Hudson County Budget Meeting Comes to Hoboken Thursday

Hoboken city council members are urging residents to attend the Hudson County budget hearing Thursday night at Hoboken City Hall to express their discontent with the rising rate of county taxes.

The county's 2013 budget, which has been introduced but not yet passed, increases taxes by up to 10 percent for residents of Hoboken, Secaucus and Weehawken.

"We can have our debates about other things but I think we should all be in agreement that the taxpayers of the city of Hoboken should not take a 10 percent tax increase, which is what's proposed by the administration of the county, without fighting it tooth and nail," Councilman David Mello said at Wednesday's city council meeting. "We owe that to the taxpayers."

At Mello's urging, the oft-fractured council unanimously passed a resolution to protest the proposed increase to the county budget, and will present the resolution to the freeholders at Thursday's hearing.

"We had the worst economy in my lifetime, the worst economy arguably since the Great Depression and governments from our federal government on down to our municipal government have taken austerity measures that our county has not taken," Mello said, calling the increase "unconscionable."

"The county looks at Hoboken like we're their piggy bank," he said.

Department heads for the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, Sheriff’s Department, Hudson County Corrections Department and the Office of Emergency Management will present their budgets at Thursday's meeting, which is set for 6 p.m.