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City nixes state aid chump change

In a sign of fiscal health, Jersey City is taking a pass on applying for supplemental state aid, a city official said yesterday.

The deficit in the budget introduced by the City Council earlier this month is simply too small to expect the money, called Municipal Supplemental Aid, which used to be known as "Distressed Cities Aid," said Business Administrator Brian O'Reilly.

By the time the budget is adopted, O'Reilly said, he expects all the holes to be plugged with no tax increase.

"If things fall our way we'll be in good shape," O'Reilly said.

Covering July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007, the council introduced a $422.6 million municipal operating budget earlier this month. Of that, $148.9 million is to be raised locally - up $13.9 million from last fiscal year's $135 million municipal tax levy.

O'Reilly said he's concentrating on raising revenue to fill the gap.

The city is seeking to renegotiate its payment in lieu of taxes agreements for properties owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. These payments have stood at $736,305 since 1988, he said.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy is also seeking passage of a real estate transfer tax in Trenton, which could yield another $1 million to $2 million, O'Reilly said.

The city is also selling property.

Real estate sales to the developers of the Liberty Harbor North development have already netted the city $5 million, and another $4 million is expected, he said. In addition, the city has applied for $2 million in "extraordinary aid" from the state, he said.

Cuts and PILOTS due to come on line from tax-abated properties should shave another $5 million off the deficit, he added.

Health and pension costs remain the big ticket items in this year's budget.

Pension payments, which are set by the state, shot up $8 million for the city's roughly 2,600 employees, while health insurance costs leaped $4 million, O'Reilly said.

City taxpayers are also getting socked with an additional $7.5 million in local school taxes every year until the total reaches $63 million, under a formula worked out by the state, O'Reilly said.

The City Council is expected is to pass a resolution at its meeting tonight challenging the formula, he said.

Municipal, county, and school taxes rose a total of $600 last fiscal year on a property assessed at $100,000, officials said.

The Jersey City City Council has approved the sale of $32 million in bonds, part of which will fund ongoing construction of a new West District police precinct, a public safety communications headquarters, and a new firehouse.

The new West District precinct on Communipaw and Monticello avenues is the first police facility to be built since the South District precinct was built in 1955.

Police Director Samuel Jefferson said the new $6 million precinct will take roughly two years to complete and will be equipped with up-to-date security, including metal detectors and bulletproof vestibules.

A new communications building, to be located on Bishop Street, will coordinate communications for police, fire and emergency services, Jefferson added.

The city received an $11 million federal grant to pay for the communications equipment, he said. The city will match that amount, earmarking $11 million of the $32 million bond sale to building and outfitting the facility, Jefferson said.

"This was a long time coming that we needed a communication center, not just for the Police Department, also so we can work in conjunction with each other," Jefferson said.

Roughly $2 million of the bond sale will go toward the ongoing construction of a new Rescue 1 Fire Department building, he said.

Although almost half of the bonds will be used to improve police and fire operations, roughly $7 million will go to the reconstruction and improvement of several public parks and fields.

These projects include construction of a pier and sea wall in J. Owen Grundy Park ($2 million) and a new swimming pool in Ercel Webb Park ($4 million).

The bonds also will fund the $3.8 million rehabilitation of the Jersey City Main Library, as well as provide $1 million for renovations at the Five Corners, Greenville and Miller branches.

An estimated $250,000 will be used for the acquisition of new traffic signals and equipment for the Division of Traffic Engineering and Transportation.

In addition, $2.5 million will pay for the resurfacing, widening and construction of various public streets, as well as a city-wide environmental cleanup.

The Division of Information Services will receive new software and computer equipment, costing $2 million, while the Incinerator Authority will receive $1.2 million to purchase new vehicles, including several trucks, two street sweepers and an excavator, officials said.