The City of Jersey City is set to receive their full ask of $120 million in state aid, including $105 million in long-term, low interest loans, officials announced Monday morning.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Since day one, my team and I were laser-focused on finding solutions to the city’s fiscal crisis that avoided worst case scenarios of a 31% tax increase and devastating cuts to core city services,” Mayor James Solomon said in a statement.
“We’ve relentlessly examined the books, installed professional fiscal monitoring, and cut spending in pursuit of the long-term fiscal health of the city. Today, Governor Sherrill, Senate President Scutari, and Assembly Speaker Coughlin demonstrated historic leadership as part of an historic partnership.”
In February, Solomon now infamously announced that he inherited an over quarter billion dollar deficit from the previous administration and, as a result, was initially seeking $150 million in transitional aid from the state, but that was eventually dropped to $120 million.
While the state ultimately did not included any transitional aid for Jersey City in their $60.7 billion budget, which still requires a vote from both the Assembly and the Senate, the state’s second largest city still received the amount of aid they were looking for.
“This $120 million enables us to pay off the former mayor’s debts over years and allows us to focus on fixing our structural deficit. The hard part comes next – we must close a $90M gap between how much the city spends and what it takes in and strike a balance between reducing the burden on Jersey City families and cuts to city workers who keep this city running,” Solomon added.
“I’m particularly grateful to County Executive Guy, Senators Mukherji and McKnight, and the entire Hudson delegation for their tireless advocacy and their steadfast support of our city.”
The news is particularly welcome to start the week for Jersey City City Hall, given that the City Council will vote on the third quarter tax bills with an accompanying tax rate hike that is yet to be determined at a special meeting Wednesday.
Solomon proposed a 20 percent rate hike, but pulled the resolution last week when the votes weren’t there. Back in March, the mayor noted that a tax hike was unavoidable, even in a best case scenario with state aid, both as HCV first reported.
The relief package is the result of months of advocacy by Solomon, Hudson County Executive Guy, and state Senators Raj Mukherji (D-32) and Angela McKnight (D-31), with the support of Hudson County’s entire legislative delegation.
They were met with a close partnership from Gov, Mikie Sherrill (D) and her administration – particularly Chief of Staff Alex Ball, State Treasurer Harold Aaron Binder, and Commissioner of Community Affairs Jacquelyn A. Suárez – as well as state Senate President Nick Scutari (D-22) and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-19).
“The scale of this assistance is extraordinary because the challenge before the city is extraordinary. This critically necessary state aid package is an investment in the fiscal stability of New Jersey’s largest local tax base which also out kicks its coverage in meeting the state’s needs,” added Mukherji, who sponsored the appropriations.
“A fiscal crisis of this magnitude cannot be resolved on the backs of working-class taxpayers and renters. Generating more than $1.5 billion in revenue for state coffers and supporting 110,000 private sector jobs, we are the economic engine of the state. When that engine sputters, the effects ripple far beyond our city.”
Excellent!
Who is being held accountable for putting residence in this position and when??
Bailing out another mismanaged Democratic run city.