In a letter to the editor, Jersey City resident Jonathan Schwedel explains why he feels city homeowners should be paying higher taxes to help fix a massive budget deficit.
Every single day, there is seemingly a new headline about fiscal woes at the state or local level. Gov. Sherrill just gave an address where she bemoaned inheriting a structural deficit from her predecessor. Mayor Mamdani in New York City recently did the same.
Municipally, the same phenomenon is happening in all corners of our state, sparing neither rich, nor poor – Jersey City, Newark, Lakewood, Montclair, Hackensack, Jackson, Jefferson, are among the the many towns and/or school districts publicly bemoaning challenges with balancing their upcoming FY budget.
There are many recurring themes that keep popping up in these discussions. Legacy pension costs, dramatic Medicare/Medicaid cuts by the federal government, growth in insurance premiums, losing pandemic aid, and health care plans struggling to cover expensive drugs like GLP-1s…