It's amazing how just after the Fall Equinox, it suddenly feels like Autumn.
This is part 2 of today's "content rich" newsletter. Before I get started - 2 quick updates since this morning:
- We have confirmed that the goose that was taken to Wild Bird Fund after being intentionally hit by Hoboken resident Andrew Mullins, was put down due to the severity of his injuries.
- The Willow Ave Bridge repairs will take place next week, M-F, between 9am and 4PM. I left out when it was starting...
On to part 2:
- Hoboken Art & Music Festival This Sunday!
- Urban Market Targeting 11/1 Opening!
- L&B Healthy Pet Market Near CSP Targeting 11/1 Opening Too!
- Ruck The River – Helping Heroes
- Recent Public Safety Meetings: Key Takeaway – More Dedicated Walking Patrols
- Former Day Base Space - Soon to Be Compass Realty
- Hoboken High's Field of Flags for Armed Forces Heroes
- New Shiny Red Fire Hydrant at 15th & Washington
- Doing The Hard Work for Hoboken’s Schools
- $50M Paid By Taxpayers or Upzoning Worth $100M
HOBOKEN ART & MUSIC FESTIVAL!
This Sunday, September 29th from 11-6. Always something for everyone including art, jewelry, gifts, street food, and awesome music – the lineup looks incredible! As of right now, the weather looks perfect! Hope to see you there!
URBAN MARKET TARGETING 11/1 OPENING!
And how do I know this? Because I heard it straight from the source…
Ahmeed Mujalli, the owner and manager of Urban Market, gave me a tour of the space last week. The cool, industrial-feel interior is much bigger than it looks from the outside. Ahmeed is especially excited about the fresh produce, dairy, meat, and prepared food sections, and he can’t wait to introduce some interesting new offerings to our community.
They’ve had a hiring sign up for a while, and Ahmeed shared that he’s been overwhelmed by the number of great applicants, many from Hoboken and the surrounding towns. I can’t wait for the grand opening—this is going to be a fantastic addition to the north end of Hoboken!
L&B HEALTHY PET MARKET NEAR CSP TARGETING 11/1 OPENING TOO!
And how do I know this? Because I heard it straight from the source too…
Mike is the owner of L&B Healthy Pet Market in Montclair (and soon to be New Providence as well) is my friend, neighbor, fellow rabbit parent to gorgeous girl Nala (who I occaisionally babysit), and one of my Brownie's favorite person. Now, I have been promised that Brownie may be the official mascot... ok, maybe it wasnt a promise, but just me projecting. I am excited for Mike and for welcoming another successful business to Hoboken. They will be located at 155 Fourth St, directly across from Demarest.
RUCK THE RIVER – HELPING HEROES
Please join me in supporting this meaningful effort championed by veteran members of Hoboken’s American Legion. The event raises money for Badger Six a non-profit providing humanitarian aid to approximately 30 Afghan Cavalry families who fought alongside American troops after 9/11 – those referred to by our troops as the unknown heroes of the Afghan conflict. While many have found refuge in the U.S.—including an OB/GYN who spoke at our City Council meeting last week—many others remain in danger, now considered enemies of the Taliban and still in need of help.
Join neighbors on Saturday, September 28th at 10 AM. Grab a rucksack (at a weight that works for you) and walk about 2 miles in solidarity with these heroes. Registration is $30, and if you’re unable to attend, you can still donate by registering. CLICK TO REGISTER OR DONATE (FYI: In military terms, a “ruck” is a march where gear is carried in a backpack or ‘ruck’ over long distances.)
A huge thank you to Josh Lees, Hoboken resident, Badger Six team member, and US Army veteran who served multiple combat missions in Iraq, for raising awareness at our City Council meeting and passionately advocating for these families.
RECENT PUBLIC SAFETY MEETINGS: KEY TAKEAWAY – MORE DEDICATED WALKING PATROLS
Over the past two weeks, I attended the bi-monthly CAPS meeting led by Public Safety Director Ken Ferrante, alongside all public safety leaders, and hosted a separate public safety meeting with Hoboken PD for Maxwell residents. Unfortunately, there is no new information that can be shared regarding the deceased man found at Maxwell—no foul play is suspected, and it’s assumed to be self-inflicted based on Hudson County Prosecutor’s policy of not disclosing information under those circumstances. I know, it is frustrating, and I plan to put up a resolution calling for our Prosecutor to provide more immediate, transparent information to the public in situations like these.
