Jersey City Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa and Councilman at-Large Rolando Lavarro hosted a budget meeting at Our Lady of Mt. Caramel last night, seeking to offer solutions to residents that are angry over tax bills with major rate hikes.
Lavarro recounted the city’s over quarter billion dollar deficit, the need for $120 million in state aid, and the introduced $886.5 million budget that comes with a 15.5 percent tax increase.
“There is opportunity still for reducing the tax levy,” he claimed.
That goes against Finance Director/CFO Bill Viqueira’s claim that the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) told him that further cuts would not affect this year’s tax rate during the council’s July 13th caucus…