Hackensack's really lazy, clueless residents are major factor in school-budget elections

Frances Gogelja, center; Lance Powell, right; and Carlos Velez are challenging three incumbents backed by the Zisa family political machine in Tuesday's Board of Education and budget election.

CHALLENGERS WANT

 TO GET RID OF THE ZISAS

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

The next time you hear a Hackensack resident bitching and moaning about high property taxes, ask them if they vote.

No. I'm not talking about the general election in November, when the outcome rarely affects local property taxes.

I'm talking about the election 97% of the registered voters in Hackensack love to ignore:

The April election for Board of Education members and the proposed school budget -- which accounts for nearly half of all the property taxes residents pay.

In fact, many homeowners pay only a few hundred dollars more in municipal taxes than in school taxes.

Of course, not all of the 97% of registered voters who sat out the last school election paid property taxes, but many were parents of schoolchildren, so what was their excuse?

What's your excuse?

Tuesday's election

On Tuesday, the many thousands of property tax payers will have another chance to tell the school board they are unhappy with yearly increases in the budget and the local tax levy required to support seemingly unchecked spending.

Voters can say "no" to the proposed budget of $117,143,515 by voting against the $82,865,444 tax levy or property taxes the board proposes to spend in 2018-19.

A "no" vote would allow the City Council to review the proposed spending plan, cut it or leave it as is.

Ten years ago, the tax levy was $56,698,771, so about half of any increase in property taxes in the past decade was driven by higher school budgets. 

In the current tax year, one homeowner in the Fairmount section is paying $8,843 in municipal taxes and $8,495 in school taxes; county, open space and library taxes brought his total tax bill t0 $18,874.

Apathy or ignorance?

Whether from apathy, laziness or ignorance, only 642 ballots were cast in the last school election in 2017 -- that was 3% of the 21,307 registered voters at the time.

The tax-levy proposition passed 342-210; only 552 of the 642 residents who voted appeared to know they could say "yes" or "no" to the budget.

As of last Wednesday, 23,401 residents of Hackensack were registered to vote, Bergen County election officials said.

Turnout in prior school elections: 1,133 in 2015, 864 in 2014 and 1,929 in 2013.

Candidates

Residents can also vote against the three incumbents seeking another 3-year term: Mark A. Stein, Jason Nunnermacker and Daniel F. Carola -- all stooges of the Zisa family political machine.

Since 2013 and with the Zisas' backing, Nunnermacker, a lawyer who is the board president, has tried but failed repeatedly to get elected to the City Council.

So, why waste your vote on a board president who has been dying to get as far as possible away from the schools?

Difficult ballot

Voting in Tuesday's election won't be as easy as voting in the May municipal and general elections:

Polls on Tuesday won't open until 2 p.m., and will close at 8 p.m.

Although there are two groups of candidates running for seats on the school board, the three members on each slate aren't grouped together or allowed to use the name of their team.

So, you'll have to search for your choices.

See: School election issues: Zisas and higer taxes

On Tuesday's Board of Education ballot, challengers from "The Putting Our Kids First Team" -- Frances Cogelja, Carlos A. Velez, Lancelot Powell -- appear on Lines 2, 4 and 5.

Next to the column of candidates on Tuesday's ballot, parents and property tax payers will find the nearly $83 million tax levy proposition, which they can vote against and send the proposed budget to the City Council for review.

Kick out Zisas

The message from the three challengers is simple:

"Put our kids first ... and the Zisa Brothers last!"

Of course, the reference is to former four-term Hackensack Mayor Jack Zisa and his brother, disgraced former Police Chief Ken Zisa, who held onto power in the schools after reformers defeated Zisas-backed City Council slates in 2013 again in 2017.

See: Zisas stand for greed,

 nepotism, partisan politics

School election issues: Zisas, higher taxes, overbilling of legal fees, sexual harassment

WHAT ELSE IS HE HIDING? Hackensack Board of Education President Jason Nunnermacker, in black hoodie, hiding from the camera at a May 2016 City Council meeting, above and below. Nunnermacker, a key ally of the Zisa family political machine, and two other school board members are seeking new 3-year terms in next Tuesday's board and budget election.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Nearly 5 years after the Zisa family political machine was thrown out of Hackensack City Hall, their allies retain an iron grip on the local school board.

Even as enrollment declined, the budget for Hackensack schools long ago soared past $100 million -- exceeding the city's own -- and the proposal for 2018-19 totals $117,143,515.

This budget would rely on $82,865,444 in local taxes -- or nearly half of every property taxpayer's bill -- plus state aid, tuition, state and federal grants and other funds. 

Ten years ago, the tax levy was $56,698,771, so about half of any increase in property taxes in the last decade was driven by higher school budgets.

