The Jersey City Council questioned new hires, including honing in on the deputy mayors, at a public hearing this morning for the Mayor’s Office as the governing body combs through the municipal spending plan.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
Jersey City Mayor James Solomon’s chief of staff, Laura Bustamante, led the mayoral office budget presentation.
Their proposed mayoral office budget of $2,517,915 in 2026, down slightly from the prior year when it was $2,646,015. Bustamante emphasized that they hired new CFO Bill Viqueira quickly to address the over quarter million dollar budget deficit.
“We immediately started putting financial controls alongside our finance department,” she declared. She added that the mayor’s office has seven out of 10 possible aides, cutting expenses for cable, office supplies, food, and petty cash as well.
“We are being very vigilant with taxpayer dollars: We are committed to ensuring we do more for Jersey City residents with less,” Bustamante stated before the council began to make some inquiries.
Councilman at-Large Rolando Lavarro noted that she mentioned there were construction projects being negotiated across all six wards, prompting him to ask who had a seat at the table for those discussions, as well as if 20 percent affordable housing was still the goal.
“The two people that are always at the table for these negotiations are Deputy Mayor [Keshav] Poddar, Anissia [Cialone], our director of HEDC. So those are the two, then we have our city attorneys, and then, depending on the project, that table might differ,” Bustamante explained.
“But those are our two leaders that are always at the negotiating table. In terms of the 20 percent affordable, that is what we tend to lead with. Now I will say, there are other public benefits that we consider as well when it comes to the financing of a project.”
She added that some examples could be a new school, a new park, or community center, but are “leading aggressively” by seeing how much affordable housing they can get for each project, depending on the financing.
Lavarro said he likes leading with 20 percent and feels the administration should “hold the line there” unless there are truly extenuating circumstances.
“With regards to the $40 million saved by canceling the Pompidou, can you explain how does that look?” Ward F Councilman Frank “Educational” Gilmore asked, noting that the project didn’t get very far, construction wise.
“For the $40 million with the Pompidou, my understanding is that there was a specific bond that was going to go to that. So, we aren’t using that money, we are saving that money,” Bustamante replied.
She further stated that the public benefit of that project, to Lavarro’s point, will be affordable housing, though specifics still have not been announced since the Pompidou was cancelled in March, as HCV first reported.
“Laura, can you please clarify how many deputy mayors there were in the last administrations?” Councilwoman at-Large Mamta Singh asked.
Bustamante said the previous administration had two, but ultimately went to zero. Two are permitted under the Faulkner Act, which is how Jersey City operates, and is why the current administration has two.
Ward D Councilman Jake Ephros noted that a council staffer was transferred to the mayor’s office, but was not reflected in the current spending plan.
Bustamante said that’s because the transfer occurred after the budget was introduced last week, which led Ephros to ask for an updated budget worksheet – which she said she’d be happy to oblige the council.
Ephros then asked for clarification on the roles of the deputy mayors and the mayor’s aides and Bustamante said she would provide that to the governing body.
Ward E Councilwoman Eleana Little noted that this mayor’s office recently hired a scheduler, a position that has existed for most of the year, so little questioned why.
“I would just like to see an accurate budget spreadsheet,” Little noted.
“Certainly, as I committed to, we will provide a new workbook,” Bustamante said.
Gilmore than said while he was glad the mayor’s office budget is down about five percent, he said the tax rate should reflect the cuts in departments.
“I just feel like when you put emphasis on asking people to give and you’re willing to make sacrifices, I just think it’s a good precedence for good government. So I mean five percent is good, but you know the tax rate is 15 percent,” he asserted.
“I was always of the opinion that we can find common ground between the rate and then a cut in municipal government, I think that we need more of a fair approach … People are just irate.”
Singh seconded Gilmore’s point about proportional cuts.
“Public safety has five million cut. That’s a 1.1 percent, I believe, tax reduction. So when we talk like that, our mayor’s office is cutting one person, just making it up. When people read or see this, because there been misinformation – ‘this person is getting half a million [dollar] salary’ … That is not true, but obviously that has been going on,” she added.
“But when we talk about this department has one percent reduction, for taxpayers, I think people will understand more, because like I said, there is a lot of wrong information going out. And to make it easy, I think [the] councilman’s point is pretty strong, that people will understand what the administration is doing …”
Bustamante said she appreciated their feedback, adding that key services must still be delivered to residents, therefore everyone needs to get creative when it comes to topics such as revenue streams, grant funding, and department reorganizations.
Next, Ward B Councilman Joel Brooks asked when the rent control audit will be released.
“ … I can’t speak to a specific date, but I can speak to being able to give you all a timeline for that which you can all expect progress on, that way there is more transparency on that front,” Bustamante said
Ephros asked who was handling it, to which Bustamante said Poddar is.
