Lisa
March 23rd, 2005, 12:23 PM
From today's Jersey Journal:
Jersey City fine-tunes budget before final vote; no tax hike
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
By Maria Zingaro Conte
Journal staff writer
With just three months left in its current fiscal year, Jersey City is poised to adopt its $391 million budget.
Although the bottom line is up by more than $20 million from the proposed budget introduced in October, the change will not mean a tax increase.
According to Business Administrator Brian O'Reilly, city property taxes will stay about the same or may even decrease slightly from the 2004 rate, although a final tax rate has not been set. "We've pulled out every stop we can to stabilize taxes," he said.
The changes to the budget came during a special meeting Monday night, when the City Council unanimously passed a resolution to amend the fiscal plan originally laid out in October by acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith.
Among the major changes was a $4 million increase in overtime for police officers. The amended budget also includes another $600,000 in overtime costs for fire personnel.
Other new expenditures included several major grant-funded initiatives. The city received enough grant money to cover the spending for each.
Among them is a $6.1 million appropriation for job training, one for $1.2 million to hire new police officers, appropriations of about $1 million each for the Monticello Avenue Blockfront Urban Enterprise Zone, a senior citizen nutrition program and a citywide street improvement program.
There also are two more appropriations of $750,000 each for the Jersey City Urban Enterprise Zone relocation grant and the balanced housing neighborhood preservation program.
The amended budget also includes substantial revenue increases from dozens more grants.
Also on the revenue side of the budget, the amount anticipated in payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, was also increased. PILOTs are the monies paid to the city by property owners who receive tax abatements.
Typically, PILOTs yield more revenues to the city than under a conventional property tax, since the city does not have to split the revenue with the county government or school district.
The amended budget includes an increase in PILOTs from about $70 million to nearly $74 million.
"There is no question that if the council didn't enter into those financial agreements, you'd be looking at a tax increase of not nice proportions," O'Reilly said.
A hearing on the budget prior to its final adoption is scheduled for next Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in Council Chambers in City Hall.
Maria Zingaro Conte covers Jersey City. She can be reached at mzconte@jjournal.com.
Jersey City fine-tunes budget before final vote; no tax hike
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
By Maria Zingaro Conte
Journal staff writer
With just three months left in its current fiscal year, Jersey City is poised to adopt its $391 million budget.
Although the bottom line is up by more than $20 million from the proposed budget introduced in October, the change will not mean a tax increase.
According to Business Administrator Brian O'Reilly, city property taxes will stay about the same or may even decrease slightly from the 2004 rate, although a final tax rate has not been set. "We've pulled out every stop we can to stabilize taxes," he said.
The changes to the budget came during a special meeting Monday night, when the City Council unanimously passed a resolution to amend the fiscal plan originally laid out in October by acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith.
Among the major changes was a $4 million increase in overtime for police officers. The amended budget also includes another $600,000 in overtime costs for fire personnel.
Other new expenditures included several major grant-funded initiatives. The city received enough grant money to cover the spending for each.
Among them is a $6.1 million appropriation for job training, one for $1.2 million to hire new police officers, appropriations of about $1 million each for the Monticello Avenue Blockfront Urban Enterprise Zone, a senior citizen nutrition program and a citywide street improvement program.
There also are two more appropriations of $750,000 each for the Jersey City Urban Enterprise Zone relocation grant and the balanced housing neighborhood preservation program.
The amended budget also includes substantial revenue increases from dozens more grants.
Also on the revenue side of the budget, the amount anticipated in payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, was also increased. PILOTs are the monies paid to the city by property owners who receive tax abatements.
Typically, PILOTs yield more revenues to the city than under a conventional property tax, since the city does not have to split the revenue with the county government or school district.
The amended budget includes an increase in PILOTs from about $70 million to nearly $74 million.
"There is no question that if the council didn't enter into those financial agreements, you'd be looking at a tax increase of not nice proportions," O'Reilly said.
A hearing on the budget prior to its final adoption is scheduled for next Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in Council Chambers in City Hall.
Maria Zingaro Conte covers Jersey City. She can be reached at mzconte@jjournal.com.