Next Tuesday's school election ballot asks residents to vote "yes" or "no" on the proposed school budget; a "no" vote would allow the City Council to review the proposal, cut it or leave the budget as it is.

NorthJersey.com (The Record of Woodland Park) published two stories on next Tuesday's election, but the first, on March 25, stated incorrectly the proposed school budget is $112 million. 

The second, on March 27, used the correct, $117 million figure.

Frances Cogelja, Lance Powell and Carlos Velez are running for Hackensack Board of Education seats in next Tuesday's school election.

The Zisas

Mayor John Labrosse and his slate of reformers defeated allies of the Zisa family political dynasty in the 2013 City Council election, and again in 2017.

But Labrosse says Jack Zisa, a former four-term mayor; and brother Ken, the disgraced former police chief, "and their friends still control the Hackensack Board of Education."

"Yes, voters tired of their waste and corruption threw them out of City Hall, but they're still in control of our schools," the mayor said.

Jack Zisa "owns and operates companies that have received millions of tax dollars in insurance premiums" from the school board, which is controlled by friends and allies like President Jason Nunnermacker and school board attorney Richard Salkin.

Sweetheart deal

Since 2000, Jack Zisa also has collected rent on a Main Street building he acquired in a sweetheart deal made possible by friendly Bergen County officials, while he still was mayor.

The initial six-year lease with the Bergen County Special Services School District more than doubled the purchase price, and as of May 2017, the district has been paying more than $380,000 a year to rent the building at 293-295 Main St.

See: When the Zisas ruled Hackensack...

School for scandal

"Did you know that School Attorney Salkin has ruled there is 'nothing wrong' with school employees doing political work for Zisa candidates on school time and on school property," Labrosse says in campaign material for school board hopefuls Francis Cogelja, Lance Powell and Carlos Velez.

"Did you know that Salkin ovebills the school district by tens of thousands of dollars, and Nunnermacker and other school board members do nothing to stop him?"

Anthony Zisa

In the April 2016 school election, Hackensack High School teacher Anthony Zisa apparently supplied the addresses of members of the teachers union to the Zisa-backed board candidates.

Over the objections of the teachers union president, Team Hackensack invited teachers to a meet-and-greet barbecue at Anthony Zisa's home, 337 Maple Hill Drive in Hackensack.

Anthony Zisa, son of disgraced Police Chief Ken Zisa, lives in the home of his late grandfather, Frank C. Zisa, family patriarch and onetime mayor of Hackensack, once known derisively as "Zisaville."

State probe sought

Now, the "Putting Our Kids First Team" -- Cogelja, Powell and Velez -- are calling for a state investigation of Salkin, who, they allege, has raised his compensation by 50% and is working without a contract.

They say Salkin, the school board attorney, received $144,000 in the current school year, compared to $95,000 two years ago.

Last year, Salkin was the campaign manager for the Zisa-backed slate that lost the City Council election.

Referring to an Open Public Records Act request, Cogelja said, "We did learn that he overbilled taxpayers by $13,000 last year and we demand that he return these funds to the school district."

Candidates

Frances Cogelja, a member of the Fairmount School PTA, wants to increase school security by providing retired police officers in every school to protect children and staff members.

Her running mate, Lance Powell -- an education and health-care professional, and a public school parent who lives in Hackensack -- wants to upgrade school facilities, and stop insurance and legal-fee abuses.

The third member of the team is Carlos Velez, a city resident who is a public school principal in the Bronx.

Velez is concerned about the Zisa-controlled school board mismanaging a potential $30 million school construction project.

'Sex toys' suit

As a footnote to the election, a former Hackensack Middle School assistant principal said her boss touched her inappropriately, asked her about buying sex toys and made other lewd comments -- once while touching his crotch -- before abruptly leaving the job after she complained to district officials, according to news reports.

On April 4, Denise Vega Moore filed a lawsuit in Superior Court, Hackensack, against the Board of Education; and Nicole Adams and Rosemary Martin-Marks, both of whom were assistant superintendents of schools and later interim superintendents.

The suit says that in August 2014, she was introduced to her direct supervisor, Corey J. Jones, principal of the middle school.

"With plaintiff present, Jones would frequently make unsolicited and unprompted comments about other employees accusing him of sexual harassment," she says in the suit.

"Jones repeatedly grabbed plaintiff around the waist during her first several months of employment."

On Aug. 18, 2015, while plaintiff was speaking with her co-workers, Jones approached, said "don't you look tan," hugged plaintiff and "kissed her on the cheek." 

Plaintiff reported Jones' sexual harassment to Superintendent of Schools Joseph Cicchelli on June 17, 2016; the board investigated Jones' behavior and he was permitted to resign in July 2017, according to the suit.