Jersey City Mayor James Solomon said the city is suing 100 developers to find revenue, also discussing police brass costs, at a budget town hall last night.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
The nearly two-hour public event at the Miracle Temple Pentecostal Church, located at 80-88 Monticello Ave., saw the mayor take questions from residents for the first time after the City Council unanimously voted down his 15 percent rate hike on the third quarter tax bills.
One resident who spoke at that meeting, John Ross, asked for details about what Solomon was doing to hold developers accountable after calling for an audit of all tax breaks less than a week after taking office in January, as HCV first reported.
“I’ll tell you what we’re doing and what we can’t do: It’s honesty and transparency, not telling you things that are false. So first thing is we are auditing every tax break from every developer as we speak. If they get a tax break, we are auditing them, checking to make sure they’re giving us money,” Solomon explained.
“The second is we’re charging them wherever we can. So, for years, developers, when they built a new building, they were charged 2001 rates to pay in 2026. We changed that, they now pay 2026 rates, not 2001 rates connected to the water and sewer systems. We have sued developers and property owners who are not paying their fair share of taxes.”
To date, Solomon said that has administration has filed around 100 lawsuits against developers to ensure the city gets the full amounts of taxes they are owed and that the city netted an additional $2.5 million simply by assigning the proper sewer and water fees.
While it is not particularly easy, there are select circumstances where municipalities can rescind tax breaks, such as when the Jersey City Council, including Solomon, voted to rescind a 20-year deal for an Amazon warehouse for violations of their project employment and contracting agreement (PECA).
At the town hall, the mayor added that tax abatements and payment in lieu of taxes are contracts that the city can’t break without getting sued, continuing that in New Jersey, tax rates must be consistent across the board.
“ … I would love nothing more than being able to charge the waterfront properties and towers a higher tax rate than the one- to four-family homes in the neighborhoods. The state constitution does not let us do that,” Solomon explained.
“Now I support the constitutional amendment required to change that, but that requires the governor, the legislature – it requires everybody – changing those policies: It’s not something that I as the mayor am able to just do. So anyway we can make developers, corporations pay their fair share, we will, but we are constrained by what the law allows us to do.”
At one point, a man yelled out that “the developers have owed the city for years!” to which Solomon admitted that the 100 lawsuits would take time to yield financial returns for the city, certainly not before this year’s budget is finalized.
Solomon replied that Kushner Cos. in Journal Square barely pay for city services due to “sweetheart deals,” while other developers pay more when asked specifically about PILOTs throughout the city.
“Homeowners are being crushed by questionable water charges. I have posted undeniable proof,” resident Cindy Meryl said about rising costs from the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority (JCMUA) and Veolia.
“We have new members of the MUA board. We have directed them to ask that they review all the billing practices,” Solomon responded, also revealing that replacing Veolia is a possibility.
Later, another resident claimed that Fulop’s policies led to an exorbitant amount of police brass, alleging that for every eight patrolmen, there is one ranking officer, as well as that every captain promoted to deputy chief automatically receives 180 sick days.
” … Obviously, 180 sicks days upon promotion is concerning. I will have my legal team reviews that, that shouldn’t be the case, but we’ll get the specifics on it. Just so you know, since I’ve become mayor, we have not done promotions,” Solomon responded.
“I hear what you’re saying that can we save by reducing the number of top brass. Over time, that gets reduced. You are correct, at one point, the former mayor had 23 or 24 deputy police chiefs: That was an absurd number.”
Solomon further stated that right now, there are about 10 deputy chiefs, a shortage of lieutenants which leads to more overtime spending, later noting that one of his top duties as mayor is to keep the city safe.
” … We are trying to balance running a police force correctly and operationally versus the type of cuts that will ultimately mar public safety,” the mayor responded.
“So, I’m happy to look in-depth at our deputy chief ranks, our captain ranks, our lieutenant ranks, but over time, as our department’s gotten smaller, the types of kinda wasteful promotions that got us into this mess … I do not see waste in the ranks of upper management right now and I am fully committed to keeping people safe in Jersey City. But we will look at that.”
Solomon also addressed the municipal budget ahead of next week’s introduction (it will be released to the public this Friday), noting that while his Q3 tax rate proposal was voted down, that simply pushes when the tax increase will be felt.
He said the average home in the city is worth $500,000. Therefore, a 15 percent municipal tax increase would come to $51 more a month.
Similarly, that would equal $63 more as part of the roughly 14.5 percent tax increase with the board of education budget, with another $25 per month for the 14.42 percent tax hike from Hudson County.
The monthly increases are different since the BOE has the largest impact on the tax bill, followed by the city, then the county.
“I describe most people as livid, and they should be,” Solomon acknowledged.
As he has said many times since February, Solomon reiterated that the budget crisis was created by former Mayor Steve Fulop since costs like $52 million for healthcare were hidden.
Thus, he was, and still is, strongly in favor of the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller investigating the city’s finances between 2020 and 2025, which the council approved unanimously (9-0) at a marathon meeting last month.
Solomon also touted the highly publicized $120 million in state aid, a $15 million grant and a $105 low interest loan where the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) are still pending, though said it will be “significantly below market interest.”
He further stated that the terms are going to be reviewed at the next council meeting as an item related to the budget introduction.
“If we as a city are unable to determine our budget … the state can come in, and they can basically take over the city … We would lose all ability to govern ourselves,” he said, noting that a 31 percent tax increase is the highest the state allows.
He also recalled that Hoboken had a state monitor in 2009 as their municipal finances were in complete disarray.
“This is one of the fiscal biggest crises a city has faced in New Jersey. The last time a city faced a crisis like this, a big city … was Atlantic City in 2015 when the casinos collapsed,” Solomon declared, noting his administration has made over $55 million in cuts this year.
“ … We are cutting to the point where we’ll feel the pain, but we’re not going to break our government. Cuts beyond what we’re talking about would fundamentally break our government.”
Expectedly, many in the audience were outraged about the expected double digit tax increase.
“The last thing in the world I would love to be doing is standing here talking about a tax increase. It’s difficult for working families at a time when gas is up, groceries are up, healthcare is up,” Solomon expressed.
“You can’t make people give you their homes because you can’t pay your budget: This is starting to look like gentrification,” a woman yelled out from the audience.
“You’re 100 percent right … This happened when our economy was growing,” Solomon said.