Jersey City Mayor Introduces $620M Budget With Tax Reductions

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop introduced a preliminary $620 million budget that would come with a $967 annual tax decrease per household.

The budget is backed and helped by $69 million the city received from the American Rescue Plan. The City Council will vote to introduce the 2021 budget at the next Council meeting scheduled for June 16.

“Since day one of this pandemic, our commitment to helping our already overburdened residents has been the driving force behind our efforts to overcome the historic financial deficits and provide relief to taxpayers,” said Mayor Fulop in a statement. “This budget also commits more resources to expand recreational programs for our youth, affordable housing, mental health and public health services, infrastructure improvements, among other critical services our residents rely on.”

The federal funding from the American Rescue Plan will allow the city to recoup costs incurred throughout the pandemic and provide revenue relief from some of the more severely impacted lost revenues, including lost hotel taxes, suspended parking fees and taxes, and slowdown in construction permitting.

The proposed tax reduction will offset costs like the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority solid waste services, an average increase of $25 a month per household, implemented this year to "create more fairness so that all entities citywide pay their fair share," the city said.

The budget also includes $5 million to fully fund the Department of Recreation and Youth Development and ensure all recreational programs are fully reinstated, with all safety protocols in place and a new, fully funded Jersey City Police Department De-escalation Training Facility.

The Department of Health and Human Services budget will increase to $7.5 million to support the historic increases in demand for public and mental health services outside of vaccinations and testing.

There is $4.9 million budgeted in for capital improvement projects including:

• Pathside Building Renovations
• De-escalation Training Facility
• St. Lucy’s Homeless drop-in center
• Skyway Park
• New Police District Buildings
• Washington Ave Creative Center
• Citywide Engineering projects such as traffic signals, speed humps, bike lanes, etc.