Back to the meetings...
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- More walking patrols – Police Chief Steve Aguiar made a powerful statement, twice, that his goal is to increase walking patrols, which are effective in both deterring and addressing crime. This was such an impactful and well received point that I asked him to repeat it at the Maxwell meeting, and the crowd clapped each time.
- Full staffing by January – The department will be fully staffed after years of being down 10-15%.
- Advocating for a larger force – Hoboken’s population has grown dramatically, from 50,000 to 60,000 over the past decade, yet the size of our police force has remained flat. Chief Aguiar plans to advocate for increasing the force to meet the demands of our growing city. I fully support this, but I also recognize that it may have tax implications for residents unless we can cut other wasteful spending to cover the costs.
Other discussions in both meetings focused on food delivery e-bike issues and homelessness. For both, there was crossover input from City Council members (myself, CP Giattino and CM Quintero at the CAPS meeting) to discuss the policy side of the issue. Here is the summary of those discussions:
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Food delivery e-bikes: There was generally a shared view that the registration requirement and increased police enforcement have reduced sidewalk riding and intersection violations and once the newly purchased flourescent vests are distributed to riders, we feel the safety issue will continue to improve. However, concerns remain about health and safety, particularly for delivery workers who lack access to restrooms. As I mentioned at both meetings, we're working on solutions, though we acknowledge that our communities' demand for deliveries has driven this issue. Some of what we are considering includes:
- requiring food delivery companies to provide rest areas, water and bathrooms for their riders
- having a private company lease commercially used e-bikes locally and store the bikes when not in use
- limiting the number of food delivery people at any given time (NYC has done this)
- having the food delivery companies change their algorithm which currently requires riders to stay close to restaurants where they will pick up (thus the concentration seen downtown), and/or
- requiring the food delivery companies to have a business license to operate in Hoboken so they can held accountable for any violations of our local laws.
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Homelessness: The single biggest challenge we are facing in the United States that has long roots in economic inequalities, mental health, and lack of affordable housing. Hoboken is no different. And it’s about finding solutions that respect both compassion for our homeless neighbors and the need for public safety. Our homeless population generally includes those seeking housing and services (supported by resources like the Hoboken Shelter) and those who, for various reasons, choose not to engage with services. Both require our attention, and we must find ways to support them while keeping our public spaces safe for everyone. In terms of police involvement – remember that it is not a crime for anyone, whether housed or unhoused, to be in our public spaces. But some activities, regardless of whether housed or unhoused, are illegal – like indecent exposure, public urination, or erecting a structure in any of our parks. What you can do to get the right attention:
- For health and safety concerns about the homeless – If it’s an emergency, call 911. If non-emergent, contact Hoboken PD at 201-208-1674 or Hoboken’s Constituent Services at 201/420-2000.
- For public health and safety concerns – Report issues to the Hoboken PD non-emergency line at 201-420-2100. If you see something, say something.
- The City is also reaching out to Hudson County for more support. I have joined this advocacy given the County is where our social, family and homelessness services reside.
These are difficult issues that won’t be solved overnight, but we are committed to working through them.
HOBOKEN HIGH'S FIELD OF HEROES
In honor of Veterans Day, Hoboken High School Student Government is creating a Field of Flags and offering a wonderful opportunity to honor members of the armed services, both past and present, by sponsoring a flag for $5.00. All proceeds will support the Hoboken High School Student Council. To participate, simply fill out the attached form and return it with your donation by Friday, October 25, 2024 (instructions on form).
NEW SHINY RED FIRE HYDRANT AT 15TH & WASHINGTON
Not exactly sure how it happened, but somehow the fire hydrant at 15th and Washington got hit, turned and had to be taken out of service. Today Fletcher Creamer, the city’s contractor, was onsite replacing the entire hydrant. Which was pretty cool actually… #littlethings
DOING THE HARD WORK FOR HOBOKEN’S SCHOOLS
One thing I pride myself on is digging into the details to ensure we get things right, especially when it matters most. A great example of this was my work on the recent decision to allocate up to $500,000 of PILOT payments from new construction, annually, to all four of Hoboken’s public schools—Hoboken District Schools, HoLa, Elysian Charter, and Hoboken Charter.
