Fulop's ed funding plan gets nowhere

Friday, January 25, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

In 8-1 votes, the Jersey City council quashed proposals by Downtown Councilman Steve Fulop Wednesday night to share tax abatement money with local schools and to expand the committee that negotiates the tax breaks.

Fulop, who received the tacit endorsement of Mayor Jerramiah Healy for his proposal to give schools 5 percent of the money the city rakes in from tax-abated properties, called the vote "a pretty sad day for Jersey City because they get an idea of how we value our kids.

"Five percent? I would say they're worth it," Fulop added.

Fulop's colleagues argued his 5 percent proposal amounted to robbing Peter to pay Paul, since money taken from the city would have to be replaced through taxes or other fees, resulting in no overall increase in the amount of money going to schools.

"Do we just want to shift the tax burden from one person to another?" said Ward Councilman Michael Sottolano, as he endorsed City Council President Mariano Vega's move to establish a committee to study the issue.

Ward C Councilman Steve Lipski called Fulop "noble" for trying to "advance the argument" about school funding, but, citing a Dow Jones report, said the city would be in a $19 million budget hole if it weren't for the income from tax abatements.

Fulop's other proposal called for adding two members of the Board of Education to the mayor's seven-member Tax Enhancement Committee, the group of city officials that negotiates the terms of tax abatements with developers.

Council members objected on the grounds that it didn't make sense to give school officials a say in city business when the city has no say over the school district's budget.

One of eight public speakers supporting Fulop, former mayor and current school board member Anthony Cucci, scolded the council for not showing "enough concern" for the school system. "I can't understand it," said Cucci.

No public speaker spoke against the proposals.

The backdrop to this discussion is the new school funding formula recently adopted by the state, which seeks to shift some state aid from poor, urban districts to more working-and middle-class school districts that have seen population increases.

As of one of the state's 31 court-designated "Abbott" districts, the 32,000-student Jersey City school system receives more than $425 million in state aid. Local taxpayers contribute $81.2 million toward the school district's roughly $600 million budget.

When I heard of Steve's 5% proposal, I thought, wow, Steve might have a good chance of winning the mayorship if he gets this passed.

Did he knows this? -- Yes.

Was it the right thing to do? -- Yes


Did the rest of the council know this? --Yes.

Was it the right thing to shortchange children the measly 5% for political reasons? -- No.


Healy publicly claimed he supported the proposal but of course, did not have to actually vote on it. He even claims he had the idea first, but has he actually done anything about it? --NO



Shame on you, Healy and gang (and Corzine, too) for not recognizing that you can't have a great state without a great CITY (ie. not suburb) and you can't have a great city without great public education. Compare that to what Bloomberg is doing in NYC for education and poverty.

[quote]
mrrogers wrote:
Gee,all of a sudden the council has become independent of Mayor Healy.He said he liked the idea but they voted it down.Could it be he was just pulling our leg./quote]

I think what they're saying is,

a) We'll probably support something like that, but not if you propose it, Stevie; and

b) Right now, let's milk the state for all that it's willing to pay us. Let's not rock the boat while we're still nursing on Mama New Jersey.

On the other hand: it's just plain absurd to shaft the schools at a time when they're improving and tons of parents with young children are moving into the city. If other cities can somehow pay for their schools, why do we have such a hard time doing that?

Gee,all of a sudden the council has become independent of Mayor Healy.He said he liked the idea but they voted it down.Could it be he was just pulling our leg.

No,don't lie,don't cheat,don't steal.

DON"T BULL$HIT

Council nixes plan to share abatement money with schools

by Ken Thorbourne
Thursday January 24, 2008

In 8-1 votes, the Jersey City council quashed proposals by Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop last night to share tax abatement money with local schools and expand the committee that negotiates the tax breaks.

Fulop, who received the tacit endorsement of Mayor Jerramiah Healy for his proposal to give schools 5 percent of the money the city rakes in from tax-abated properties, called the vote "a pretty sad day for Jersey City because they get an idea of how we value or kids."

"Five percent? I would say they're worth it," Fulop added.

Fulop's colleagues argued his 5 percent proposal amounted to robbing Peter to pay Paul, since money taken from the city would have to be replaced through taxes or other fees. Opponents of the measure also said that if the school district got more money the schools tax levy would be adjusted so that city would contribute less, meaning no overall increase for the district.

"Do we just want to shift the tax burden from one person to another?," said Ward Councilman Michael Sottolano, as he endorsed City Council President Mariano Vega's move to establish a committee to study the issue.

Ward C City Councilman Steve Lipski called Fulop "noble" for trying to "advance the argument" about school funding, but citing a Dow Jones report, said the city would be in a $19 million budget hole if it weren't for the income from for payments in lieu of taxes.

Fulop's other proposal called for adding two members of the Board of Education to the mayor's seven-member Tax Enhancement Committee, the group of city officials that negotiates the terms of tax abatements.

Council members objected on the grounds that it didn't make sense to give school officials a say in city business when the city has no say over the school district's budget.

One of eight public speakers supporting Fulop, former mayor and current school board member Anthony Cucci, scolded the council for not showing "enough concern" for the school system.

No public speaker spoke against the proposals.

The backdrop to this discussion is a new school funding formula recently adopted by the state, which seeks to shift some state aid from poor, urban districts to more working- and middle-class school districts.

As of one of the state's 31 court-designated "Abbott" districts, the 32,000-student Jersey City school system receives more than $425 million in state aid. Local taxpayers contribute $81.2 million toward the school district's roughly $600 million budget.

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Also from Wed's Jersey Journal
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Plan to give PILOT money to schools looks doomed

by Ken Thorbourne
Wednesday January 23, 2008

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop refused last night to pull two of his proposals from tonight's council agenda -- both dealing with tax abatements and school funding -- even though they appear to be heading toward defeat.

One measure calls for urging the state Legislature to change the statute that governs tax abatements so the city school district would receive a 5 percent cut of the payments in lieu of taxes made by property owners.

Under the current law, the city gets to keep all the money, with the owners paying an additional 5 percent to the county.

The other measure calls for adding two Board of Education members to the mayor's Tax Enhancement Committee, the group that negotiates the terms of abatements with developers.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy had called this proposal an "unauthorized power grab" by Fulop last week and it didn't have much council support. But Council President Mariano Vega had predicted easy passage of the 5 percent-to-schools proposal -- until last night.

Several council members blasted the idea during the council caucus, arguing that it is not clear how much state aid Jersey City will receive under Gov. Jon Corzine's new school funding formula. Therefore, they argued, it would be foolhardy and premature for the city to voluntarily give schools a slice of the PILOT pie.

Instead, they proposed establishing a committee to study the matter.

Council members Bill Gaughan and Steve Lipski said the cost of the state-run school district had nearly doubled in 15 years.

"The school board has made no attempt to reduce spending," Gaughan said.

Fulop accused his colleagues of "circling the wagons" and playing politics with the issue.

"Our kids are definitely worth it," said Fulop. "And I'm not willing to back down on that."

He then offered to agree to the committee idea if his colleagues would declare a moratorium on tax abatements, to which Vega replied, "Do you think it's responsible to say 'Let's put a moratorium until I get my way?'"