Posted by TOM DEGISE Hudson County Executive Jersey City on July 06, 2004 at 09:13:17:

McCann's letter rewrites history, uses false logic

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

I thought it to be rather precious of Gerry McCann to leap to the defense of Lou Manzo with an attack on me in a recent letter to the editor. I guess the cat is out of the bag on who will be the "brains" in a Manzo administration.

And you really have to admire Gerry's chutzpah. His use of mistaken revisionist history and false, self-congratulatory logic is a rare, if obnoxious gift.

When I came to City Hall with Bret Schundler, we were faced with the fiscal carnage left behind by Gerry McCann. A disastrous revaluation left the city with a mountain of repayment obligations to satisfy waves of successful tax appeals. Gerry's financial wizardry also left the city with the infamous fiscal year adjustment bonds, all $128 million of them. Doubling the amount he needed to borrow to move from a calendar year budget to a fiscal year budget, Jerry "stabilized" taxes for a year back in 1991 all right - at the cost of decades of debt that will continue to burden the city until today's toddlers are old enough to vote. Of course Gerry didn't get to stick around to answer for this mess. I guess that makes it easier to spin now.

The truth is, we cleaned up Gerry's historic fiscal disaster in a reasonable manner. While putting more cops on the beat and dramatically increasing economic development during my tenure as City Council president, we actually stabilized taxes and kept them at or below the rate of inflation on average during our eight years in City Hall. And water and sewer rates during those years actually declined.

The recent state budget Lou Manzo voted on in Trenton raised taxes more than that in just one year alone! The "huge" county tax hike Gerry attacks me for in his letter was in fact, a 2 percent increase in total spending that yielded a just a 3 percent rise in the levy. We were hit this year with double-digit increases in state-required pension and medical costs. But we didn't resort to bonding tricks like those Gerry burdened Jersey City with; we did what we could to control costs and did all we could to minimize the impact without mortgaging the future.

Perhaps the most offensive part of Gerry's attack was his ridiculing my career as a teacher. I've spent close to 30 years working in the public high schools of Jersey City, the majority of those years in the classroom and some as a job placement officer in the Educational Business Alliance. And over the years, I have spent more time in the field I was trained in than did Gerry and I could return to my field if I chose to do so. I am proud to be a frontline educator and may some day return to Snyder High School.

I am also proud of my record as an elected official. I've worked to bring common sense, integrity and stability to the offices I have held. And I have always tried to foster fair relationships with friends and rivals alike for the benefit of the people I serve. Unlike Gerry and Louis, I've tried to build bridges, not burn them. I wrote last week that I believed a Manzo administration would be a catastrophe for the taxpayers of Jersey City. An honest reading of the recent history of Jersey City makes clear that there actually could be something worse: a McCann/Manzo administration.

TOM DEGISE Hudson County Executive Jersey City

Follow Ups:

• Dirty Neck DeGise Lost In Jersey City Take A Look in The Mirror Tom 12:55:53 07/06/04 (0)
• Re: McCann's letter rewrites history, uses false logic Thank Goodness For the Facts...... 12:05:05 07/06/04 (0)

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: McCann's letter rewrites history, uses false logic 

: Tuesday, July 06, 2004

: 
: I thought it to be rather precious of Gerry McCann to leap to the defense of Lou Manzo with an attack on me in a recent letter to the editor. I guess the cat is out of the bag on who will be the "brains" in a Manzo administration. 

: And you really have to admire Gerry's chutzpah. His use of mistaken revisionist history and false, self-congratulatory logic is a rare, if obnoxious gift. 

: When I came to City Hall with Bret Schundler, we were faced with the fiscal carnage left behind by Gerry McCann. A disastrous revaluation left the city with a mountain of repayment obligations to satisfy waves of successful tax appeals. Gerry's financial wizardry also left the city with the infamous fiscal year adjustment bonds, all $128 million of them. Doubling the amount he needed to borrow to move from a calendar year budget to a fiscal year budget, Jerry "stabilized" taxes for a year back in 1991 all right - at the cost of decades of debt that will continue to burden the city until today's toddlers are old enough to vote. Of course Gerry didn't get to stick around to answer for this mess. I guess that makes it easier to spin now. 

: The truth is, we cleaned up Gerry's historic fiscal disaster in a reasonable manner. While putting more cops on the beat and dramatically increasing economic development during my tenure as City Council president, we actually stabilized taxes and kept them at or below the rate of inflation on average during our eight years in City Hall. And water and sewer rates during those years actually declined. 

: The recent state budget Lou Manzo voted on in Trenton raised taxes more than that in just one year alone! The "huge" county tax hike Gerry attacks me for in his letter was in fact, a 2 percent increase in total spending that yielded a just a 3 percent rise in the levy. We were hit this year with double-digit increases in state-required pension and medical costs. But we didn't resort to bonding tricks like those Gerry burdened Jersey City with; we did what we could to control costs and did all we could to minimize the impact without mortgaging the future. 

: Perhaps the most offensive part of Gerry's attack was his ridiculing my career as a teacher. I've spent close to 30 years working in the public high schools of Jersey City, the majority of those years in the classroom and some as a job placement officer in the Educational Business Alliance. And over the years, I have spent more time in the field I was trained in than did Gerry and I could return to my field if I chose to do so. I am proud to be a frontline educator and may some day return to Snyder High School. 

: I am also proud of my record as an elected official. I've worked to bring common sense, integrity and stability to the offices I have held. And I have always tried to foster fair relationships with friends and rivals alike for the benefit of the people I serve. Unlike Gerry and Louis, I've tried to build bridges, not burn them. I wrote last week that I believed a Manzo administration would be a catastrophe for the taxpayers of Jersey City. An honest reading of the recent history of Jersey City makes clear that there actually could be something worse: a McCann/Manzo administration. 

: TOM DEGISE Hudson County Executive Jersey City 



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