Back in 2020, when this issue first arose, there was significant pressure to allocate funds solely to the district schools. I received hundreds of emails from school leaders and parents—many filled with anger and even threats of political retaliation. Looking back, I believe these reflected the passion of parents wanting to support their schools, yet were based on incomplete information, which is often the case.
At that point, I didn’t fully understand how the funding worked for our charter schools, only that their funding depended on a “funding formula” that flowed from the district school budget. So, I dug in to better understand how it worked. What I found was that the City giving money exclusively to the district schools would actually harm the charters. I immediately reached out directly, and only, to all the school leaders and to those parents who had previously contacted me. My goal was simple - to discuss how the funding formula worked and how giving money only to the district schools would harm the charter schools. I also provided additional information to help better inform those who had initially expressed concerns based on incomplete information.
It was this work—digging in and ensuring we were making the right choices for all of our schools and children—work that had not been done previously, that changed the course of how we proceeded for the better. From that moment on, instead of working against each other, the four districts began working together toward a common goal. And, as I’ve said before, the ultimate and best outcome of this has been that the acrimony between our schools has subsided. A true win win win win win....
In terms of the letters I sent to the handful of people—you can click below to read or after my signature below. I did not send them at the time to you via a broad communication, because I was deeply concerned about the growing animosity and the potential wedge between our district and charter schools —I didn’t want to fan the flames. Now, I’d actually encourage you to read them, not for the content specifically, but more to see how hard I work to get to the right answer. 2020 LETTERS TO PARENTS AND SCHOOL LEADERS
This is the kind of work I do: I dig in, I find solutions, and I always make sure Hoboken, especially Hoboken's children, comes first.
$50 M PAID BY TAXPAYERS OR
UPZONING WORTH $100 M
Those were our choices. The City Council chose not to take over negotiations to get a better outcome. Instead voted 5-1-1 in favor of the upzoning. I’m raising this issue again because many of you reached out after my last newsletter, asking for a clearer, more straightforward explanation of the difficult decision the City Council faced. So here’s what happened and why it matters for Hoboken:
It almost seems too bad to be true, but Mayor Bhalla’s actions could have left Hoboken taxpayers facing a $50 million liability (or more, or less) — over a third of our city’s $140 million annual budget. To avoid a trial and being held accountable for his unauthorized actions, and the potential risk he created for taxpayers, he instead agreed to give the developer upzoning approval, which includes a 21-story monolithic building—almost twice the size of the original plan, with the potential for 900 more residential units. While I support the developer, this version of the project is completely out of scale with Hoboken and will add significant strain on our community, leading to increased crowding in our schools and more traffic on our streets.
Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of what led us here:
- The City Council initially approved two development plans for 16-17 story buildings on Hoboken’s Western Edge.
- Mayor Bhalla signed contracts for both projects.
- A year later, the mayor acted on his own and shifted course, citing political pressure from a neighboring mayor, Brian Stack, who allegedly threatened to run an opponent against him in the 2021 mayoral election.
- Mayor Bhalla reneged on the contracts, casting the deciding vote (via his designee) on the Hoboken Planning Board to block the projects.
- This prompted the developer to sue on charges of conspiracy, arbitrary decision-making, and breach of contract.
- The judge ruled in favor of the developer, telling the Planning Board they must approve both projects, leaving the conspiracy and breach of contract claims against Mayor Bhalla unresolved.
- To avoid a $50 million liability, Mayor Bhalla negotiated a settlement that allows the developer to build a much larger project—up to 21 stories with 1,300 residential units.
- I requested that the City Council, given the mayor’s conflict of interest, be allowed to take over the settlement negotiations, but this request was denied.
- After I raised public awareness through a newsletter, Mayor Bhalla responded by attacking me personally, using defamatory language and even calling me a racist to my City Council colleagues (and then coincidentally leaked to the press), knowing full well I never made such a claim.
