The Hoboken Tax Reform Coalition
Follow Up Letter To Governor Christie From Hoboken Revolt
February 17, 2010
The Honorable Chris Christie
Office of the Governor
PO Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625
Dear Governor Christie,
Hoboken needs help. It needs your help and it needs it immediately! Our city is in dire financial straits. We have too many citizens who have given up, left our town and our State for financial relief. The problem, at its root, is that we have collectively bargained our future and our children’s future, spending far beyond our means not only now in these difficult times, but in the future. As you recognized in your speech to the State Legislature, Hoboken, is not unlike other towns across New Jersey.
But today, right now, we have an opportunity to fix Hoboken. We can and must do it today.
Hoboken is in the midst of contract negotiations with our police union. And, it appears the State-appointed Fiscal Monitor is about to sign-off on expensive public safety contracts. These negotiations must come to an end immediately. We call upon you to intervene.
Hoboken is unique because we have a State Monitor guiding our finances. She is intent on signing a contract without local government input and citizens support. When asked recently if she thought it would be prudent to wait for the outcome of current legislation regarding union pensions and health care benefits and the release of a police audit before completing the current contract negotiations in Hoboken, she replied,
“What happens in the State has absolutely nothing to do with the City's current contract negotiations. The proposals made by the governor for The State employees relate to all new hires, not current employees or retirees.”
When asked if the city council, those elected to represent the citizens of Hoboken, would be able to vote on the contract and the vote be binding she responded,
"Council may not ratify the contracts because they wanted additional give backs. In that case, I am prepared to sign off on the contracts and move forward."
Hoboken cannot abide the total disregard for fiscal austerity and the will of the people. We have, as you know, requested the release of an audit of our police department, completed nearly one year ago. The results of the audit remain a secret to our citizens and to our elected government. This information is necessary to gauge a proper budget going forward. We don’t want to benchmark simply from the status quo of the past, which has led us to the abyss, but what is reasonable and right for our city going forward.
We ask you to please place an immediate moratorium on approval of all collective bargaining agreements in Hoboken and consider issuing that moratorium statewide, until your fiscal austerity policy is firmly in place. We and all of New Jersey need you to make clear that you will not tolerate continued uncontrolled growth of government costs and property taxes. Start by making Hoboken the "poster city" for transparency, austerity, fiscal responsibility and a bright and prosperous future for our State.
In giving your help you are seizing this as an opportunity to fulfill your campaign statements.
Sincerely,
Kristina Hahn, on behalf of
The Hoboken Revolt Steering Committee
Views: 0
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by georgia on -
That's my sentiment too. The BoE acted recklessly with respect to the hire of Mr. Romano, and now some anonymous posts are viciously attacking Maureen for stating publicly that it was wrong to do so. I started to doubt the BoE a while ago, and KF just lost my vote for sure. The vicious posts makes me wonder about KF.
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Permalink Reply by Kathy L. Mallow on
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I might suggest that both Incognito & Georgia consider some further due diligence before holding fast to stated conclusions.
Incognito---just wondering---do you still live here?
Not to imply you're not entitled to weigh in.
But rumor has it, you're no longer a resident.
But perhaps still a taxpayer.
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Permalink Reply by Jack Dawkins on
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I just wonder why Hoboken Revolt thinks Christie will give Hoboken any special attention or help. We're just one town and this town did not support him at the voting booth. Many in Hoboken thought, when it comes to an "anybody but Corzine' mentality, ya' really need to look at who the "anybody" in the equation is. The majority in Hoboken said this particularly "anybody" is worse. No harm in asking for help, but, he's a suburbs guy folks - look where his support came from, not here. Special help for Hoboken?.....NOT
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Permalink Reply by Kathy L. Mallow on
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I would suggest Jack's take is spot-on, regarding Christie's possible interest in/responsiveness to Hoboken.
As for the BoE, I'd suggest you're misguided, Incognito, re the "tax & spend" allegation.
Nor was the choice of Romano lacking in transparency or an attenuated, deliberative process. If folks don't believe that, I'd suggest contacting all Board members to get their direct input/experience with the process.
As for his compensation package, it's my understanding that Romano comes in exactly where his predecessor, w/apparently far less experience, would be at the same point, had he stayed. Perhaps in a perfect world, it would be great if we could get someone very qualified & motivated to do what's needed, at a bargain. But if Dr. Romano can clean house, his apparently not-higher salary seems worth it, IMHO.
The sort of unproductive fractiousness that's been going on the past few weeks is really unfortunate, given all of the challenges Hoboken faces.
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Permalink Reply by Donna Antonucci on -
I do think they overpaid him. He really should have taken less since he is taking a promotion. Any $10K or more, less than Jack's salary would have been acceptable. In the end, if he does what he has to do in terms of cutting the administration and raising performance, his salary is meaningless. If you want to get someone who is qualified and unfortunately because of all the rules, he has to be NJ certified, you have to pay the going rate. I think they could have done better by $15 to $20K.
The Superintendent selection process was really robust, structured, transparent and thorough.
If he does what he has to do in terms of administrative cuts and school performance it's immaterial. If he doesn't, we should create capacity at our charter schools and just shut the whole thing down. The charter school would love to take over the high school building.
I just posted a new post I want I think success in BOE cuts looks like to me. What does success look like to you? Please post there.
Donna
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Permalink Reply by Sven on
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Kathy L. Mallow said:As for his compensation package, it's my understanding that Romano comes in exactly where his predecessor, w/apparently far less experience, would be at the same point, had he stayed.
I strongly disagree with this flawed logic. The fact that the previous BoE signed ridiculous contracts for their friends and associates is absolutely no reason why this outrageous practice should be continued, and even less so under the dire fiscal circumstances that many households, municipalities, states and the nation as a whole are currently finding themselves in.
Furthermore, before you are going to come back with the argument that the BoE is simply paying the going rate (of which I am perfectly aware - see attached benchmark study of superintendent compensation in NJ that I conducted a few days ago), I would have been happy if the BoE offered that going rate (and more) as part of a highly metrics-driven performance-based compensation package (i.e. moderate base salary with potentially large metrics-driven bonus). - Attachments:
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Permalink Reply by Donna Antonucci on
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Did you see my me post? . . . Christie's administration confirmed to me that the audits were delivered to Mayor Zimmer today? .. . . . . Go see....:)
Incognito Smith said:I wonder why you fail to mention the very lucrative contract the BOE just gave to the NEWLY hired superintendent. My only guess is that you think this new superintendent is worth this kind of public funds and that the taxpayers of Hoboken can afford this and much more. This is nothing more than business as usual without regard for our ability to pay these exorbitant costs. A new superintendent for a district with less than 2000 students many from out of town, one high school, and four or five school buildings with more staff on the payroll than when the district had over 7000 students.
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