Rising local property taxes a scandal editors refuse to tackle

The Rainbow Castle Preschool building at 142-48 Main St. in Hackensack has been boarded up, months after the structure was evacuated and declared unsafe. The two-story building was damaged by a pile driver at the construction site of a 14-story residential-retail project at Main and Mercer streets, a major part of the city's downtown rehabilitation plan.

The preschool building was declared unsafe last July 27, and work on the apartment projet was suspended. The owner is negotiating with the builder for compensation. The Record has completely ignored the story.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR 

Who was responsible for the unflattering photo of Freeholder Mary Amoroso in The Record today?

Amoroso spent many years as a reporter and editor in the paper's feature department before she ran for office.

She's pictured on the Local front today with her mouth agape and right hand raised, and two men and a baby aren't even identified.

Of course, there is a lot more wrong in the story about the Bergen County Board of Freeholders, and reports on the makeup of town councils and school boards that have been running since the first day of the year.

Today, Steve Janoski, Philip DeVencentis and other reporters focus solely on politics -- which party gained the upper hand in the Nov. 8 elections.

Issues, such as the scandals of rising taxes and the burden of tax-exempt property, are totally ignored, as they have been for years.

Hackensack

In Hackensack, for example, the City Council says a property revaluation in 2016 managed to cut or stabilize taxes for two out of three homeowners.

Yet, the city still hasn't found money to pave streets that have been torn up for utility and sewage work, including two major thoroughfares, Main and State streets.

Despite delivering financial stability, the council and county seat remain behind the eight ball -- saddled with tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in tax-exempt property owned by Bergen County, Hackensack University Medical Center, Fairleigh Dickinson University and others.

Those non-profit or tax-exempt entities shift the tax burden to homeowners and businesses.

And the budget of the Hackensack Board of Education, which accounts for 44% of a resident's tax bill, was higher than the entire city budget for at least the second year in a row.

The Record didn't even bother covering last April's election for three board members and the binding referendum on the budget.

Port Authority

Today's so-called Page 1 expose of a "$30 billion tug of war between New Jersey and New York" is another sensational report on an agency and resources the two states have fought over for nearly 100 years.

The Record's endless stories on this colossal patronage war allow editors and reporters to ignore the sad state of bus and rail transit under Governor Christie, whose first major act was to cancel a pair of Hudson River rail tunnels.

PA dates to 1921

When New York and New Jersey signed a compact in 1921 to create The Port of New York Authority -- giving it a mandate to develop and modernize the entire port district -- New Jersey was left out of the name.

In fact, the battle of the states over jurisdiction rights on the mighty Hudson River dates to the early 1900s.

The agency took over Port Newark in 1948, but the name wasn't changed to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey until 1972.

Borgs prepare to screw Hackensack again

This is what The Record's former headquarters at 150 River St. in Hackensack looked like for much of the time after North Jersey Media Group and its flagship paper abandoned the city in 2009.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In 2008 -- several months after securing a $3.65 million mortgage for a Tenafly McMansion from North Jersey Media Group -- Publisher Stephen A. Borg put into motion the biggest downsizing in the history of his flagship daily paper, The Record of Hackensack.

In 2009, Borg ordered the remaining employees to leave 150 River St. in Hackensack for a non-descript office building next to Route 80 in Woodland Park, completing a pullout from the city where The Record and the powerful Borg family had prospered for more than 110 years.

Screw Main Street

The impact on Hackensack's Main Street and nearby restaurants was incalculable, but pulling out more than 1,000 employees made the business district look even more forlorn.

Now, according to a Page 1 story in today's edition, NJMG is seeking to reduce the tax bill on its 19.7-acre property along River Street in Hackensack, land now valued at $23.44 million, according to the state Division of Taxation.

This despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars in income NJMG is receiving from Bergen County to provide parking spaces lost to construction near the Bergen County Courthouse.

And the tax appeal doesn't acknowledge the interest in the land expressed by luxury apartment developers, who aren't bothered by the notion of building in a notorious flood zone along the Hackensack River.

Zisa family legacy

Today's story reports NJMG's tax appeal is among a backlog of hundreds of similar cases that could cost Hackensack as much as $30 million -- thanks to sloppy record keeping and the previous administration's failure to pay successful applicants (A-1 and A-6).

Some property tax bills haven't been settled since 2006, said Deputy Mayor Katherine Canestrino (A-6).

After a reform City Council slate was sworn in last July 1, The Record has published attacks from losers in the 2013 election, including Jason Nunnermacker, a member of the city's dysfunctional Board of Education (A-1).

Does the Woodland Park daily do that in any other community?

Missing information

Today's story by Staff Writer Christopher Maag notes Hackensack's tax rate of $3.217 per $100 in assessed value is "among the highest in Bergen County" despite a pronounced drop in city property values after the 2008 economic slump.

But Maag ignores a major reason for the city's high tax rate -- hundreds of millions of dollars in tax exempt property owned by Hackensack University Medical Center, Bergen County and Fairleigh Dickinson University.

It's also an issue Mayor John Labrosse and the four other members of the City Council haven't addressed.

The city hasn't asked those tax-exempt entities to give back in the form of new police cars, street paving and payment for other items the cash-strapped city can't afford.

For example, Fairleigh students could tutor city schoolchildren or set up after-school programs. And the Bergen Academies' culinary program could help improve the mediocre food service in the schools.

More errors

Maag's story contains at least two errors, making readers wonder whether there are other inaccuracies or distortions in the account.

The reporter says "none of the five former City Council members returned calls seeking comment," but Labrosse, the current mayor, served on the prior council.

Maag also refers to attorney Richard Salkin, a former double dipper under the previous council, backed by the Zisa family, as "Rick Salkin."

Of course, "Rick" could by a typo for "dick" or "prick." 

Not much to read

Hackensack's tax-appeal woes are the only thing worth reading about on Page 1 today, but don't miss the photo on A-6 of Governors Christie and Cuomo kissing each other on the cheek, and the delighted reaction of New Jersey's first lady.

Were the governors of New York and New Jersey congratulating themselves on screwing commuters by rubber stamping exorbitant toll increases on Port Authority crossings -- money that helped pay for the new World Trade Center and 9/11 musuem?

Or was Cuomo planting the kiss of death on a potential presidential rival?

The 9/11 museum is the kind of boondoggle that gives the Port Authority the  much-deserved name of Port Atrocity.

Day of infamy

Today's Mike Kelly column on the museum dedication is a real disappointment as the burned-out reporter merely mimics comments by President Obama and others on the small items that survived the destruction of the Twin Towers.

A-6 also shows "the iconic photograph" Record Photographer Thomas E. Franklin made at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001.

That only serves to remind readers how then-Editor Francis "Frank" Scandale made the boneheaded decision to put Franklin's photo on a back page, killing any chances of a Pulitzer Prize for the talented staffer.

Tweets scoop paper

A third story on A-1 today notes a Twitter account has been exposing rail and bus service problems since NJ Transit's Super Bowl meltdown in February.

But the paper's lazy local editors have been ignoring those same service problems for many years, waiting for angry commuters to send in letters to the editor before reacting. 

On the Local front today, a story on the resignation of Englewood Schools Superintendent Donald Carlisle doesn't mention whether he helped ease segregation in the city's middle and elementary schools in return for his outrageous $212,000 salary (L-1).

The local assignment editors needed many Law & Order stories to fill today's section, including the huge element on the front about the funeral of a murder victim.