Good morning-
Budget meetings held last night - Environmental Services, Community Development and Health & Human Services. I pushed for continued use of new technologies, shared service arrangements and career development to support efficiencies; and we are moving in the right direction.
Another 5% in this year's 2011 Calendar Year budget as proposed brings taxes down by at least 10% in the last 12 months, as we are all focused on LOWER TAXES.
My concern is that we need to maintain at least 5% in cash surplus for prudent fiscal stability. It’s amazing how far we have come in two years for what appears to be plotting by the council majority to throw it all away in an election year. They don’t seem to understand the correct level of the City's CASH surplus. Check the City’s website and look at Sheet 21 of the Annual Financial Statement TY2010. It’s $14 million, not $27 million. The $13 million difference is the Roberts/Russo over spending of the budget over the last 10 years! Statutorily, this is not available as we have several more years of paying for reckless spending and financial gimmicks from the past.
http://www.hobokennj.org/docs/businessadmin/FinancialStatementTY2010.pdf
Now on the other hand, if there are services you wish for us to propose cutting, please reach out to discuss. The City will provide the council on statutory budget items shortly, and then we can collectively decide what eligible city services may be cut for further tax relief. Thanks for listening, and as always, please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
- Peter Cunningham
Email: cunninghamforhoboken@gmail.com ◦
