John Mitchell, Taxpayer Advocate Award to Bergen County Sheriff Mike Saudino. Under Sheriff Saudino’s leadership the taxpayer has saved over $2.5 million through prudent budget cuts and significant overtime reductions. Bravo Sheriff Mike!!
Three Democrats will try to fend off a challenge by Republicans led by Bergen GOP Chairman Bob Yudin
By Alyana Alfaro | 07/14/15 1:35pm
In the upcoming November 2015 election, Bergen County Republicans will have the chance to usurp three seats on the Board of Chosen Freeholders currently occupied by Freeholder Vice Chairman Steve Tanelli, Freeholder Tracy Silna Zur and Freeholder Thomas Sullivan Jr.
The incumbent Democrats are opposed by Republicans John Mitchell, Ken Tyburczy and Daisy Ortiz-Berger.
For Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin, the main determining factor of the upcoming November freeholder election is going to be property taxes.
“There was a four percent increase in the total budget this year under the Democratic majority,” Yudin said. “That increase led to increased property taxes.”
According to Yudin, since Democrats currently have the majority on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders—only two of the seven members are Republican—the issue of increasing the budget became a partisan one.
“To call it non-partisan is a joke,” Yudin told PolitickerNJ. “We need a serious reduction in the budget. The Republican Party in Bergen County is overwhelmingly in favor of a reduction in property taxes.
Eschewing Yudin’s argument, Democrats note that the chairman of the budget process was Freeholder John Felice, a Republican; and that the budget passed 7-0 with GOP support.
Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37), also believes that property taxes are an issue in New Jersey. However, she thinks that the issue stems from a reduction in state funding to schools and counties, not a function of there being a democratic majority on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
“I think property taxes are a problem in New Jersey, a big problem,” Weinberg said. “But I don’t think that anybody believes that one party or the other owns it or that one group of freeholders is going to find a unilateral solution.”
Read more https://politickernj.com/2015/07/weinberg-v-yudin-and-the-bergen-county-property-tax-question/
