hudson County.