After local taxes skyrocketed roughly 50% literally overnight, most taxpayers expected some relief in fairly short order. Initially, officials assured us that it was a "temporary, one time" tax hike. Well, here we are, many fiscal quarters later, with no relief in sight.

Voters will recall that Dawn Zimmer campaigned on a "detailed" 25% tax cut plan. We've known for some time that's not in the cards. On the eve of last year's special election, the state fiscal monitor predicted that we'd at least see an 8% reduction. Now that's not happening, either.

In this past week's city council hearing, we learned that we can expect a tax cut of... drumroll, please... 0.54%. That's one-half of one percent. When candidate Zimmer promised us "change," we didn't realize that she meant a few loose coins.

In her interview with Mile Square View, Mayor Dawn Zimmer was asked if she considers any municipal services ripe for privatization or outsourcing. To her credit, the mayor revealed that she's in the process of reviewing several areas of government for privatization. We'd very much like to hear what those areas are. Unfortunately, however, the mayor refused to share that information. She indicated that she'd only discuss potential areas for privatization after "a decision has been made."

This reticence, in our view, is misguided. For starters, the people should know what the mayor is thinking. Moreover, simply mentioning that a municipal service is under consideration for privatization can lead to efficiencies--even if those services are never ultimately privatized. City employees might suddenly realize they don't need quite so many supervisors, for instance. Or smoking breaks, for that matter.

Mayor Zimmer should go even further, and clearly demonstrate that municipal services are costing too much. The most effective way to do that is to simply request price quotes from multiple vendors. Let's find out what private firms can do, at what cost. This would expose, in specific terms, how much we're currently overpaying for municipal services. City employees would then have to compete.

Flint, Michigan, provides one example of this phenomenon. After the mayor received bids from private firms, the union found ways to collect trash for $1.4 million less. As a result, the city decided not to move forward with privatization. The same municipal workers collected Flint's trash. They just did it faster, smarter, and cheaper.

Like Flint, the City of Indianapolis found that sometimes merely threatening privatization prompted city employees to work more productively. Often, however, using a private firm makes sense. Indianapolis saved $15 million when it privatized trash collection. Closer to home, Jersey City under Bret Schundler found ways to save money via privatization. So did Steve Lonegan, in Bogota.

One area Mayor Zimmer ruled out for privatization was the library. We hope that she reconsiders this stance. There is certainly no harm in at least studying privatization, and receiving bids from vendors. The mere process might uncover inefficiencies that current employees could rectify. Or we might find that a private firm could run it at a much lower cost. Explaining her opposition to privatization, the mayor offered her belief that our library is significantly underfunded. In reality, that's all the more reason to consider some form of privatization. A firm could potentially invest some of its own capital as part of a privatization deal. At a minimum, reduced overhead costs would free up tax dollars for needed improvements or purchases.

In the midst of our city's fiscal crisis, there's no reason not to explore privatizing or contracting out municipal services wherever practical. As other cities have demonstrated, there's no reason to stay mum on which services you're thinking of opening up to competition. On the contrary, it sometimes pays to think out loud.

Our Fifth Annual Lincoln Dinner will take place on the evening of Sunday, March 28th. We are excited to announce that former Jersey City Mayor (and newly-appointed Commissioner of Education) Bret Schundler will headline this year's event. Stay tuned for more details. In the meantime, please save the date!

In a recent interview with Mile Square View, Mayor Zimmer was asked if she’d favor suspending or repealing the municipal open space tax. Unfortunately, the mayor stated that she wouldn’t even consider it, despite the city’s failure to deliver on promises of tax relief. The mayor accurately noted that voters approved the open space tax in a citywide referendum. The city’s hands are not exactly tied, however. That referendum was non-binding. The council still had to vote to enact the tax.

If the mayor feels that we need to consult the voters prior to revisiting the open space tax, fine. Let’s hold another referendum. As we’ve previously written, this tax was approved in a very different political and economic climate than we face today. In these hard times, voters might now have a different opinion.

The champions of the open space tax promised us offsetting spending reductions to neutralize the tax impact. That, obviously, didn't happen. After taxes skyrocketed, Zimmer and her allies then campaigned on a 25% tax cut plan. Now that's not happening, either.

And so, as far as we’re concerned, the least they can do now is move to repeal (or at least suspend) a tax hike they themselves foisted on us (there's no blaming a prior administration, or Trenton, for this one). If they want to fund their pet initiatives, they should find a way to repeal Tripodi's massive tax hike first (or at least achieve that promised 25% reduction). In other words, Mayor Zimmer and her council allies should lead by example — especially if they're planning on asking others to make sacrifices.

