March 14, 2019
The Honorable Michael Soriano
Parsippany-Troy Hills Town Hall
1001 Parsippany Boulevard
Parsippany-Troy Hills, NJ 07054
Dear Mayor Soriano,
We are in receipt of your letter addressed to Councilwoman Gragnani dated March 12, 2019 regarding our recent comments on your budget. It’s a shame we couldn’t have had this dialogue before you proposed your second consecutive significant municipal property tax increase since being elected Mayor. You know full well that the Republican Council majority has worked hard to reduce your proposed 4.72% property tax increase to 2.85% in 2019, just like we reduced your 6% increase in 2018 down to 2.89%.
While we appreciate you wanting to shift blame on tax increases to us, it’s not credible. It is you and Governor Murphy who continually push for higher taxes; the Republican Council majority is doing all we can to reduce them. Councilwoman Gragnani’s objection to you deferring money from the water and sewer utility was in the context of you raising water and sewer rates at the same time, a move that effectively raises another tax on our residents. We hope this clears up any confusion. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Councilman dePierro
Council President Carifi, Jr.
Councilwoman Gragnani
