STORM WATCH:  Intense lightning, strong winds and flash flooding are biggest storm threats today in Brooklyn

STORM WATCH: Intense lightning, strong winds and flash flooding are biggest storm threats today in The Bronx

Wanda Coach bus overturns on NYS Thruway in Ulster County

STORM WATCH: Scattered strong thunderstorms this afternoon into this evening on Long Island

Islip Town to hold public hearing today on proposed Islamic boarding school in Bay Shore

17-year-old girl shot outside East New York McDonald's; gunman still on the run

newyork

News 12 Staff

NJ POWER B BLOCK

Welcome back to Power and Politics. Jersey City residents are about to get hit with a 15% tax increase. That's at least after a council vote Wednesday night. Members finally acknowledging that they do need to do this so that the city can actually get a $100 million loan, a little bit more from the state. The council was looking to make more cuts instead of the tax increase, but with the budget deadline looming and money from Trenton on the line, a whole lot of money from Trenton on the line. They said that they had to make a decision leaving residents pretty stunned at the cost. You're putting homeowners at risk now. We are your community. Every day we answer to the call of the to serve the city, and yet today working people are being positioned against taxpayers, neighbors against neighbors, unions against unions. All right, so now that the council formally introduced this budget, including the tax increase, they're gonna vote on this at the next meeting. The city was facing a massive $255 million budget deficit and placing the blame squarely on former mayor Steven Phillip. I'm joined now by. Current Jersey City Mayor James Solomon, Mayor, it's good to see you. Eric. It's great to see you too. Thanks for coming to the studio. All right, uh, listen, the, the, the, the recent meetings you were there, you heard everything that was said, you heard the passion, things got heated. Uh, what are you thinking though when you're hearing from the residents, from what they're saying, especially, you know, a couple of people you just heard from right there talking about neighbor against neighbor and, and, and maybe people not being able to afford to live in the city anymore? Yeah, I, I am, you know. Really, really, you know, frustrated with the situation that Jersey City is in, and we have to make some really tough decisions to get out of it. Uh, you know, I met a woman who's telling me her budget is so tight she's counting the pieces of chicken she's buying at the grocery store, and she literally asking me how can I afford this tax increase, um, and we have a $255 million budget deficit. It's the worst deficit that a city has faced in New Jersey since the Atlantic City casino collapse in 2015. Is nearly 30% of our operating budget and I've made a commitment to make sure that I preserve some core city services. I'm not gonna lay off police officers. I'm not gonna lay off firefighters because we need to keep our city safe. So unfortunately, um, this is the best of a series of awful options. So at least the least of all the, yeah, I don't, I don't diminish at all how painful this is gonna be for residents, um, and, um, I believe it is the right choice to preserve our core city services and ultimately fix the budget. Deficit that the former mayor left us. I want to talk about what was cut to get you to this point, but before we do that, talk about what could have been had this budget not been introduced here, because I mean the state could have mandated a tax hike here of at least double, correct? So the state has legal ability to come in and mandate a 31% tax increase, which was the legal limit for Jersey City this year, uh, and if we didn't pass a budget, we didn't present a balance. Budget, that is absolutely what could have happened. That would be double what the residents are facing now. They did this in Hoboken in 2008, 2009 where they actually imposed a 70% tax increase in one year. So the message to again our council, to our residents was we don't diminish at all how painful this is going to be, but the other alternatives were significantly worse. Now I, I, I assume you and your team, I mean, really pored over everything, uh, with a magnifying glass trying to see what was, what could be cut. Doing with the scalpel as opposed to the ax approach. So, so talk about what needed. The types of programs or services or costs that that you feel that really hurt for you and your team to cut that you didn't want to but you had to absolutely so we we cut 58 million from last year's budget, uh, which is, you know, nearly 6% it's significant services, uh, we cut our park maintenance contracts, so we're gonna have to do more with less to keep our parks. Uh, we cut the scoreboard maintenance contract. So unfortunately if the scoreboard breaks in Jersey City, we're not gonna fix it right now, but we kept and preserved what we thought. The core services, so we kept and preserved public safety and, and added to our 911 call center because the 911 call center was simply not answering calls professionally. Uh, we preserved some of our rec programs because we think our young people deserve things, um, but we also had to lay off 31 city employees, uh, to be able to present a balanced budget, and that was really difficult because those are good people who work hard who need the income, uh, but those are the tough choices that we're faced, uh, with, and we have to make them to move the city forward. There's been a lot of noise out there, a lot of. Uh, opinions outside of Jersey City. Also, there have been a lot of critics who've said that the state should not be bailing Jersey City out. What do you say to them? Jersey City has been an economic driver for the whole state. Uh, so we provide $1.3 billion in tax revenue annually to the state. Our economic growth has significantly helped the state's budget, as well as helping build housing and making the state more affordable. Uh, so an investment in Jersey City actually benefits the whole state. If Jersey City keeps growing, that money goes into Trenton, and that benefits everybody. So we say this is a strategic investment in the growth of Jersey City and the growth of the state because if Jersey City fails, the whole state suffers. I wanna talk about how you got here. Uh, recent Bloomberg article described Jersey City as being on the financial brink. Uh, Mark Pfeiffer, uh, chair of your budget advisory Committee and associate director over at the Rutgers Blaustein School, weighed in on this in the Bloomberg article and said, quote, the effects that we're seeing here are decisions that were driven by political forces that were not in the best long-term financial interest of the city, and now they're coming due. Talk about what some of those forces were, what some of what, what some of those decisions, what they were. Yeah, unfortunately this, this falls to the decisions of the former mayor, and he prioritized his run for governor and making things appear in Jersey City as if they were good, uh, as opposed to doing the right thing by the people of Jersey City. So this year in this budget we have to spend $109 million paying off. Debts and bills he put on our credit card, um, for example, our transportation program via, he paid for it on the city's credit card. He bonded for it. That is not proper. It's not illegal. It's basically what you would do in your house if you can't balance your books and instead of cutting something, you decide I'm just gonna put the bills on the credit card. So we're paying $109 million this year in former bills or bills that the former mayor left us. That's unconscionable. Uh, it is deeply painful when I go to meetings with residents, uh, they ask, they said, how could this happen? And you know, the only thing I can say is, you know, my job now is to make sure it never happens again, uh, but it was his decision making and the prioritization of his run for governor that led us to this place. Uh, very quickly, the last time you and I spoke, we spoke about some of the mayor's comments back then, the former mayor's comments back then, and he said. Uh, I believe you, he called you by your first name. He said, you know, James, you were right there with me when these decisions were being made, uh, and said that none of this should have come as a surprise. Basically these were not only his decisions. Yeah, uh, you know, I just, the record is clear. I voted against the budget all 8 years I was on the council, and when I did, I said, look, there are gimmicks here. There's, there's tricks, uh, that these are gonna lead us to financial difficulty. But what I did not know and what nobody knew was that he had hidden even more. Bills, uh, even more on, uh, kind of cooked the books even more than we realized so that the deficit wasn't just bad, it was historic, uh, and, and that's what is leading to the combination of we're, we're receiving the most aid a city has ever received in the history of New Jersey, $120 million and we still have to raise taxes 15%, uh, after having cut $58 million in spending, and that, that gives you a sense of the size and scope of the crisis. Jersey City Mayor James Solomon, thanks so much for being here, Eric. I appreciate your time and keep it right here on Power and Politics. We got much more coming up for you right after the break.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/afaf694c-79ce-4a38-b8b2-e301e6d4afe6/afaf694c-79ce-4a38-b8b2-e301e6d4afe6.transcribe

