“Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Kim DePaola’s car is at the center of a double murder in New Jersey — and her son’s friend could be one of the victims … TMZ has learned.
Two badly burned bodies were found in the ‘RHONJ’ star’s torched car Friday — both had reportedly been shot in the head … execution style.
We’ve learned Kim’s son, Chris, was the one who regularly drove the car. We’re told a friend drove Chris to the airport last Wednesday, and was in possession of the car while Chris was out of town.
Paterson school board members reacted with shock and outrage Wednesday night when district officials presented them with a preliminary 2016-17 budget that would increase property taxes by 27.2 percent to support the school district.
After more than 10 years without an increase, the tax levy for the district would jump from $38.9 million to $49.5 million for the school year beginning on July 1, according to budget documents made public Wednesday night.
That proposal comes at a time when Paterson property owners also face a 6.1-percent increase in municipal taxes, a hike that precipitated a partial shutdown of city government this week.
“We just can’t afford to increase taxes at this time,” said board member Nakima Redmon.
School board members asserted that they were blindsided by the proposed increase and vowed to remove it from the budget. But they delayed taking a vote to do that until the district administration provides them with more information on what spending cuts would be made to offset the elimination of the $10.6-million tax increase.
“Why is it you always seem to run out of money?” parent Rainbow Williams asked district officials during Wednesday night’s meeting. “Last year, you were $50 million in the hole. This year it’s $45 million … It seems somebody needs to learn how to do math.”
Eighth-grader Fabliha Zaman bemoaned the impact that last year’s budget cuts had on instruction in city schools, saying she missed terminated teachers who helped her learn. ”It doesn’t make sense to me,” said Zaman who attends School 7. “We all don’t deserve this.”
PATERSON – As municipal employees filed out of City Hall at quitting time on Monday, one of their colleagues stood near the doorway and wished them a “Good Holiday.”
Only 453 Paterson employees hold positions the administration deems essential – mostly police officers, firefighters and sanitation collectors – and were told to come back to work on Tuesday. The rest are supposed to stay home as the budget showdown between the mayor and city council continued toward what now seems like an inevitable partial shutdown of municipal government.
The shutdown will affect school crossing guards, street-cleaning, after-school recreation programs and senior citizen services, officials said.
Paterson’s non-essential employees are in limbo and have been told to call the city’s hotline Tuesday night to find out if the council approves the mayor’s budget proposal, a move needed to allow them to resume work on Wednesday.
“I’m angry,” said Joanne Bottler, a tax search officer. “I have a sick mother I care for and losing a day’s pay is going to be a hardship.”
FEBRUARY 10, 2016, 6:08 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016, 6:10 PM
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
PATERSON – City officials sent municipal employees a notice on Wednesday warning them that they would not be getting their biweekly pay through direct deposits to their bank accounts on Friday.
Instead, all Paterson employees would get old-fashioned paychecks this week – but only if the City Council approves a $7.9 million payroll appropriation at hastily scheduled special meeting on Thursday night.
“There won’t be any release of payroll without the council’s approval,” said Business Administrator Nellie Pou.
Pou said that in order to make the direct deposit payment on Friday she needed to wire the money to the bank on Wednesday. “I can’t do that,” she said.
The city’s payroll process was knocked off schedule when the council in a 4-4 vote on Tuesday rejected the administration’s proposed $22.5 million budget appropriation for February. Opponents said the administration had not implemented enough budget cuts.
Paterson looks to hold emergency meeting to make Friday’s payroll
NOVEMBER 30, 2015, 10:16 AM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015, 10:16 AM
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON – Officials were scrambling Monday morning to schedule an emergency City Council meeting later in the day in an effort to issue Friday’s paychecks to Paterson’s 1,800 municipal workers.
The mayor has said the council must approve temporary budgets for December and January on November 30 in order for the employees’ next checks to be issued on time.
The employee checks were placed in jeopardy last week when the council objected to the administration’s lack of spending cuts and voted 4-4-1 to reject its proposed temporary budget.
The state on November 25 sent the city council a letter criticizing its action. “The City Council’s failure to act on a temporary budget jeopardizes the fiscal well-being of the City,” wrote Timothy Cunnnigham, director of the New Jersey Division of Local Government Services.
Cunningham said the council should “work with the administration to identify specific budget cuts” and approve the temporary budget in the meantime so that Paterson could meet its financial obligation to employees, vendors and bondholders.
It’s not clear whether the council would budge at an emergency meeting. Under laws government fiscal decisions, the administration needs six votes to get the temporary budget passed. That means at least two council members among the five who abstained or voted against it would have to change their minds.
Waldwick NJ, New Jersey Transit train #1212, which departed from Waldwick at 8:56 AM en route to Hoboken, apparently struck and killed a male trespasser in Paterson at approximately 9:10 AM on Friday, 10/16. The incident occurred near the intersection of Governor and Straight Streets.
After being struck, the victim fell from the elevated track area and landed on Governor Street. He was pronounced dead on the scene at 9:40 AM. Paterson PD, NJ Transit PD, and the Passaic County Medical Examiner’s office are conducting a joint investigation.
AUGUST 19, 2015, 11:57 AM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2015, 11:57 AM
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
PATERSON — The city is running about a month late in issuing the first property tax bills under the new assessments set in the recent revaluation, officials said.
The bills will be far from routine because they will provide Paterson property owners their first tangible information on what their individual taxes will be under the revaluation, officials said. The city has issued notices on what the individual properties’ new values will be, but it has not yet disclosed what the new tax rate or tax bills will be, official said.
City Council Finance Committee Chairman Kenneth Morris said many homeowners whose properties received lower assessments under the revaluation will be expecting to pay lower taxes. “Some of them are going to find out that it’s going to have a different outcome than they expected,” he warned.
The revaluation was a lot-by-lot revision of the assessed values of all Paterson properties. It lowered Paterson’s tax base from $8.2 billion to $5.8 billion, according to data released by the city earlier this year. The numbers showed that the values on residential properties generally went down far more than they did on commercial land.
To offset the drop in ratables, the city’s tax rate will rise, officials said. The amount of the increase in the rate will determine whether property owners will pay more or less taxes as a result of the revaluation, officials said.
Normally, the city issues tax bills for the first quarter of the new fiscal year, which starts on July 1, at the end of the July and the taxes are due at the end of August, officials said. But the administration has not yet asked the City Council for the approvals needed to issue the bills.
Morris said administration officials have told him they will ask for those approvals next week, which would allow the bills to go out at the end of August and be due at the end of September.
Morris said no one has explained to him why the city is late in issuing the bills. Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres on Monday referred questions about the timing of the tax bills to his business administrator, Nellie Pou, and acting finance director, James Ten Hoeve. Neither Pou nor Ten Hoeve has responded to phone messages left for them this week.
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