Councilman Steven Fulop to Introduce Municipal Election Legislation

Councilman Steven Fulop to Introduce Municipal Election Legislation
Proposal to Move Jersey City Elections from May to November

Jersey City- Friday, January 8, 2010: Councilman Steven Fulop (www.stevenfulop.com) announced today that at the second Jersey City Council meeting in January he will introduce an ordinance based on yesterday’s exciting and groundbreaking legislation. Both the Senate and the State Assembly passed legislation that was sponsored over one year ago giving municipalities the ability to move elections from a lower turnout May election to a higher turnout November general election. 

The new legislation allows, for the first time ever, municipalities with nonpartisan forms of government, such as Jersey City, the option of holding their May elections on the same day as everyone else – during the general election in November. Before this, state law called for New Jersey nonpartisan elections to be held–at significant cost and with lower voter turnout–during the second week in May.

“This will not only save Jersey City significant cash, but it makes sense. It is challenging to get the people to come out for each election, when they are held at incongruent times,” said Councilman Steven Fulop. “We should move the elections to the people. I have been watching this legislation for the past year and believe it could fundamentally change how cities like mine are run. This is crucial for Jersey City to reach beyond the political machine to have a more representative election.”

In the Jersey City 2009 May election approximately 30,000 voters participated while in the November election nearly 39,000 voters came out representing a 33% increase in turnout1 . Throughout the rest of the State, 86 of the 566 municipalities hold non-partisan elections in May, and are now eligible to move those elections to November. Those include Newark and Jersey City, the two largest municipalities in the state along with Trenton, Hoboken, Clifton, Nutley, and Cedar Grove among others.
 

Councilman Fulop Introduces Tax Payment Plan to Help Struggling Jersey City Families

Councilman Fulop Introduces Tax Payment Plan to Help

Struggling Jersey City Families

Jersey City- Monday, January 4, 2010: Councilman Steven Fulop (www.stevenfulop.com) announced today that he will introduce an ordinance at the next council meeting, on Wednesday January 13th, creating a Jersey City tax payment plan for struggling Jersey City families.

“2009 was a very hard year for Jersey City. This ordinance is being introduced on the heels of not only at 11.25% tax increase for residents, but many controversial tax abatements for developers, and a municipal budget that is more than 6 months late. I believe that this tax payment plan is crucial to helping the many struggling families in Jersey City.” Councilman Steven Fulop said.

Some specifics of the tax payment plan ordinance include:

-       Provide homeowners the option  to set a payment plan, for up to 3 years for qualified families, for taxes prior to the city pursuing a tax lien on the property

-       Allow homeowners that are currently collecting unemployment or have fallen on a difficult personal financial situation and have applied to a bank for a loan that has not been granted, an opportunity to qualify for the program

-       Ensure the city  can only  accrue interest on the delinquent payment rather than the entire tax bill

-       Establish a Council-created  subcommittee to review resident applications with a recommendation from the tax collector

“Every single day we hear of struggling families in Jersey City.. Nearly half of all Jersey City homeowners pay their own taxes directly to the city rather than through a mortgage company. As a government we need to do everything can in order to make sure that hardworking families don’t lose their homes.”

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