Jersey City taxpayers are confronting an unprecedented fiscal crisis that follows years of steep, abrupt reductions in state school aid. Hundreds of millions were already stripped from a city that is still home to deep poverty, forcing local taxpayers to shoulder a burden no working class community could reasonably sustain. Forcing the city’s predominantly working class taxpayers to absorb further shocks will trigger a fiscal unraveling whose effects will reverberate across the entire state’s economy.
As the elected leaders of Hudson County, we represent different communities, different levels of government, and different constituencies. But we are united today by a shared conviction: Jersey City’s fiscal crisis is not just a Jersey City problem, and it demands a state-level response.
Jersey City is the state’s largest tax base and its greatest economic engine. Stabilizing the city’s finances would not only benefit the nearly 300,000 residents who call Jersey City home but the broader state economy. As budget season kicks off for the new fiscal year, we believe the state should provide significant aid to Jersey City, and we stand ready to work with the Governor and Legislature to make that happen…