HOBOKEN -- Councilwoman Beth Mason says she is urging her council colleagues to vote against Mayor Dawn Zimmer's proposed 2009-2010 $98.9 million Hoboken budget at their meeting on Wednesday night, particularly because the amount to be raised by taxes is 8 percent higher than last year.

The proposed budget, published in the newspaper Tuesday, lists the amount to be raised by municipal taxes as $60.1 million, up from $55.6 million previously. That increase is only in the tax levy. The tax levy is not actually the amount in which the Hoboken tax rate will go up, but is the total to be raised by everyone’s property taxes in town. It is divided among the taxpayers according to how much property they own, and the value of that property. If there are more taxpaying properties in town, each person may not pay as much. The amount of the tax rate increase due to the increase of the levy is not yet known.

Mason called on Zimmer to attend Wednesday night's council meeting and explain the budget and tax increase to the council and residents.

“This 8 increase comes on top of the enormous tax increases Hoboken residents have been confronted with over the past two years,” she said in a release.

"Mayor Zimmer has been silent on the budget and the many other troubling issues affecting our city for too long," said Mason. "I hope she has the courage to attend [the] meeting and take personal responsibility for this tax increase."