- Ultimately, five Council members voted in favor of the settlement - Jabbour, Quintero, Doyle, Cohen and Presinzano (to be fair, Paul had no history on this issue)—effectively sweeping under the rug how we got here.
If you are still with me, then I just want to end with giving a huge shout out to the Hoboken Library and its director Jennie Pu. We are really lucky to have something this special in Hoboken. I was beyond thrilled to speak and join Mayor Bhalla to help open the Hoboken Library Festival at Church Square Park on Saturday.
In one location, there were so many agencies who do important work for Hoboken residents, a plethora of activities for people of all ages run by Hoboken residents, and one of my personal favorites - the local author's tent filled with authors from Hoboken and surrounding areas and the many many books they have written. I wish I could have stayed longer, talked with them all, and bought all the books.
If you are not familiar with our library, I really encourage you to become familiar. Click on this link - just to see the many amazing activities during the month of October (listed chronologically) including things like movie screenings, unemployment insurance assistance, office hours with our Congressman, ESL classes, study clubs, art classes, writing classes, kids story time, bird walks for children, and more! And that is just this month! And one of my personal favorites is the Book Bike that brings our library to parks across Hoboken. Don't miss it on Friday's from 3-4pm when it makes a stop at the Hoboken Museum!
As always, please share this with everyone you know who may be interested and reach out any time on any issue important to you: 201-208-1764 or [email protected].
Tiffanie Fisher
Hoboken City Council, 2nd Ward
Engage. Inform. Advocate.
“More Voices are Better”
Learn more: www.Hoboken2ndWard.com
EMAIL TO PARENTS - OCTOBER, 2020:
Dear friends and neighbors,
This email is going to all 200 public school parents – about 40% Charter School Parents / 60% District Parents - who sent me an email about the PILOT payment that the City is considering allocating to the public schools. Thank you for reaching out. I 100% believe that more voices are always better. I’m writing you back as a group because I just want to provide some additional context to all of you that you may find informative and that seems to have been missing from the alarming “Defunding Public Schools Petition” and the “Charters Will Lose Out on Millions” emails that were sent to you. There is a lot I want to say on this, but to keep your attention, I am just providing a few key points below.
- Order of Magnitude: Did you know the amount being questioned, the amount that has created this division within our community, is about $50,000? This is 22% of the total amount that the City is considering allocating to all the Public Schools is $243,000. By comparison, the HBOE total budget is $83 million for 2020-21 and of this, the amount paid to Charter Schools this year is $10.1M. As an FYI, the biggest line item in the HBOE budget is the PreK program costs – these totaled $16.3M and are not fully covered by state funding.
- You are paying for this. Did you also know that this $243,000 is coming from the municipal tax levy? So of the 7.5% increase in the municipal tax rate this year, .4% of this is because this amount is being considered for allocation to the public schools. The intent of the PILOT is to reduce the tax burden but all that is being contemplated is shifting it from one part of the tax rate (schools) to another (city). This is why I was one of two “No” votes in 2016 (on this as well as the entire PILOT agreement structure which is terrible for the City).
- The Funding Formula is f’ed Up. That we know. But did you know that if the City Council were to send the entire $243,000 to the District Schools, the Charter Schools would receive about $55,000 less in funding as a direct result due to the Funding Formula? Do you think that was the intent of the Council in 2016? I assure you that it was not.
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The District Schools have built in funding for Enrollment Growth. So many I have spoken to do not realize this, including some of our education leaders, but the Funding Formula works in a way that as the District Schools expand, their share of the overall funding expands with the Charter Schools share reducing. Also enrollment growth can also always be funded by an increase to the tax levy. You can see the effect of the recent District Schools expansion growth in the following calculations of Charter School Aid in the HBOE Budget and its % of prior year Tax Levy:
- 2020-2021 - $10.3M / 21.3%
- 2019-2020 - $10.4M / 22.7%
- 2018-2019 - $10.1M / 23.0%
- 2017-2018 - $9.9M / 23.3%
Below is the email I sent to all public school leaders this morning. It has a very specific focus which is the Funding Formula, how it works (see attachment), and how these proposed additional revenues would flow through the HBOE budget and the Funding Formula. It is clear from all of my discussions that most in Hoboken do not know how the formula works. IMPORTANTLY, AT THE VERY END OF THAT EMAIL ARE SOME CHARTER SCHOOL STATISTICS. PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO READ THESE. I FOUND THEM TO BE VERY HELPFUL OF MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELATIVE COSTS OF OUR CHARTER SCHOOLS.