During last week's school board meeting, Carrie Gilliard stated that she's disaffiliating from the Kids First coalition. Over the weekend, fellow board member Maureen Sullivan announced that she has left Kids First as well (or, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, Kids First has left her). Sullivan's letter, published in the Hoboken Reporter, explains how she has tried in vain to hold Kids First to their promises of reform:

Dear Editor:

From the minute I took my seat on the school board last April it’s been apparent that my colleagues were not nearly as committed to reform as we had promised during the campaign. For nine months I loyally backed my team in public. But behind closed doors I argued for a tougher stand in union negotiations, a harder line on spending, greater transparency and a commitment to hiring the best people. At almost every step I met stiff resistance. In virtually every case my arguments lost out. Now, following our amateurish search and then the rush to hire an inexperienced superintendent, it’s clear that I must resign from Kids First (the political organization with whom I ran for the board). My fellow board member Carrie Gilliard quit Kids First at Tuesday’s meeting.

In my opinion, the search got off on the wrong foot. When the previous superintendent quit last June, I said the board should hire a headhunting firm that would find top candidates. I envisioned a hunt that would look at executives at, say, KIPP or Teach for America, where Washington’s Michelle Rhee started. I never got a hearing. Instead, I was blindsided at the September meeting with a resolution that the search would start immediately and that the NJ School Boards Association would conduct it. That would largely limit the applicants to NJ public school administrators.

Much of Kids First was fixated on hiring someone – anyone – before the April election to avoid losing that power if it lost control of the board. I thought we should find the best candidate, no matter how long it took. As it happened, the NJSBA presented us with a very shallow pool of candidates. Of 21 who applied, only six were worth interviewing, and two of those soon dropped out. Of the remaining four, only one had ever run a district. Then we conducted a very cursory due diligence.

A trip to Frank Romano’s district was not organized until last Tuesday, after he had already been offered the job. I thought we should heed references from Millburn, but I was told I was just digging up dirt. Then Tuesday I was blindsided again – this time with the news that we were voting to hire Romano that night, although the board and public had been told this was off the agenda. Carrie and I voted no. My main reason is that he doesn’t have the right educational philosophy for our district. Test scores could fall even further. What’s more, his salary and guaranteed raises are far too high.

Volunteering for the school board demands countless hours. We all get some of the myriad decisions wrong. But one thing I can’t get wrong is following the principles on which I was elected: treat the taxpayers’ money as if it were my own, keep the public informed and never forget to put the kids first. I’m not putting together a slate to challenge Kids First in April, but I encourage true reformers to demand accountability and consider running for the board.

Maureen Sullivan

Earlier this week, the Board of Education voted (seven in favor, two opposed) to hire Frank Romano as our district's new superintendent. The board has offered Romano a salary of $190,000, with 3.5% annual pay increases. Those raises are guaranteed, not performance-related. Romano's salary would exceed that of Jack Raslowsky, our last full-time superintendent.

Romano was a rather underwhelming candidate, to put it mildly. He certainly didn't merit such a lucrative contract. In our view, the Board of Education has really let taxpayers down. That said, we commend board members Maureen Sullivan and Carrie Gilliard for their dissenting votes.

During that same meeting, the board voted (five in favor, three opposed) to send member Frances Rhodes Kearns on a $2,300 junket to a convention in Chicago. On that particular vote, Theresa Minutillo joined Sullivan and Gilliard in standing up for the taxpayer.

Today would have been Ronald Reagan's 99th birthday. He is missed, now more than ever. In this present crisis, our national, state, and local officials would do well to ask themselves, "What would Reagan do?"

A class action lawsuit was filed this week, on behalf of numerous property owners victimized by the capricious enforcement of our city's rent control ordinance. Our city routinely wastes taxpayer dollars defending this antiquated law. Instead, we should take action to prevent costly lawsuits in the first place. At a minimum, we need to amend our city's rent control ordinance, and make sure that it's consistently enforced in a fair manner.

In our view, however, it's time to scrap rent control entirely. Not only would this allow the rental market to function properly (allocating housing more efficiently), it would save taxpayers money. We'd save all the money we're currently spending on rent control administration and enforcement. And, of course, we'd protect the taxpayer from these kinds of lawsuits in the future.

“I don’t think they were elected to reduce taxes.” - Councilman Michael Lenz, 01/30/10, referring to Mayor Dawn Zimmer and her council allies.

Lenz dismissed campaign talk of significantly lower taxes as unrealistic. Instead of cutting taxes, the councilman argued that we should focus on spending tax dollars more "carefully."

Contrary to the councilman's "spin," candidate Zimmer promised a 25% tax cut (to view one of her mail pieces, click here). Voters now expect her to deliver. That said, it is our contention that taxes are not truly "cut" until last year's massive tax hike is fully repealed. Otherwise, we are effectively stuck with a permanent tax increase.

Our state's chapter of Americans for Prosperity has released its final report card of the 2008-2009 legislative session. Over fifty key votes were evaluated from a taxpayer's perspective.

We are sorry to report that our district's representatives have utterly failed the taxpayer. In the Assembly, Caridad Rogriguez and Ruben Ramos both earned failing grades. Rodriguez voted in the taxpayer's interest a mere 8% of the time. Ramos fared even worse, with a 2% score. In the Senate, Brian Stack received a paltry 2% score as well. A dual officeholder, Stack also serves as Mayor of Union City.

