Jersey City is seeking a record-breaking $150 million cash injection from New Jersey’s state government to fill its budget deficit, even as a new governor tries to rein in spending and address a $3 billion shortfall of her own.
The leaders of the state’s second-largest city say they’re grappling with a $255 million deficit and are warning that local tax increases and cuts to city government may be inevitable. Jersey City’s new mayor, James Solomon, blamed his three-term predecessor Steve Fulop — who currently helms the Partnership for New York City — and said Fulop relied on accounting tricks and one-time revenue sources for years.
The gap amounts to 28% of the city’s $922 million budget. In public meetings, the Solomon administration has compared it to historic budget deficits in other cities, like Detroit, which became the largest city in U.S. history to file for bankruptcy in 2013, and Atlantic City, which was hobbled by multiple casino closures in 2015 and ultimately put under a state takeover that is still ongoing…