Please note that I do not have an opinion about whether the Charter School funding is to high or too low. I have actively campaigned and helped elect most of the current HBOE board members and generally believe we should be doing what we can to expand enrollment in our district schools in the future and not our charter schools. But right now we need to be looking out for the interests of all of our public schools.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you have. My only hope is that instead of fomenting this continued, awful divisiveness in our community, we find follow the math and find an informed way to bring everyone together.
Tiffanie
EMAIL TO PUBLIC SCHOOL LEADERS - OCTOBER, 2020:
Dear friends,
Good morning. This email is going to all the public school leaders I have emails for. Please accept my apologies if I have left anyone off. I have also cc’d our City Council President Jen Giattino and Vice President Vanessa Falco, as well as Mayor Bhalla. The main purpose of this email is I wanted to make sure I have a clear understanding of how the HBOE Budget and Charter School Funding Formula’s work in terms of the actual mechanics. Because I think they have a direct impact on the matter at hand – transferring $243K of what would otherwise be Municipal Tax revenue to the Hoboken Public Schools. So if any of our public school leaders believe I have misrepresented anything below, please let me know. One observation: transparency on this subject matter is low. But, after a lot of searching and asking, most of the information sources can be traced to actual documents. Only in some instances do I make assumptions or round for illustrative purposes, which I indicate.
OVERVIEW
HBOE Budget. Because the Charter School Aid calculation begins with the HBOE Levy (see below), with the DOE taking it directly from the HBOE’s approved final budget, I wanted to understand better how the school tax levy is calculated. What I found is no different than how the city’s municipal tax levy is calculated – the tax levy is the plug to balance the budget. And education accounting is similar to municipal accounting where the levy can be reduced by various revenues sources like using more of the surplus, one time fees, or other miscellaneous and unrestricted local revenues as examples. I think we can all agree that the goal of the Mayor/City Council as with the goals of the BOE I imagine are the same – to keep this levy as low as reasonably possible. And for clarity, the $243,000 that is at the heart of the current discussion is a reduction of revenue for the City resulting in a higher Municipal Tax levy, roughly .4% of the 7.5% municipal tax increase this year.
Funding Formula. It took me a while, but I received (and I’ve attached) a copy of the DOE, Division of Finance for the FY 2019-2020 Charter School Aid calculation. This was the detail necessary to fully understand the statute (NJSA 18A:36A-12) which as you know is brief in its description.
At the core, Funding Formula only uses the HBOE Tax Levy as the source of Charter School Aid, and no other state or federal aid sources. I get the sense that most people do not know how this formula works. I didn’t before, but now after reviewing the attached I actually found it fairly straightforward. It clearly does not work perfectly which is what all parties have said. For purposes of this discussion, I am using the 2019-2020 year from the attached schedule, not the current 2020-2021 year, as the example.
My takeaways. A PILOT payment allocation to the HBOE will be accounted for in the HBOE budget as Local Revenues that in all cases, reduces the amount of the Tax Levy that would have been used to fund and balance the budget. This is consistent with the purpose of the PILOT payment which is to reduce taxpayer burden. Because the starting point of the Charter School Aid calculation is the Tax Levy, when it is reduced, naturally the end result is reduced. When I ran the $243K through the Funding Formula it resulted in reduced funding to the Charters by $55K. I don’t think this was contemplated when the resolution was drafted in 2016.
This is the summary, a more detailed version is further down.
MORE DETAIL BEHIND THE FUNDING FORMULA
As noted in footnote 1 above, for illustrative purposes, and because I know that one of the issues that has been raised is that the District Schools educate the majority of children with special needs, because I didn’t have the exact special education figures for the Charter Schools, in this analysis I made the assumption that the Charter Schools have no Special Education or Speech Only students. The result vis a vis the Funding Formula is that the District Schools get 100% of the funding earmarked for these students.
