Teaneck, NJ: Teaneck’s Deputy Mayor Mark Schwartz, who is running for re-election along with newcomers Michael Pagan and Karen Orgen, has repeatedly claimed that the council has delivered its “sixth zero-increase budget in a row.”

But the challengers, Denise Belcher, Ardie Walser, and Gina Gerszberg, who are running as the People for Progress slate, challenge that claim, which is the singular focus of Schwartz’s campaign platform.

A close look at the facts reveals that what appears to be a zero increase has actually been achieved by taking out a $1.3 million “emergency appropriation” loan from the state that must be paid back over the next 5 years.

Walser, who is Associate Dean and Professor of Electrical Engineering at City College of New York, said “Putting household expenses like rent and utilities on your Visa card may kick your debt down the road but it does not make your budget flat.”

Belcher, a local business owner who is a member of the township Planning Board, noted another fundamental problem with the current budget. “This loan was taken out to cover benefit expenses owed to retiring employees.” She continued, “This is a recurring cost that a fiscally responsible council should plan for in its annual budget. It’s an expense that must be paid in the year in which it is incurred.”

“The township has been escalating debt for years,” according to Gerszberg, who serves on the Government and Legislative Affairs Committee of the Greater Bergen Realtor’s board. “The town is accumulating a huge burden of debt that our children will have to pay, while making empty promises about new revenue from development that has yet to be realized.”

“Adding insult to injury,” Walser noted, “emergency appropriation loans should be reserved for true emergencies, like what are facing now with the coronavirus pandemic. You didn’t need a crystal ball to know that we would be facing an economic disaster as well as a public health crisis when the Mayor of Teaneck first asked the entire town to self quarantine on March 14.”

The Governor froze the state budget due to fiscal uncertainty on March 23. But Schwartz continued to insist that the town had all the information it could possibly need for the coming year. When the council introduced its so-called “zero increase” budget during a phone-in council meeting the very next day, even his supporter Councilman Jim Dunleavy stated, “There is no way now we can come up with an accurate or adequate projection of revenue and expense for our budget.”

“In fact,” Gerszberg said, “we have no idea what Teaneck’s expenses or tax revenues will be, or even how many of our residents risk losing their homes or businesses to this crisis. To pretend otherwise is simply irresponsible.”