News Release
For Release: Wednesday, December 23rd
Contact: Frank Baraff 914-469-3775

Orange to receive $500,000 in Extraordinary Aid. Will reduce amount of estimated tax increase to seven percent.

Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr. announced that he has been notified that Orange will be awarded $500,000 in Extraordinary Aid for Fiscal Year 2010 under the Municipal Property Tax Relief Act. The funds will be used to reduce the estimated property tax increase by approximately 1.7%.  The exact amount of the property tax increase will be determined next year when the City Council adopts the budget. With the Extraordinary Aid funds the estimated increase has been reduced to 7.0%.

Mayor Hawkins, the City Council, and the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee will be working over the next several weeks to identify ways to reduce the tax increase even more.

Statement by Mayor Hawkins:

When we applied for the Extraordinary Aid we had little expectation that we would actually receive it due to the dire financial conditions at the state level. We applied for the funds, nonetheless, because we did not want to leave any stone unturned in the pursuit of limiting the property tax increase.

I want to thank Senator Richard Codey and our assembly members for going to bat for Orange and convincing the state to grant us these funds. I have also spoken to Governor Corzine and thanked him for being so responsive to our needs. This is a wonderful Christmas present for the taxpayers of Orange.”