Jersey City Mayor James Solomon is pumping the brakes on a City Council vote he proposed last week seeking to include a 20 percent tax rate on the third quarter tax bills.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Our city is in a fiscal crisis, and the plan we proposed accomplished our goal of solving the crisis in one year while protecting core city services. Since our announcement, I’ve heard from residents that the size and speed of this increase is too large and too fast for household finances to keep up with,” Solomon said in a statement.
“To that end, I’ve directed my team to identify further cuts to city services and propose a plan that provides relief to residents and spreads out costs in advance of a special meeting of the City Council on July 1st.”
On Thursday, Solomon said he was putting the aforementioned measure up to a vote with the governing body one day after alleging the city was dealing with $109 million in unpaid bills. The mayor also presented finances at Monday’s caucus, all as HCV first reported.
” … This is 13 times the size of the budget deficit that Mayor [Zohran] Mamdani announced in New York City based on the size of our budgets, right? Obviously, his budget is $125 billion and ultimately he had a $5 billion gap that he had to close,” he said at the time.
“Our budget is around $800 million and we had a $255 million budget gap to close – that’s 28 percent, 29 percent of our operating budget: That is unprecedented.”
While Council members Joel Brooks, Jake Ephros, and Eleana Little said Monday afternoon, just prior to the caucus meeting, that they would support the proposal, there were not five votes to advance the resolution, according to sources familiar with the situation.
“I must be direct with the residents of Jersey City – reducing and spreading this increase out over time will come at a cost to services we all rely on every day. We will feel these cuts,” Solomon added.
“The size and scope of the city’s fiscal emergency means we are facing very real tradeoffs and choices with every decision we make.”
As a result of postponing the vote, the administration is pulling the proposed contacts for park maintenance and composting services on tonight’s agenda totaling approximately $1 million.
Additionally, they plan to work with the council to identify additional cuts to city services and operations that will make it possible to potentially lower the proposed tax increase, while achieving a balanced budget in 2026 and 2027.
In advance of the July 1st Special Meeting, Solomon will hold a community town hall on Sunday, June 28th at 7 p.m. at the City Hall Annex to solicit additional concerns and ideas from the public.
This is in addition to four budget-focused town halls he had already scheduled for July.
“I’ve heard from residents across every ward that this increase, as proposed, moves too fast for too many household budgets,” noted Council President Denise Ridley.
“Postponing this vote gives us additional time to look line by line at where we can cut back on spending and to hear directly from the people who will feel this the most. I want to thank the mayor for working with the council on this timeline, and I’m looking forward to a productive conversation before we return to City Council Chambers on July 1st.”
The Jersey City Council will convene at City Hall, 280 Grove St., this evening at 6 p.m. for a regular meeting, which will also stream live on Microsoft Teams.
