Hackensack faces $5.5 million in tax appeal payoutsFriday, October 4, 2013
BY JENNIFER VAZQUEZ
NEWS EDITOR
Hackensack Chronicle
Faced with an increasing amount of tax appeal payouts, some, according to officials, predating 2006, the Mayor and Council approved a resolution for an emergency appropriation in the total of $5.5 million to tackle the issue.
The governing body approved the resolution authorizing the amount during the Sept. 17 meeting.
According to Chief Financial Officer Tammy Zucca, the tax appeals involved many commercial properties over the years.
"We have a lot of commercial properties appealing their taxes and judgments were awarded," she explained. "There are at least 60 properties."
According to the resolution, the "emergency appropriation shall be provided from a refunding bond ordinance to be adopted prior to December 31, 2013 or will be funded in full in the [calendar year] 2014 budget." If the latter occurs, roughly $2.4 million of the $5.5 million emergency appropriation amount is requested to be excluded from CAPS, while the rest will be within CAPS.
News of the tax appeal payments did not sit well with Hackensack resident Regina DiPasqua.
"I am very unhappy with the problem that has been inherited — the tax appeals," she told the Mayor and Council during the meeting.
Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino also expressed her disdain over the "inherited" issue the city has to face.
"Everyone that knows me knows that I'm the money girl," she addressed the public. "It's very upsetting to me also having to look to payout $5.5 million in tax appeals. We have good people researching these things and we are going to do what is right in this city. Many of these tax appeals go back to 2006 — if you can believe it that they remained unpaid. It's unfathomable to me that these things can go back and predate that long. We've inherited these things. We're going to work through them together. Everything has a solution. Everything is solvable if we put our heads together and do the right thing for the city."
Zucca further explained how the city could have tax appeals dating back to 2006.
"We can't control when residents and commercial owners appeal their taxes," she said. "When they appeal is not our responsibility. They might take four years to bring their tax appeal requests to our attention…maybe because some go through lawyers and take longer."
Councilwoman Rose Greenman assured the residents that the city will investigate how it came to be in the position that it is currently in.
"We inherited the problem," she said. "It's not a pleasant situation to be hit with all of this. We're looking into it. We are going to find the guilty parties. We are going to investigate and make sure that the people who did not do what they were supposed to do would be shown for what they have done. We are going to work very hard to reconcile all of this and to remain in your good graces."
Mayor John Labrosse shared similar sentiments.
"It's never fun inheriting a $5.5 million gorilla like this but we'll get through it," he said. "It's not going to be easy but we'll do what's right. We have some great people working behind us."
Email: vazquez@northjersey.com
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