Statement from Councilman Mike DeFusco on Hoboken’s Municipal Budget Proposal

HOBOKEN, N.J. — On Monday, Mayor Ravi Bhalla released Hoboken’s municipal budget proposal, which includes a 9.8% increase in the municipal purposes tax. Instead of taking responsibility for the financial disaster he’s created in Hoboken, Mayor Bhalla is attempting to hide this tax increase from taxpayers by standing behind the 6% decrease in County taxes and by using the global health crisis as an excuse for two and half years of overspending and fiscal mismanagement.

“Over the past six months, my Council colleagues and I have repeatedly asked the mayor to present us with a budget to begin an open and transparent dialogue about the state of our city’s finances,” said Councilman Mike DeFusco. “The administration is now attempting to hide behind the fact the mayor wants to raise municipal taxes by nearly 10%, on top of borrowing $5 million at the expense of taxpayers, while our County tax burden decreases. Hoboken’s long existing budget woes are a direct result of a pattern of gross misspending, awarding politically connected contracts and giving out patronage jobs that we are now facing the consequences of. It is nothing shy of irresponsible for Mayor Bhalla to continue using a global health crisis as an excuse for years of poor financial planning, even after recovering $1.4 million in federal aid. Giving the Council 48 hours to review the proposal before asking us to adopt it is the very gimmicky budget the mayor swore he’d never introduce and Hoboken taxpayers deserve better than this.”

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