Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis sits down for an editorial board meeting with The Jersey Journal on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal

This week Jonathan Lin interviewed Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis and city Business Administrator Joe DeMarco for Hudson County Newsmakers at NJ.com.

The interview focuses on achievements of the past 8 months including resolved development lawsuits and teacher’s contracts. They also discuss the challenges ahead:

Looming large in the wide-ranging discussion was the $24 million structural deficit inherited by the new administration, which Davis says he plans to tackle with “development and redevelopment.”

“In a seven-year period, we should be able to eat away at most of this $24 million,” he said.

A raise in the city’s taxes will also figure into the equation for dealing with the deficit, DeMarco said, though a figure for the increase won’t be known until closer to April, when city officials expect to introduce the budget.

Fidelco Bayonne Realty LLC and Bayonne Bay Developers LLC are expected to proceed with residential developments on the MOT as their lawsuits against the city are put in the past, which would generate money for the city.

Davis said he’d like to eventually purchase parts of the MOT back from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In 2010, the former administration sold part of the base to the bi-state agency, going back on a plan to transform the entire terminal into a residential community.

FULL ARTICLE