HIPP CALLS FOR CUTS NOT TAX INCREASES

RUTHERFORD REPUBLICAN TEAM

Hipp, Inguanti, Sasso

Candidates For Fiscal Responsibility

HIPP SAYS McPHERSON, COUNCIL SHOULD TRY AGAIN TO CUT BUDGET

33% Tax Hike Over 2 Years is Unacceptable

Rutherford -- While the borough is faced with a mammoth property tax increase this year, Rutherford Republican Mayoral candidate John Hipp says the council should delay implementation of its budget until more spending cuts can be made. Hipp, running with council candidates Rose Inguanti and John Sasso, issued the following statement on the borough’s finances. 

“Rutherford’s taxpayers are under assault from their own government and its time to put an end to it.

Fact: Rutherford’s average tax increase in dollars was the 11th highest in the State of New Jersey. Out of 600 municipalities in the state, only 10 had higher taxes than Rutherford (Source: DLGS property tax data; see, http://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/) . That’s not the kind of notoriety we should be proud of.

Fact:  The 2006 municipal tax levy increased by 18 percent or more than $2.4 million from 2005. As a result, most of us saw a significant rise in our property taxes-- not the $285 hike promoted by borough officials. That nearly 20 percent tax hike should have served as a wake-up call for the mayor and council. It didn’t.

Fact:: Last Thursday (August 8), the mayor and council passed a resolution “amending” the 2007 budget to include another $2.3 million increase in the municipal tax levy-- a 15 percent rise over last year. (Only councilman Genevosi had the courage to vote no) Combined, the mayor and council have increased the municipal property taxes 33 percent in just the last two years. This is a devastating assault on our seniors and middle class homeowners with families 

The tragedy is that the current state of the borough’s finances was both foreseeable and preventable. We did not have to be in this position. For too long,   the Mayor relied on gimmicks and onetime revenue sources to pay for spending increases she authorized. Mayor McPherson sold borough property to cover her increasing deficits caused by her constant over-spending. Worse, she made a deal with the notorious EnCap developer, which is one of the worst deals the taxpayers of this town have ever seen.  Mayor McPherson gave huge tax breaks to EnCap and gave us a 33 percent tax increase.

The Mayor was hoping the state would bail her out of this year’s financial mess. She asked for $2 million.  The town got $500,000 – not nearly enough to offset another big tax increase. When a community is in need of a state bailout to prevent a devastating tax increase, you know that something is really wrong with the management of that town. Rutherford isn’t Newark, or Paterson or Camden. But McPherson is putting our borough in the category of those cities suffering years of severe financial mismanagement. The property tax reform we were promised from Trenton – even if it is a one year fiscal gimmick - will not materialize in Rutherford.

There are solutions to Rutherford’s financial crisis. They are  The crisis is not insurmountable, but merely the result of reckless financial policies of the McPherson  Administration. The way to curtail tax increases is to cut spending; its not borrowing, and not begging Trenton for handouts.

If I am elected mayor, I will not rely on gimmicks to lower taxes; I will do what every household in America does when financial times get tight – I will stop spending YOUR money.  Rutherford’s mayor and council should admit failure and get help to cut this year’s budget before saddling us with another tax increase.