Hoboken First Stop in Governor's Series of Town Hall Meetings

Governor Chris Christie will discuss his proposed reforms at 11 a.m. at Hoboken Catholic Academy in the first of a series of town hall meetings. Mayor Dawn Zimmer will also speak before introducing the governor. 

The governor will talk about his proposed constitutional amendment to impose a 2.5 percent cap on increases in the property tax levy and state spending. He will also discuss the "Mayor's Toolkit," a package of 33 bills that lay out how municipalities can cut costs. 

The governor's goal with the "Cap 2.5 Reform" is to provide New Jersey's tax payers with "real tax relief," according to a press release from the governor's office. 

But, what does it matter to Hoboken? 

The toolkit lays out some new—and very detailed—rules for arbitrators. This is especially important for Hoboken, because both the fire and the police unions will be going into arbitration. The "Toolkit" is proposing that arbitrators are not allowed to make contract awards that exceed the 2.5 percent cap. This includes all salary, benefit and other contract provisions. 

In March, City Council unanimously voted down a tentative agreement with the police unions. The agreement would have included a total of 12.4 percent increase in salary for all officers and ranks. Because the officers have been without contracts for nearly 2.5 years, the retroactive pay would have been close to $3 million. 

Another one of the 33 bills allows counties and municipalities to opt out of the civil service system by holding a referendum. Fifteen percent of registered voters have to sign a petition in order to hold the referendum. This can have an impact on City Hall employees who were hired under civil service. 

According to the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, those civil service employees with permanent status "would retain only those civil service rights dealing with disciplinary removal and layoffs while they are in their current titles."

Under the reform, municipal furloughs and staggered temporary lay offs are also allowed. Currently, temporary layoffs must involve an entire department or agency, according to the Civil Service Commission. 

Christie also proposed that municipal elections be moved to November, something that was proposed by Councilman-at-Large Ravinder Bhalla and Councilman Peter Cunningham during a January council meeting.  

Zimmer, who was present at the press conference in Trenton when Christie introduced the reform measures, said on Sunday afternoon that the administration reached out to several community organizations to come and attend the meeting. Zimmer guessed that there will be at least 100 people attending the town hall meeting.