WHAT’S AN EMERGENCY NORTH ARLINGTON?
Pronti, Del Russo appropriate $1,500,000 to purchase 165-171 River Road to provide parking.
GOP claims expenditure will “protect the health, safety and welfare of all Borough residents.”
Really?
Supreme arrogance!
NORTH ARLINGTON – What is the definition of an “emergency” when it comes to purchasing a $1,500,000 property on River Road?
Why would the Borough Council congregate on a ZOOM call on a Monday afternoon to make such a purchase, taking a prime piece of real estate off the tax rolls?
Claiming this purchase will “protect the health, safety and welfare of all Borough residents,” how does this all-Republican Mayor & Council have the funding to purchase this property, but not use the same surplus funds to provide tax relief to seniors and working families on a budget?
The Edwin “Rip” Collins Memorial Athletic field is owned by the North Arlington Board of Education.
Why is the municipality making this purchase?
How much in property taxes were the owners paying?
Who was the owner?
Was there a quorum of members present for the vote today?
How will North Arlington make up for the lost revenue?
And who was the listing agent on this commercial property transaction and how much was paid in commissions?
Questions clearly not answered by this “emergency” appropriation!
For the question remains, what was the emergency?
When is parking deemed an “emergency” and why was this meeting not held in-person?
An emergency appropriation is a special allocation of funds made by a government (usually by its legislative body, like the Mayor & Council) to respond quickly to urgent, unforeseen situations that require immediate financial support.
Key Features:
Purpose: To deal with emergencies such as natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires), public health crises (e.g., pandemics), or economic emergencies.
Speed: These appropriations are often passed more quickly than regular appropriations because time is critical.
Outside the Municipal Budget: Emergency appropriations typically fall outside the normal annual budget process and may not be subject to the usual spending caps or fiscal rules.
One-time or Temporary: They are usually one-time expenditures, not ongoing funding commitments.
Examples of actual government emergency appropriations:
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Congress passed emergency appropriations to fund FEMA’s disaster relief efforts.
In 2020, the U.S. Congress passed multiple emergency appropriations to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Can the purchase of a property on River Road for parking purposes in any way be construed as “necessary” or an “emergency” appropriation?
It is insulting to any clear-thinking individual that this purchase was in fact an “emergency” to anyone except maybe of course our real estate agent Mayor Dan Pronti and his real estate agent colleague, Kirk Del Russo, who is seeking reelection in the fall.
How many more reasons does one need that this all-Republican government all of the time in North Arlington makes sense to anyone except Dan Pronti and Kirk Del Russo?
Elections do have consequences!
North Arlington is now a one company town.
This is Dan Pronti’s town and the rest of us just live here!
One-party government is destroying North Arlington on Dan Pronti’s watch!
Call 201-991-6060 and ask Pronti what exactly was the emergency?