In numbers, how the Funding Formula works:
In words, how the Funding Formula works:
- Begins with the State Adequacy Budget for K-12 prepared by the DOE and used only for the sole purpose of determining the % for each Special Ed, Speech Only, and Regular Education categories (“Adequacy Ratios”). In this year, the total State Adequacy Budget was $49.2M and the category ratios were 11.6%, .1%, and 88.3% respectively.
- The Charter School Aid Funding Formula itself starts with the HBOE’s Tax Levy using the prior year levy taken directly from the HBOE Budget and then increases it by the CPI to have a proxy for the current year Tax Levy. In this year the Tax Levy happens to be 94.5% of the State Adequacy Budget.
- The Adequacy Ratios from above are then applied to this adjusted Tax Levy to determine the beginning amounts for each Special Education, Speech Only, and Regular Education categories.
- And then it takes these allocations and applies the Charter 90% Haircut. The total of all three categories after the haircut is $41.8M with regular education accounting for $36.9M. These figures represent 85% and 75% of the State Adequacy Budget, respectively.
- A Per Pupil figure is then calculated off these reduced numbers based upon a Weighted Enrollment determined by the state. This enrollment calculation assigns greater weighting to students they feel have higher potential per pupil costs like older, at-risk, LEP and Special Education students.
- The total Weighted Enrollment in this year for K-12 students (including Charters) is 3566. This compares to the actual K-12 enrollment of approximately 3100 (here I took the figures from page 1 of the 2020-21 HBOE User Friendly Budget and rounded up). Charter Schools represent 32% or 985 of this number. Special Education Students represent 13% of this number.
- The overall weighting multiple used is about 1.15x (3566/3100). A reasonable guess is that the Charter multiple is closer to 1.0 and the District multiple is closer to 1.25 given the district schools have more older, at risk and those students requiring special education services. Why this matters is that because of this weighting, the district schools get a greater proportion of the funding to cover the increased costs of supporting students with greater needs/costs.
- As enrollment changes, the proportionate share of the enrollment changes. So assuming Charter School enrollment is now static, as the District School enrollment increases, all else being equal, the District School % share increases and the Charter School % share will decrease.
- The per pupil amounts are applied then to the Weighted Enrollment of the Charter Schools.
- Regular education per pupil amount is applied to all students.
- Special Education and Speech Only is applied to only those students who are characterized this way.
- In 2019-2020 this Funding Formula calculated the Charter School aid to be $10.4M.
RATIOS AND INFORMATION I FOUND HELPFUL TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE COST OF OUR THREE CHARTER SCHOOLS.
For clarity, I am not forming any opinion on whether the funding is too much or not. I know every dollar matters to each district which is at the crux of the matter before us. There just doesn’t seem to be a single source for seeing this information so I found these ratios that I calculated off the information I sourced to be informative.
- 68/32% split of actual K-12 enrollment (District/Charters)
- 72/28% approximate split of weighted K-12 enrollment per the state’s weighting (District/Charters)
- 12% of the total BOE budget (including PreK) is the Charter School Aid
- 15% of the total BOE budget (excluding PreK)
- 21% of the total State Adequacy Budget
- 25% of the State Adequacy Budget for Regular Education
- 22% of the estimated current year Tax Levy
- 23% of the prior year Tax Levy
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On a per pupil basis, based upon Weighted Enrollment, Charter School Aid equates to
- 85% of the Per Pupil Adequacy Budget for Regular Education
- 90% of the Per Pupil Tax Levy for Regular Education
- 87% of the District’s Per Pupil Tax Levy for Regular Education – due to the 10% the Charters do not receive that stays with the District.
Charter School Aid in the HBOE Budget and its % of prior year Tax Levy (which has decreased each probably due to increased District enrollment) is as follows:
- 2020-2021 - $10.3M / 21.3%
- 2019-2020 - $10.4M / 22.7%
- 2018-2019 - $10.1M / 23.0%
- 2017-2018 - $9.9M / 23.3%
Thank you for taking the time to review this. Again, please let me know if I have materially misstated or misrepresented anything herein. My concern which is obvious, is that a City Council action to give a portion of the City’s PILOT payment to the public schools, if given solely to the HBOE, has the unintended impact of doing harm to the three other districts.
Tiffanie
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