The Jersey City Council will vote on a $701,380,029.82 budget with a roughly two percent tax increase at a special meeting Monday at 10 a.m.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The municipal budget was $697,509,540.10 when approved on first reading on May 10th and the governing body passed temporary appropriations that increased the overall spending plan by $3,870,489 at their June 28th meeting.
The initial plan was to vote on the budget at the July 12th city council meeting, but the item was pushed until a date to be determined since only six of the nine electeds were present.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, who announced back in April that he’d be running for governor in 2025, said during his State of the City the month prior that this year’s spending plan would come with a two percent tax increase.
In an interview last month, he said that given inflation, which includes labor and insurance increases – as well as acquiring materials – those who worked on the budget should be commended for keeping the tax increase at 2 percent.
He also said that “we are victims of our own success” in a way when it comes to affordability in the city.
“Jersey City has changed and in many ways there’s a lot of demand and people wanting to be here: in some ways we are victims of our own success in the sense that there’s so many people that want to be here, putting pressure on rents,” he said at the time.
The special meeting will be held at council chambers of Jersey City City Hall, 280 Grove St., Monday at 10 a.m. and will also stream live on Microsoft Teams.
