Comments on: How to Cut? Taking a Look at the City Budget

By: Ben Reed

Ben Reed — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:20:52 +0000

How about cutting out the $10,000 per year housing stipend that Superintendent Epps is given? This guy makes three times as much as teachers at top salary are making, yet when asked how Christie’s budget cuts would effect our school system he has nothing to say. Maybe trimming his fat salary and housing stipend would give him an idea as to the impact of these cuts.

By: S. Nardi

S. Nardi — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:10:05 +0000

1-Require all property owners to pay taxes. All property owners including the Mayor and require proof of payment.There are too many individuals and entities not paying property taxes.
2-Make the Tax Returns and Finances of all elected and appointed City Officials public information, subject to annual audit by publication
3-Eliminate tax abatements to developers.We no longer have to give an incentive to developers to build in Jersey City. Jersey City is no longer an eyesore, it is a Destination and a desired one.If we cannot eliminate tax abatements, then reduce them to 5 or 7 years.
4-Impose a penalty or rebate of abatement, or prorate the abatement if a tax abated property is sold within the abatement period.This includes transfer of title or deed to another entity without incurring a profit
5-Convert all City pension plans into 401k’s, so that the City workers can be on par with the rest of working America.
6-Make all furloughed, terminated, resigned City workers go on COBRA, like the rest of America.End the carryover of major medical benefits into retirement at City Expense.

By: J.Rud

J.Rud — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:54:44 +0000

Thanks Jon. It’s shocking how little salary council members bring home. At less than $40,000, I guess it’s pretty much understood that members need to hold on to another job. It’s a situation that can’t be great for the people of this city; how easily council members might see their position as a means of furthering private ambitions rather than fulfilling egalitarian motives, as a stepping stone to more powerful public and private jobs where the salaries are in the six figure range. Imagine the myriad conflicts of interest when public officials also hold private employment in the same city (I guess we don’t have to imagine, actually).
These are individuals who decide the fate of millions in taxpayer dollars, and yet they make peanuts (comparatively) for the privilege of doing so? Wow, not good.
I

By: Jon Whiten

Jon Whiten — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:49:02 +0000

Council salaries are under $40k a year; almost each person holds another job of some sort. Sottolano is retired from a city job — he worked for the city for 37 years, so he’s pensioned and insured. Donnelly might be the exception at this point. He used to work for the city but wasn’t allowed to do that and be a council member — I am not sure if he has found a new non-city job yet since being appointed councilman.

By: J.Rud

J.Rud — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:33:48 +0000

I’m not sure eliminating health benefits for City Council members is a good idea. Those members already covered through Medicare, pensions, or private retirement plans can continue using those plans; everyone else should be covered by the city. Eliminating it altogether will force those council members not previously covered to find additional sources of income. Correct me if I’m wrong, but city council salaries are pretty low. Combine a low salary with an expensive necessity, and you have a situation ripe for conflict of interest and corruption.
By all means, eliminate it for the board members of the Incinerator Authority and Municipal Utilities; membership on those boards is not meant to be a full time endeavor. Yes, it may seem like some of our council members are absent most of the time, but I’d like to think that they consider governing the city a full time job.
Does anybody know how much Council members make? Or how many Council members currently hold other salaried employment? Nidia Lopez makes a point of calling herself a “full-time” councilwoman in her profile on the city website: http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/citycouncil.aspx?id=1220
and I seem to remember Michael Sottolano claiming the same thing last year, but it’s no longer mentioned in his profile.
Maybe if our council members received salaries comparable to neighboring cities (NYC City Council members make $112,500 base salary), we could make them less susceptible to graft and corruption and more focused on the business of running the city.
Just a thought.

By: James

James — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:54:32 +0000

You could also take away all benefits for all part-time workers, consultants, temps and interns and such, and put a stringent cap on overtime for any future contracts for any labor or public works projects – seriously, if they can’t do the job in a fixed amount of time, they shouldn’t be rewarded for it and the public shouldn’t have to continue to fund it.