Mayor Bhalla announced that he wants to give $1,000 to every city employee,  $600,000 in total, as an incentive to get vaccinated.  NJ.Com Article

Of Hoboken's approximate 600 employees, according to the administration about 2/3 of city employees were vaccinated and 1/3 were not.  Mayor Bhalla's proposed plan is to not only give these unvaccinated city employees $1,000 each as incentive to get vaccinated, he also wants to give $1,000 each to those employees who already were vaccinated as a reward.  While we all believe getting vaccinated reduces the spread of COVID and saves lives, this proposed "incentive" program is an unacceptable use of taxpayer dollars that could otherwise be spent on public health and quality of life initiatives that benefit all Hoboken residents. 

More recently, Governor Murphy announced on August 23rd that all state public employees must be vaccinated or will be tested at least twice weekly.  He did not offer any "incentive" using taxpayer dollars, especially not one of the magnitude that the mayor is offering.

CORRECTION:  This will come before the City Council for a vote and I will vote no.  I previously misunderstood that Mayor Bhalla could make this payment without City Council approval as the mayor has the ability to provide stipend type payments to any employee.   

If you are against this program, please sign the petition to let Mayor Bhalla know this is not an acceptable use of your taxpayer dollars. 

Whatever your position is, please provide comments below for a community discussion.