Jersey City Business Administrator Ruby Choi laid out the program cuts and layoffs for the Department of Administration’s over $17 million budget on Monday.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
The city council began the Department of Administration budget hearing with a presentation by Choi, who started her latest gig in May and the last three months have been a “real learning experience.”
“I’ve had many jobs in larger city government with very complex environments, but I have to say this has been the most challenging role I’ve been in, and this is not just because of the budget crisis, but also because of how meaningful this role is as business administrator where I directly have impact on how city government is run,” she said.
“So I really see this as a true opportunity for us to work together and move the city forward.”
According to Choi, the Department of Administration runs the day-to-day operations of the municipal government including human resources, IT, communications, internal audits, compliance, the municipal court, and the municipal public defender.
The Department of Administration also collaborates with all nine other city departments and other units to ensure the implementation of citywide policies, initiatives, and manage the process of introducing legislation and other items for council approval, she said.
Choi also noted that the Director’s Office supervises all divisions and coordinates citywide policy and operations, meanwhile Human Resources handles benefits, payroll, and human resources services for current and retired employees.
Further, IT handles the city’s related infrastructure, network security, technical support, and application development, while Internal Audit is responsible for independent audits plus a new CitiStat model tracking performance across departments.
“I was coming from working directly for a large city in IT. We had a ratio of one IT staff to 50 employees in New York City. Here we have one IT staff to over 300 employees. So we’re, by comparison, very short staffed in terms of IT support,” Choi explained.
Communications handles emergency communications, video, and media production, website, graphics, and public messaging, while the Municipal Court similarly obviously hears traffic, disorderly, and ordinance matters and runs the JC Community Solutions.
Tax Abatement and Compliance monitors state and federal compliance on abatements, contracts, and construction-related requirements, Diversity and Inclusion advances Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise hiring and purchasing.
The Municipal Public Defender supplies free legal representation for indigent and incarcerated individuals with no client fees.
As the business administrator, Choi said she oversees the Departments of Administration, Public Safety, Public Works, Health and Human Services, and Infrastructure – even hough they have their own budgets, hearings, and directors – which is why she was present at those budget hearings as well.
In addition to overseeing citywide operations, she also manages government functions and coordinates implementation of citywide policies and initiatives.
The Municipal Court and Municipal Public Defender will both have independent budget hearings this week.
Touting accomplishments this year thus far, Choi said the Department of Administration has coordinated 1,328 ordinances and resolutions presented from January to July at council meetings.
On improving service, she added that they have created HR committees to streamline the review personnel transactions, and labor, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), and Environmental Protection Agency-related issues.
They have begun to reorganize Internal Audit to a CitiStat accountability model while restructuring Human Resources for stronger support of city personnel.
“We’ve launched this a couple of weeks ago and I have to say … we’ve made a lot of progress in getting training for the staff. About, I want to say, 75 percent have completed that training,” Choi said of the citywide immigration enforcement interaction training/
In addition, Choi added the Department of Administration has been reviewing all city fees and revenues to modernize and maximize collections; updating the city’s payroll tax collection efforts alongside the Finance Department; modernizing the Jersey City website for transparency and public access; and instituting a remote work pilot policy to stay competitive and support work-life balance.
Choi said the proposed budget for the Department of Administration totals $17,279,837, including $13,657,699 for personnel, or 79 percent of the budget, and $3,622,138 for other expenses, or 21 percent of the budget.
While this budget was more than the 2025 adopted departmental budget of $16,669,877 by $609,960 or 3.7 percent, Choi said that budget hid costs in the capital budget.
Choi said $1,868,474 in contractual expenses for the maintenance of software subscriptions, storage systems, and other standard IT tools were charged to the capital budget in 2025.
Including those funds brings the 2025 total budget for the Department of Administration up to $18,538,351.
As such, the change from that departmental budget last year to this year’s represents a 6.8 percent decrease by $1,258,514.
Choi said the Department of Administration has already made internal cuts to the tune of $1,636,603 including to personnel, programming, and contracts.
For personnel, she said they saved $631,603 by eliminating 8 full-time employees, one part-time employee, and three seasonal positions.
Meanwhile, programming cuts included ending employee Lyft bikeshare passes for $15,000, cutting professional services for $30,000, slashing dues and subscriptions for $80,000, and reducing training for $330,000 for a total of $455,000 in savings.
For contracts, $550,000 was saved by ending the VitalCheck Wellness contract for $400,00 and removing redundant EEO and legal services for $150,000.
Looking ahead, the department is looking to secure new revenue and promote cost-saving ideas like consolidating IT contracts and cutting duplicate services like Verizon phone and software; collaborate with all departments to track costs savings and revenue initiatives.
They’re also seeking to launch a CitiStat dashboard with regular reporting on cost savings, revenue collection, and service delivery.
“This is a big initiative that I have dedicated a number of the BA staff to focus on in the next year, especially as we’re compiling the 2027 budget, and then launching a CitiStat dashboard that hopefully helps us compare those cost savings and revenue collection with service delivery, which is really important. And that’s the data we’re lacking right now,” Choi expressed.
The department also hopes to get new grant and external funding by structuring all new grants to recover administrative and fringe costs, offsetting core responsibilities across IT, human resources, and administration.
Choi added they are also seeking new ways of delivering services by modernizing IT infrastructure, integrating data systems, and modernizing processes to improve service delivery; redesign the city website for better transparency and public access; and update HR policies; focus on improving recruitment; and professional development.
