Selling the automated garage, laying off municipal workers, more parking meters -- Hoboken Mayor Dave Roberts introduced his plan to patch up Hoboken's broken budget today.
Roberts said he will introduce his Spending Plan for Fiscal Year '09 at tonight's City Council meeting. He'll need the state of New Jersey's approval before passing anything.
"Anything that I'm presenting needs the state of New Jersey's approval and needs the municipal council's approval as well," said Roberts. "We're not arrogantly ignoring the fact that the state is involved. We understand that all of this will have to be ordained by the state of New Jersey but there's no harm in rolling up our sleeves and creating some new ideas."
What are some aspects of Roberts' three-part spending plan?
Federal authorities have opened an investigation of Carla Katz, the ousted leader of New Jersey's largest state worker union and former girlfriend of Gov. Jon Corzine.
The inquiry into her union activities came into public view Tuesday afternoon when federal agents served a subpoena on the national headquarters of the Communications Workers of America in Washington, D.C., according to three people familiar with the subpoena.
Investigators are seeking records connected to Katz's management of Local 1034, the largest state-worker union, said the sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the probe. Authorities are focusing on an internal CWA probe that recently accused Katz of misappropriating union money, the sources said.
At the City Council meeting on July 2nd, Councilman Michael Russo proposed an ordinance to eliminate the position of Chiefs of Police and Fire Division. Councilman Russo cited the city will immediately save $500,000. I cannot argue with the financial savings; however, I will take issue with the statement that the Director of Public Safety can supervise the Police and Fire Departments. Did Mayor Roberts hire Superman? While the present Public Safety Director was a high-ranking member of the Fire Department several years ago, where did he get his expertise in police matters? The position of Public Safety Director is also limited by state statute and an Appellate Court ruling forbidding the Director from running the day-to-day operations of a police department.
Mason wins lawsuit regarding public meeting violations
Hudson County Superior Court Judge John O'Shaughnessy ruled June 30 that the government body overseeing Hoboken's only hospital has repeatedly violated state laws about open public meetings, and that they were deficient in their response to a citizen's request for information.
The decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by 2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason against the relatively new Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority (HMHA) in 2007. Mason has filed a number of lawsuits charging that the city has failed to make certain records and meetings open to the public. Mason, who was elected to her council seat in May of 2007, had filed the suits while still a private citizen.
2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason is requesting more transparency from the state of New Jersey as they review Hoboken's budget.
Mason says the DCA is only talking about Hoboken's financial health with the mayor -- she wants the City Council in on the conversation, too.
After the jump, read a copy of a letter Mason sent to Susan Jacobucci, Director of Local Government Services for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, this past Thursday. Mason is basically asking the DCA to keep the City Council in the loop regarding their financial takeover of Hoboken.
Hoboken. A national embarrassment in its administration of its police department. A regional embarrassment in its administration of its finances.
So after almost two complete terms as Mayor, and over a decade on the City Council, Dave Roberts has the gall to blame Beth Mason? And to use quotes from such distinguished (Ha!) Hudson County Mayors as Joe Doria and Richard Turner to defend himself?
Did Dave Roberts follow a rabbit through a rabbit hole to some Alice-in-Wonderland place to use fellow Hudson County pols to defend his incompetence? Let's review the facts:
HOBOKEN - State supervision is definitely underway.
Two hours before Wednesday's City Council meeting, Susan Jacobucci, director of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, sent a letter to Hoboken Mayor David Roberts and City Clerk James Farina telling them not to hire any employees or consultants until the Division of Local Government Services completes its review of the city's finances.
The DCA took over Hoboken's finances on June 23 after the City Council failed to adopt a spending plan for the fiscal year that ended June 30. Finally, on June 30, the City Council passed a budget crafted by state officials that sloughed off dealing with a $10.5 million deficit to the fiscal year that began July 1.
The Hoboken City Council passed a budget this week after a rocky end to the fiscal year. The budget went from $87 million to more than $100 million during the course of the fiscal year. See timeline below. SIDEBARS BELOW
This past Monday, the city of Hoboken passed a budget for the fiscal year that actually ended on the very same day.
The 2007-2008 fiscal year budget is far from perfect; it is short $3.6 million in revenue, and it excludes $8.1 million in expenses that will be paid for next year instead. That makes the total shortfall $11.7 million. It also includes more than half a million dollars in unpaid bills. But it has the state's blessing nonetheless.
The approved budget is $92.6 million, but the actual total expected spending from the previous fiscal year is $100.7 million, which does not include a separate budget for the $13.4 million operations of the Parking Utility.
City Attorney Steven Kleinman confirmed on Thursday that the state police are looking into possibly missing money from the Hoboken Parking Utility's collections from parking meters.
The city may file litigation against the coin collection company, United Textile Fabricators, a Toms River-based company that allegedly misplaced as much as $582,352 last October that they counted for the city. The money was returned in installments beginning in November 2007, but without interest.
The owner of United Textile Fabricators is Brian Petaccio, former co-owner of Grayhound Electronics, who was indicted to state Grand Jury racketeering charges on March 7, 1991.
According to Kleinman, the company has since surrendered the funds to the city, but without interest. He said that the city has stopped using the company and is with holding payments until the matter is settled.
"The administration is looking at all aspects of United Textile Fabricators," Kleinman said Thursday.
HPU Parking Director John Corea had previously said at the Dec. 6 council meeting that his agency's most recent internal audit only showed $34.61 missing.
The Hoboken Parking Utility is under investigation by the New Jersey State Police, say sources with knowledge of the investigation.
"It is accurate that the city is currently reviewing issues involving the Hoboken Parking Utility," Hoboken Corporation Counsel Steve Kleinman confirmed yesterday. "There is a law enforcement aspect to this matter, however, (so) I am constrained from commenting further at this time."
