Taxpayers in Bayonne will face higher school taxes and layoffs for school district employees if the Board of Education’s 2017-2018 budget is approved as introduced on Thursday, March 16. The board, in an effort to curtail a $2.1 million structural budget deficit that could balloon to $5.5 million by the next school year without corrective actions, voted 5-4 to levy a 3.95 percent property tax. The levy on local taxpayers amounts to $65 million as part of the tentative 2017-2018 school budget, which totals $133,150,503. The tentative budget will then go to the Hudson County Superintendent of Schools for approval, and the Board of Education will vote to approve the final budget at a public hearing on Wednesday, April 26. The budget means the proposed tax levy on an average Bayonne home assessed at $125,170 would result in a $120 increase in its property tax bill. A $175,000 home would see a $168 increase. The increase comes after the city already increased taxes by 2.27 percent in 2016. Click here for more.
Mayors across the country have been coming out against the Trump Administration’s recent budget proposal that would eliminate antipoverty programs, most notably Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), a $3 billion program started during the Ford Administration. It’s distributed from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to states and localities to fund popular programs such as Meals on Wheels, energy bill assistance, rental assistance, housing improvements, resources for the mentally ill and homeless, psychiatric services, childcare,and afterschool services, and many other services that benefit the economically marginalized and disenfranchised poor. Mayor James Davis issued a statement in response to the proposed cuts. “If the Trump Administration succeeds at eliminating the Community Development Block Grant, Bayonne would suffer,” he said. “Meals on Wheels and other senior nutrition, street-paving, social services, and park and building repairs would be put at risk. This would be a disaster.” Click here for more.
The City Council on Wednesday, March 15, unanimously approved a 30-year PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement with a developer to build a commercial property on the Military Ocean Terminal Base (MOTBY) off Route 440 to be part of a retail complex called Harbor Pointe Marketplace. Many residents oppose PILOT agreements because the resulting dense residential properties have the capacity to bring in new families, putting added pressure on the already cash-strapped school district. But because this PILOT agreement is for a commercial property, no school children will be added to the school district’s rolls. Click here for more.
