Jersey City’s public safety operations are slated to get a $7 million increase even as municipal leaders grapple with a historic financial crisis and plan to spike property taxes by at least 15%.
The planned increase comes as Jersey City’s making sweeping cuts across local government — and despite local progressives seizing the political moment by calling for a “People’s Budget” that would instead trim $3 million from police overtime and salaries. A pair of Jersey City councilmembers endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America pushed that plan, looking to spend the money on a variety of other city programs and hoping the progressive slate that took over the mayor’s office and governing body this year would be receptive.
But the proposal ultimately never won the support it needed, with proposed spending on police operations essentially flat as the overall public safety allotment grows. A higher power — the state of New Jersey — compelled city leaders to reach a compromise that did trim the police overtime fund, but just by $200,000…