Kleinman said the investigation is related to United Textile Fabricators, the company that collected the revenue from the city's parking meters from December 2005 until a few months ago. Last October, it was learned that UTF owed Hoboken at least $582,352 in revenues that the company collected but didn't give to the city. UTF paid Hoboken in full by the end of last year.
In 2005, Hoboken contracted with an outside accounting firm to manage the City's financial records at a cost of $300,000 per year. During the past three years, the City has spent almost a million dollars for outside accounting services which were previously the responsibility of the CFO and Finance Department employees.
The outside firm was brought in to enhance the overall efficiency of the City's accounting system and, if all went well, the City would move to privatize Finance Department after a one year trail period.
But the promise of readily available financial data, the competence to make decisions, and the ability to detect and correct problems throughout the budget year all fell apart when the recent audit found a serious lack of cash controls and the failure of the City's daily accounting system to detect millions of dollars in declining anticipated cash collections.
Watch this short video as Hoboken 4th Ward Councilwomen Dawn Zimmer questions City CFO George Destefano about his daily duties in the Hoboken Finance Department as he worked along side the private accounting firm.
Councilman asks.... Is a million bucks in cash, [that's FOUR MILLION quarters weighing almost 50,000 pounds], missing from the Hoboken Parking Utility "parking meter" collections revenue?
The town was buzzing when at the Hoboken City Council FY2008 Budget Hearing, December 6, 2007, Third Ward Councilman Michael Russo, who also serves as Chairman of the City's Finance Committee, asked if there was one million dollars missing in "parking meter" cash revenues. Russo reversed himself at the December 19, 2007 meeting by saying he made a mistake.
At the February 6, 2008 City Council meeting, the topic of discussion was the recently received FY2007 (July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007) budget audit which was seven months late. Fifth Ward Councilman Peter Cunningham's reaction to the audit report comments on the City's control of cash was "For God sake, clearly, this audit indicates that we have got money going out the back door and something needs to be done about it."
In 1967, America was filled with the same hope of change that it is now feeling in 2008 Forty-one years ago, Cleveland was on the verge of electing the first African American mayor of a major U
Now that the dust has settled on Barack Obama's historic nomination as the Democratic candidate for the presidency, an equally important challenge presents itself Who should Obama choose as his running mate for the November election
"Stupid is as stupid does, that's what my mama always said."
I just don't know of anything that characterizes John Corea's "relationship" with the City of Hoboken better than that. At this point, he is a "figure in the investigation" of more than a half million dollars that just can't be found. Because, you know, that kind of money is usually left laying about in discarded Shop-Rite bags.
All other things being what they are, the best predictor of future behavior is past performance. And Corea's past performance has been less than stellar. It seems that when Corea worked at the NY Stock Exchange, he developed a habit of buying stocks with other people's money and then leaving them holding the bag - and the bill - when the stocks went sour.
A great number of men, women and children in the Gaza Strip live in one of the most chaotic environments on Earth The escalating violence between warring political factions such as the Palestinians and Israelis has caused many to doubt the prospect of a peaceful state
I receive a daily news feed from Salon, and for the past two days I have received articles about Obama-Hagel and McCain-Lieberman unity tickets I have just three words for those who believe such events will happen: it ain't happening
The government of Panama follows the patterns of presidential representative with three branches: the executive, legislative, and judiciary The executive is elected by popular election vote exercise the senior’s citizens for a period 5
The Lawrence Massacre took place on August 21, 1863 during the American Civil War It was perpetrated by William Clarke Quantrill and his guerilla raiders
So you think the politicians are pushing the Offshore Drilling idea because it is something that will make the price of gas go down I guess you also believed that in the 2004 election, that this Administration was going to do something about Gay Marriage
Saturday June 28, 2008, 11:16 AM by Carly - Hoboken Now NJ.COM
Ever read EdMecka.com? It's a well-respected insider's Hoboken political blog, written by the eponymous Mr. Ed Mecka himself.
And this isn't exactly breaking news, but Ed's daughter, Lauren Mecka, e-mailed Hoboken Now to announce that she was recently inducted into the National Society of High School Scholars, recognition given to high school students who have achieved academic excellence. (Inductees into the National Society of High School Scholars are chosen by the Nobel family -- yeah, that Nobel family.)
Lauren is a student at the Hudson School in Hoboken. Congratulations, Lauren! Dad must be proud :-)
Fifteen new cops will be sworn in tomorrow in an official ceremony at City Hall, said Public Safety Director Bill Bergin today.
At tomorrow's ceremony, 15 civilians will be sworn in as new patrolmen, five patrolmen will be promoted to sergeant and two sergeants will be promoted to rank of lieutenant.
Despite Hoboken's budget problems, Bergin says the city can afford to hire new cops as long as they don't exceed numbers allotted in the city's Table of Organization. Even with the 15 new hires, Bergin says the Hoboken Police Department is still short of patrolmen.
With tomorrow's promotions, there will be about 105 patrolmen and 33 sergeants in the Hoboken PD. There can be a maximum of 120 patrolmen on the force, said Bergin.
The new salaries and pay raises are already part of Hoboken's 2008 municipal budget, said Bergin.
Exactly how much do Hoboken cops make? Here's a salary breakdown:
The starting salary for a brand-new patrolman is about $34,000/year. It takes a patrolman seven years to reach the maximum police officer salary of $80,000/year, said Bergin.
The starting pay for a sergeant is $93,000/year and the starting pay for a lieutenant is $106,000/year. However, during their first year of their new position, sergeants and lieutenant will only receive $2,000 more than their old salary.
The ceremony will be Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 4 p.m. in City Council chambers of City Hall.
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