NJ POWER C BLOCK

Welcome back to Power and Politics. Governor Sherrill promised New Jersey relief from high electric bills after taking office. She's pushing this summer to make good on her word, but could nuclear power be the answer? Right now, 3 reactors in South Jersey produce 40% of the state's power. The governor signing a new law this week that would allow more nuclear energy companies to move in. Companies would need federal funding and prove its benefit before breaking ground. Assembly Republicans agreeing with this move, saying, quote, Governor Mikey Sherrill signed the Power NJ Act. Good. It only took a decade of shrinking in-state power generation, rising electric bills, and growing dependence on imported electricity for Democrats to finally embrace nuclear power. Well, voters apparently aren't sold on a bill which would make it easier for movie theaters to sell alcohol, as News Twelve's Jack Ford explains, a new poll finds most residents oppose the proposal. Should it be easier to buy booze at the movie theater? Well, a new poll finds that a majority of New Jersey voters don't think so, but a new bill is moving through Trenton that would do just that. This bill would let movie theaters buy liquor licenses for between $150,000 and $210,000 regardless of whether licenses are available in their town. The bill already cleared the assembly last month. It's. Now pending in the state Senate, but new polling finds 55% of New Jersey voters are against this bill and only 38% of voters are for it. Support peaks between middle-aged voters and drops off among older residents, but folks we talked to today, largely in support. I think it's a good thing. It's a part of entertainment for the adults, of course, and I think it would make a good. Good evening out with you and your family or whatever. On a broader scale, critics say the bill undercuts those that have already paid more for licenses the traditional way and devalues those licenses. Supporters hoping liquor might be a boost to ticket sales that have been largely down since the pandemic. I think COVID kind of messed the world up, so it's nice. It would, I think it would be a good thing. Would you partake? Sure I would. I'm legal age, liquor and movie theaters on the docket in New Jersey. Jack Ford, News 12, New Jersey. While the bill passed the assembly, it stalled in the Senate due to opposition. Uh, heads up, riders. This weekend, New new laws for e-bikes go into effect across the state. Riders must be 15 years old or older and have an e-bike license or a driver's license. All e-bikes will need to be registered and motorized e-bikes will need to be insured. And that'll do it for this week. I'm Eric Lance Kroner. As always, we thank you for watching New Jersey Power and Politics. We'll see you again next time.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/8292c3a9-2c39-4522-9eb4-6fb416a83bd9/8292c3a9-2c39-4522-9eb4-6fb416a83bd9.transcribe

Issues ranging from election integrity and voting laws to local taxes and international policy dominated this week's discussion on New Jersey Power & Politics.

More Stories

More from News 12

Warwick’s Patriot’s Path project gets $734K in state funding

Sen. Blumenthal: Passing Russia Sanctions bill in memory of late Sen. Graham is 'best path forward'

Power & Politics: NYC Mayor Mamdani on his ambitious bus action plan, Coney Island Boardwalk conditions

Long Island Power & Politics: Former Rep. Anthony D'Esposito named Labor Department inspector general; NY-04 race heats up; Brookhaven approves data center moratorium

Democrat Cait Conley launches campaign for New York's 17th Congressional District

Power & Politics: President Trump addresses the nation over SAVE

Ad Choices

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Privacy Manager