We'll keep a watchful eye on this tax-and-spend trio, and let you know how they vote in the upcoming session. In the meantime, hold on to your wallets!

In a recent interview with Mile Square View, Judy Tripodi was asked to explain what ever happened to the layoffs and demotions that were announced early last year.

Tripodi concedes that she never delivered on those promised cost reductions. Her "excuse" for inaction makes no sense to us. Tripodi claims that she couldn't follow through in light of Peter Cammarano's arrest. However, she made the layoff and demotion recommendations prior to his election. And yet, Tripodi now maintains that she couldn't lay off city employees after Cammarano's arrest, as she "didn't know who was coming in."

Well, Dawn Zimmer was named Acting Mayor in very short order. She was then duly elected. So why haven't those layoffs been made? Tripodi never directly answers that question.

Whatever the reason, this delay has cost taxpayers perhaps as much as one million dollars so far. It's simply infuriating to learn that, after swiftly hitting us with such a massive tax hike, the state fiscal monitor is now in no particular hurry to downsize government. And neither, apparently, is our mayor.

Right on the heels of his proposed tax on financial institutions, the President is now calling for severe new restrictions on the size and activities of our nation's banks.

In his latest press conference, Mayor Bloomberg blasted Obama's plans, noting that banks are the foundation of New York's economy. In last week's press conference, Bloomberg warned that Obama's new taxes would transform New York into Detroit.

As so many of our residents work in New York's financial sector, these new taxes and regulations are bad for Hoboken, too. Local concerns aside, is this any way to "stimulate" the nation's economy? The market, apparently, doesn't think so. Stocks plummeted after the plans were announced.

In related news, a recent poll found that 77% of investors view Obama as "anti-business."

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti, in the aftermath of the devastating quake that has killed or displaced so many of their countrymen. We are proud of our nation's characteristically compassionate response. Our President showed wisdom by reaching out to his predecessors, Clinton and Bush, to help rally and coordinate America's humanitarian efforts. Crises like these can, and do, make partisan divisions feel small.

There are, of course, those who seek to politicize these events. And there are sincere differences of opinion when it comes to how we can most effectively assist Haitians, once the initial humanitarian response is over. We are of the view that Haiti needs to shore up its own governing institutions, civil society, and rule of law. Haiti desperately needs more foreign investment, and less foreign aid. Free market reforms would attract much needed capital.

For now, though, Haiti needs the world's help. There is no disputing the immediate need for massive humanitarian aid. If you haven't done so already, please consider making a small donation to your favorite charity today (to support the work of AmeriCares, click here).

Our Fifth Annual Christmas Party drew more than 60 people this year. A fun time was had by all.

More importantly, we collected over 200 toys for children in need over the course of the past week. Hats off to Fernando Uribe and the Hudson County Young Republicans for planning and executing this year's toy drive. Thanks, everyone, for your kind support.

We hope that your holiday season is filled with joy. Here's to a happy and prosperous new year!

Two years ago, our council passed (and voters then approved) a citywide referendum that raised taxes in order to create a municipal open space trust fund. This tax, needless to say, was approved in a very different political and economic climate than we face today.

Voters should now have a chance to reconsider this decision. In retrospect, the open space tax was marketed to voters in a rather deceptive manner. Slick TV ads promised all kinds of new parks and recreation space. The parks, of course, never materialized. Residents who expressed concern over the burden of higher taxes were reassured that offsetting cuts were on the way. Those promised cuts never materialized, either. Instead, we’ve had to endure massive tax hikes.

If our new mayor and council want to demonstrate their commitment to putting taxpayers first, moving to repeal the open space tax is a fine place to start.

Warning lights are flickering on the nation's dashboard. Click for real-time data:

Meanwhile, Democrats are proposing that we raise our nation's debt limit by nearly $2 trillion, to a record $14 trillion or so.

Our federal government is literally broke. And yet, we keep hearing calls for more and more federal spending. At a certain point, this house of cards will collapse. As Margaret Thatcher said, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

All of us here sincerely wish you every happiness this Holiday Season and prosperity in the upcoming New Year. Along with the Hudson County Young Republicans, we cordially invite you to our Fifth Annual Christmas Party and Toy Drive. Here are the details:

Date: Thursday, December 17th
Time: 7:30 PM - 10:30 PM
Place: Hoboken Bar and Grill (230 Washington Street)
Cost: $20

We'll gather in the downstairs lounge area. We'll have live music, hot food, and a cash bar.

In addition, please consider bringing along one unwrapped toy. All toys collected will be delivered to Toys for Tots.

We hope to see you on the 17th!

All the best to you and yours,

The Hoboken Republicans

Welcome to the new and improved online headquarters of the Hoboken Republican Club. This site was designed to be far more relevant and interactive than its predecessor. We intend to keep content fresh, and welcome your comments. We have also created a forum, in which you can post new items, and discuss issues of the day. In addition, you can promote your own events in our community calendar. So please make yourself at home. It is our hope that, with your participation, this new online community will flourish.