RECREATION FUND

" There were 4,023 units of luxury housing and more than 11 million square feet of commercial office space either constructed or approved for construction ( with 20 & 30 year tax abatements) during Schundler's tenure. City officials could not immediately provide the number of market-rate units created.

' The problem is that this housing is not affordable to Jersey City's working and other low- and moderate-income families,' the Jersey City Affordable Housing Coalition reported in a recent
position paper.... The coalition noted that the production of publicly subsidized housing declined to 46 units last year, while the previous annual average was 200. These figures, the Housing Coalition maintains, means the city will lose longtime residents."    (Campaign Guide: Housing, By Alberto Canal, Journal staff writer, 4/26/2001)

Spring 2000- In the late 1980s' the City Council under the Cucci administration attached an Affordable Housing fund clause to each of the waterfront tax abatements.. The monies were earmarked for low-income housing, and public amenities. The Affordable Housing fund under the Cucci administration has evolved into the Recreation Fund under the Schundler administration. Consequently, fewer Affordable Housing Units have been built under the Schundler Administration of 9+ years than the previous 4 years!  This exemplifies how brazen and corrupt the Schundler administration had become. The City Council representatives who vote on tax abatements got a piece of the action and all the taxpayers loose all around!

Quite simply, attached to each tax abatement, of which there have been dozens, is a Recreation Fee calculated on either square footage of the office/retail space of the building or number of apartments for residential buildings. The monies could be spent any way the City Council voted! We're talking millions of dollars while at the same time the "unabated", non-waterfront, inner city taxpayers, got another tax increase of 6% on their August 2000 bills, another 8% increase in water & sewer bills in January 2000 and another round of city layoffs, just in 2000!

At the City Council meeting on April 12^th 2000, 3 abatements were up for second readings and a vote. Because of my questioning of the City Council, Council President DeGise instructed HEDC Director Ann Marie Uebbing to explain in detail the formula on how the Recreation Fund amount was calculated for each of the abatements. What a windfall for the Council members! Those 3 abatements alone that night brought EACH Councilperson, over $110,000.

Immediately, I and other taxpayers contacted the state, who eventually killed it.   Just imagine the City Council spending spree would have been if we hadn't gone screaming to the state. Nice way to finance a re-election campaign the following year and shower your favorite constituents with their wish list, at taxpayers expense!

Shortly after that April 12^th Council meeting, I requested in writing to Council President Tom DeGise, a complete accounting of all the abatements with their respective Recreation Fund amounts. Not surprising, the request was totally ignored.. Wouldn't we all like to know that information?

The accounting @ 4/18/00 showed the following balances in the council accounts.

The balance unspent when the Recreation Fund was killed by the state was $ 1,587,882 but millions of $$$ in receivables were in the pipeline for the prior, approved tax abatements.

4/30/01--- More $$ came in and the balance of $6 million+ was put into the 2001 general budget which cut taxes by 44 cents or $44 for a homeowner whose house is assessed at $100,000.  Mayor Schundler and CC President DeGise are crowing about the tax decrease but we the activists cut Jersey City's tax rate by writing and calling the State to put a stop to this illegal fund!

Councilman Gaughan's comment in the May 2000 JC Reporter that " We never realized how big the numbers were going to be" is a joke. He must have been dreaming that evening on how he was going to spend his share, since those 3 abatements alone brought EACH Councilperson, over $110,000. Not bad for a night's work for Councilpersons who earn  $25,000 plus expenses annually! And there have been dozens of abatements and dozens of nights! The exact numbers we'll never know since Council President DeGise ignored my request but at least  $ 7 million of Recreation Fund monies had been approved by then. The numbers above were the amounts credited to each of the Councilpersons accounts at City Hall after the checks started rolling in...... money in the bank...

As I said at the City Council meeting, the Recreation Fund could easily be used by the Council to buy votes through self serving promotions. Councilman Mariano Vega used his funds to pay for ski trips for some of his constituents and family, a soccer trip to Brazil for his son's team, helped subsidize a trip to Russia for local artists in his ward etc… Councilman Bettinger ( who lost his re-election bid ) has wined and dined the seniors in his ward numerous times. "..using the money to host parties for senior citizens, including paying entertainers and food vendors. The bill for one party on Dec 2 (1998) at Puccini's restaurant for 250 senior citizens from Ward C was $7,800." "'It is obvious that Mr. Bettinger spared no expense to make a lot of 'senior citizens' very happy and comfortable in the knowledge that someone cares… Bill Tremper, JC'" (from Roya Rafei's "Rec-less Spending?", JJ article 12/30/1998) They're already wined & dined by Schundler through the city's Recreation and Cultural Affairs (Senior Affairs) department.

This was Schundler's way to buy off the Council and funnel "political contributions" through a corporate, tax deductible expense to the Council members to use as they saw fit. By the way, the municipal tax rate in JC went up 15% for 1998 alone!