State Senator Michael Testa (R-1) says that Jersey City budget woes have been known for years for anyone who has been paying attention, therefore Trenton shouldn’t bail them out.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Testa was outspoken against the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority’s (MUA) application to issue $182 million worth of debt (the state ultimately approved $102 million for capital improvements) back in October 2023 and his stance hasn’t changed.
“It’s no shock to anyone that Jersey City is in a growing financial mess, especially someone who sat on council. To be fair to the mayor, he didn’t vote for any budgets, the city water deal, and he opposed any budgetary trickery,” Testa said in a phone interview on Friday.
“But he did support the initial efforts to build the Pompidou before he changed his mind years later. He only started opposing the Pompidou x since myself and others opposed it.”
On February 4th, Jersey City Mayor James Solomon announced a municipal budget deficit of over a quarter billion dollars, attributing the financial crisis to gimmicks and poor planning by his predecessor, Steven Fulop, HCV first reported.
At that same press conference, Solomon declared that the Centre X Pompidou project was not moving forward.
As Testa noted, Solomon supported the initial version of the Pompidou rolled out in June 2021, but was against the latest incarnation that included a 30-year tax break to the KRE Group.
With all that in mind, the three-term Republican lawmaker said the facts do not support a state bailout of New Jersey’s second largest city in his eyes.
“If I were to get a formal request, I would say no. This mayor campaigned on a bunch of promises he knew, or should’ve known, were impossible to fulfill. Gov. Sherrill is facing a $4 billion structural deficit, this is not the time for city’s who proclaim to be doing so well to get major assistance,” Testa asserted.
“This isn’t the time for them to be asking for a bailout. This isn’t a time I could support the taxpayers of this state doing a bailout of Jersey City. It’s a smack in the face for the taxpayers of New Jersey.”
While Testa’s district includes municipalities in Atlantic and Cumberland Counties, he also noted he has supported pieces of legislation to help cities up north, such as state Senator Raj Mukherji (D-32)’s bill to enhance payroll tax collections in Newark and Jersey City.
Jersey City spokesman Nathaniel Styer said Solomon often spoke out against the prior administration’s spending and they will work hard to garner support in Trenton.
“Mayor Solomon has always been a frequent and early voice calling out the fiscal irresponsibility of the previous mayoral administration. Upon taking office, he put together an aggressive plan to confront the reality of this budget and put forth real world solutions – like spending $30 million less on healthcare by switching providers,” he said.
“Mayor Solomon will work with any member of the Assembly or Senate who similarly prioritizes good governance, fiscal responsibility, and stability in Jersey City. We hope Senator Testa is able to look beyond a narrow partisan worldview and work with us to ensure New Jersey’s economic engine continues to benefit the entire state.”
The current partisan split in the New Jersey Senate is 25 Democrats to 15 Republicans.
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