Lavarro asked who was conducting the audit itself, to which Bustamante said she would follow up with him.
“We have an executive secretary listed at $95,000. We’re reporting a decrease … But it doesn’t match our records,” Council President Denise Ridley noted.
“We had Pam leave the Mayor’s office. Our director of operations absorbed the scheduling responsibility. We temporarily gave her the bump,” Bustamante explained.
Ridley sought clarification, asking if the salary was $130,000 or $95,000.
“She’s going to be at the $95k now that we have our scheduler in,” Bustamante answered.
“Sorry, just respectfully, I don’t know of any other place your work where a worker leaves, and while you’re hiring for that new position, you also absorb that former co-workers salary,” Little followed up.
Bustamante replied that the city has historically done this for many years, which is written into union contracts in many cases, which of course doesn’t apply for vacations, and in this instance, an employee was essentially performing two jobs.
“Shouldn’t that be reflected in the draft then even if the 2026 salary is supposed to be at $95k and the draft for what we have to budget for for the whole year is gonna be more than $95k if the position was making more than that for many months? Ephros questioned.
“That is a good point,” Deputy Director of Finance Kyle Greaves began, noting that the budget is introduced at “the legal line for the entire office,” with supplemental details always subject to change.
“Considering there’s often lag in hire dates, in vacancies, promotions, and things of that nature, we make sure we monitor payroll projections biweekly to make sure that it does fall in line with this overall budget … We are comfortable with what we’re putting forth, which covers everything between January to December. Yes, the details could be more clear …”
Ephros responded that it would be helpful to see that, otherwise certain numbers won’t add up correctly.
Business Administrator Ruby Choi said some department budget workbooks reflected prorated salaries since they didn’t start at the beginning of the year, versus the Mayor’s Office, which has the regular salaries.
“This person’s current salary is correct in the budget workbook,” Choi replied.
Ridley reiterated the discrepancy of a salary of $95,000 versus $130,000 and added that the initial position isn’t even noted in the workbook.
“The position of the Mayor’s Office is this individual has taken on an extra task and should be compensated?” Gilmore asked.
“The budget for the Mayor’s Office … is sufficient to cover all the wages for all the personnel. How that is divvied up on a prorated budget, we need to clean that up. It is not our intent to amend the total budget for the year,” Greaves explained.
Ridley again pointed out that the workbook doesn’t list an executive secretary.
“There may not be a need to amend the salaries for the total year. There’s surplus from other positions in this budget,” Greaves said.
This prompted Ridley to ask for specific salaries noted in line items.
“Explain the mayor’s rationale on how you arrived on salaries. You have discretion for establishing salaries,” expressed Lavarro, noting many have hit social media to the dismay of residents.
Bustamante said there’s been a lot of misinformation circulating online, noting she started as a council aide making $15,000 a year, further stating that the council passed an ordinance increasing their own salary, along with their aides.
That increase is $120,000 per council office to $175,000, which Bustamante said the administration supported do the amount of work they do.
“I will speak to the people who work in my office and how we came about [their salaries’ for the work that their doing. For Deputy Mayor [for Education Dia] Bryant, I will use her as an example, she has fundraised over $4.8 million that’s been able to offset and be able to offer 600 kids an opportunity that they didn’t have before,” she expressed.
“She has worked day in and day out and we have also made significant cuts in other ways to be able to offset that.”
Bustamante said aide Issac Smith, who once worked for Lavarro, has been working to increase payroll tax revenue as an example of someone who deserved a raise. She also said Deputy Chief of Staff Crystal Mejia is spearheading event fundraising.
Lavarro said that didn’t really answer the question, to which Bustamante responded experience, resume, public service, and education were a large part of it.
Gilmore complained that all the directors seem to be maxed out, to which Bustamante said they’re all the same levels of the prior administration. Gilmore said there should be performance reviews and Bustamante agreed.
Bustamante also noted that the council approved increasing salary ranges for 21 employees this year, as HCV first reported.
Lavarro later asked if furloughs were considered, to which Bustamante said they were not since they employees can’t be forced to do so.
Gilmore also questioned if any of the 31 employees recently laid off were covered by grants. Greaves said two were, but the city still saved money by not having to pay for their benefits.
“We are trying to look at current staff who are potentially eligible for those vacant positions. So, the grant funding would pay for their salaries,” Choi added.
Towards the end of the hearing, Ridley said Bryant has two staffers not listed in the mayoral office budget.
“Why wouldn’t we have them directly under her?” she asked.
Bustamante answered that they are recreation department staff reporting to Bryant, which is why they aren’t in the Mayor’s Office budget.
Other budget hearings this week included the Department of Public Safety and the Law Department.
