The anticipated pain of a massive property tax increase in Jersey City has been alleviated somewhat.
Mayor James Solomon announced on Monday a proposed 20% increase has been reduced to a 15% after the city secured $120 million in state aid earlier in the day.
“Solving a deficit this size was never going to be easy”
The tax increase is necessary because the city is facing a $255 million budget deficit, Solomon said.
“Fifteen percent is better than 20, but I cannot tell you this solves our problem without consequences,” Solomon said in a statement. “We know how difficult these increases are, and in combination with the historic amount of state aid we secured in Trenton, my team went back and cut even more city spending. Solving a deficit this size was never going to be easy, and the Administration and City Council must make hard decisions in the coming weeks and months to make the budgets for 2026 and 2027 work without further large tax increases.”…