The Jersey City Municipal Council held a caucus meeting on July 14, 2026, starting at 12:15 PM with eight of nine council members present. The meeting focused on the city's fiscal crisis, a budget introduction, and various resolutions. Council President Ridley began by recapping a morning meeting with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) regarding the Q3 tax rate, budget authority, and a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for transitional aid.
Council President Ridley reported that DCA confirmed the council has the authority to introduce a resolution at the Wednesday council meeting to set the Q3 tax rate, which must be done to allow tax bills to go out and maintain city liquidity. The council had previously voted down a proposed rate at the July 1 meeting. Ridley stated the council retains its legislative power over the budget and can propose cuts; accepting an MOU does not alter that. However, the DCA strongly discouraged tapping into the city's “rainy day” fund (fund balance) for 2026 beyond the $2.3 million already budgeted for snow removal. The DCA also advised against land sales to raise revenue. Regarding the transitional aid loan, the state administration is insisting on an interest-bearing loan, not a no-interest loan as in the past. Two loan agreement options were provided to the council: one assuming a 15% tax rate increase and one with a 20% increase. DCA made clear that any savings found through budget cuts would not allow a deviation from those two rates but would instead go toward repaying the loan or benefit the 2027 budget. Several council members expressed frustration that the administration had not communicated these details earlier, leaving the council little time to deliberate.
Business Administrator Bill presented the introduced Fiscal Year 2026 budget: total $886.5 million. He emphasized that the headline figure includes over $100 million in inherited unpaid obligations from prior administrations. The “true cost” of running the city is estimated at $798.4 million, a reduction of about $58 million or nearly 7% from 2025 when adjusted for one-time items. Key reductions came from health benefits savings (switching from Horizon to Meritain) and paying down deferred spending. Department spending (excluding public safety) saw real cost reductions of ~$9.7 million. Public safety accounts for 70% of salaries and wages. The budget assumes a 15.5% tax rate increase, which on a home assessed at $500,000 is an additional $634/year ($53/month). Combined with expected school and county increases, the total increase is ~$1,700/year ($143/month). Revenue sources include $82.8 million in PILOTs (down 9%), $33 million from MUA franchise payments (a higher amount due to debt maneuvers expected to decline in 2027), and $185 million in state aid (including $105 million from the loan). The loan is expected to be repaid over 10 years at 2.75% interest. The city's cash balance as of July 1 was $115 million, emphasizing the need for a Q3 tax rate to avoid cash shortages.
Council members made several data requests, including a list of new hires since January 15, salaries of laid-off employees, the pilot audit update, a five-year financial plan (in Excel format), and an organizational chart. Corporation Counsel noted that lawsuits would be a legal mechanism to compel compliance but encouraged dialogue. The administration cited staffing constraints and said some documents would be provided during budget hearings. Councilman Gilmore corrected the record that the council's budget has actually decreased by $1.1 million, contrary to reports of a 20% increase.
The council discussed numerous items:
All right, everyone, we're about to get started. If we can find our seats, silence our cell phones, close the back door and side doors if you would be so kind to do so. I greatly appreciate it. Okay, good afternoon, everyone. We are on the record. Today is Monday, the 13th day of July in the year 2026. This is a city council caucus meeting of the Jersey City Municipal Council. We had a scheduled start at 12 p.m. And that notice was sent out on Thursday, July 9th, 2026 at 423 p.m. to all of the reporters and posted on the city's website for our change from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The clock on my cell phone is showing 1215. PM, may we have a roll call for the commencement of this caucus. Council person Brooks. Is not here. Councilperson Zupa. Here. Council person Efros here. Councilperson Little. Here. Councilperson Gilmore. Present. Councilperson Singh. I'm here. Councilperson Griffin. Present. Councilperson LeBarro. Here. And Council President Ridley. Here. And Sean. Councilman Brooks will be absent. Thank you very much. So we have eight council members in attendance at 12 15 p.m. On behalf of Council President Ridley and the members of the municipal council in accordance with New Jersey public laws of 1975, Chapter 231, the Open Public Meetings Act, also known as the Sunshine Law. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the posting on the bulletin board of the first floor of City Hall, the annual notice, which is the schedule of meetings and caucuses of the municipal council for the calendar year 2026 and filed in the office of the city clerk on Tuesday, November 25th, 2025. In addition, and its time of its preparation, the agenda of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Friday, July 10th, 2026 at 1045 p.m. to the mayor, municipal council, business administrator, corporation council, and to the newspapers and posted on the city's website so I can certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law. Council President, I'm going to turn the meeting over to you. Okay, good afternoon. I just want to, before we start, I want to give a quick recap of our morning meeting with DCA. Um we met with them at 10 a.m. this morning. That is why we moved this caucus back to 12 p.m. Uh, one of the first things that we wanted to discuss with them was the Q3 tax rate. Um at our July 1st meeting, we had a resolution to set a Q3 tax rate that the council voted down. And the council was unclear, or we were told that we could not set that Q3 tax rate that the date for us doing so had passed. Um DCA says we are entitled to introduce a resolution at the next council meeting to set that rate. I believe that is the pleasure of the council, but we will discuss that. Um, and we will then add that to the agenda for Wednesday, as the Q3 tax bills have not gone out yet, and we will we would want those bills to go out so that the city can pay their bills.