Tax bills for the third quarter have gone out to Jersey City residents and they are suffering a bit of sticker shock.
The City Council approved a 15.5% tax increase at its July 15 meeting, when it accepted a $105 million loan from the state to cover a $255 million budget deficit. At the same meeting, the City Council also introduced the $886.5 million municipal budget for the 2026 fiscal calendar year.
But when residents received their tax bills online or in the mail starting on July 22, they were taken aback by how much more they had to pay from the previous quarter.
Ann Wallace, who owns a two-family home in the city's Heights section, said her tax bill went up from $4,280 in the second quarter to $5,427 in the third quarter, which is a 26.8% increase.
Wallace, a professor at Kean Jersey City, said she expected the increase, but it is still shocking to her. However, not as shocking as it was to the agent at her mortgage company, through which she pays her taxes to the city.
"The mortgage agent, this is a direct quote from him, said, 'That's insane,' when he found out what my taxes were, and he encouraged me to move to Georgia, where he lives," she said.
The explanation for the increase in the third quarter, as posted on the city's tax calculator webpage, is that "the first two quarters of the year are billed as preliminary amounts at the prior year's rate. When the new budget and rates are certified mid-year, the municipal, county and school increases all take effect together on the third- and fourth-quarter bills." The four quarters for the tax year start on Feb. 1, May 1, Aug. 1 and Nov. 1, and there is a 10-day grace period for paying taxes.
Taxes in Jersey City are paid to three places: the municipal government, the school system and the county government. The Jersey City Board of Education approved the $1.1 billion budget for the public schools in April, and the Hudson County Board of Freeholders approved the county's $769.7 million budget in May. Both budgets are financed through taxes collected from residents. Jersey City's municipal budget has yet to be passed.
But the explainer does little to shield residents from the burden of the tax hike.
Wallace said she will pay the increase because she has a good-paying job that cushions the blow. However, it means she will have to pay a little more on her mortgage to cover the increase, not only in the third quarter but also what could come in the fourth quarter.
She also plans not to pass the increase to her tenants, as she rents out a part of her house.
"There's no way I would pass this increase along to my tenants," Wallace said. "I could increase rents a bit, but it would drive any tenants out."
Wallace said that while she understands that the increase was done under the administration of current Mayor James Solomon to bridge the $255 million budget deficit, she is still angry that it is happening. However, she sees it as a by-product of the policies of the previous Mayor Steven Fulop.
Fulop, who was mayor from 2013 to January of this year, has been criticized by Solomon for fiscal mismanagement, citing $52 million in unpaid healthcare bills from 2024 and 2025 under Fulop's watch, spending the entire $27 million of the city's "rainy day" fund without replenishment plans. Fulop, who is now the president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, has pushed back on Solomon, claiming that Solomon had budget responsibilities during his eight years as a councilman and raised little concern about the city's budget.
"Fulop's gone and we're left with the bill," Wallace said.
Charles Mainor is also shocked and upset at the increase in his tax bill.
The former state assemblyman, who resides in a two-family house in the city's Greenville section, saw his tax bill go up 27.5% from $1,469 in the third quarter to $1,863 in the fourth quarter. He is also paying his bill through his mortgage.
"I am in a position where I can do a little more to survive. What about those who don't have the opportunity?" said Mainor, a former Jersey City police officer who now works at a Newark nonprofit and is president of the Jersey City NAACP.
Mainor said he is hearing from some homeowners and renters that the tax increase could force them out of their homes. He takes issue with Mayor Solomon and the City Council for not being clearer about the reason for the tax increase and the amount of the increase, as well as bringing on more city employees in a budget crisis.
"When you come and say it is going to be 20%. No, it's going to be 15%. Well, we might do 12%. But we know we are in deficit, and yet you are still hiring people and giving them large salaries," Mainor said. "We should think − are we trying to take care of the homeowner, or are we trying to take care of allies?"
He said that he has put together a group considering a recall of Solomon and City Council members due to their dealings with the budget and tax increase. He said they would reconsider if Solomon committed to reducing taxes when unpaid bills are paid off from the revenue generated by increased taxes.
Alex Trillo lives with his family in a condo in the Jersey City Heights. His tax bill went up 26.8% from $1,545 to $1,959.
Trillo, a sociology professor at Saint Peter's University, said he would like to see city officials explain better to residents why and how tax increases showed up on their bills by meeting directly with residents and through social media.
He then said that while he was not happy with the tax jump, he was not particularly shocked, as he and his neighbors saw this current scenario coming a few years ago when Fulop was in office.
"We were all pretty sure that whoever was going to be the next mayor was probably going to have to raise taxes or figure something out to raise revenue," Trillo said. "We knew that there were inflationary things, like health insurance was going up. We knew that the city was running bare staffing in a lot of places, which seemed to be a strategy to keep the budget at a certain place without raising taxes."
Nathaniel Styer, spokesperson for Mayor Solomon, offered a statement defending the tax increase.
"Mayor Solomon held over a dozen town halls answering questions directly from constituents about the city's fiscal crisis and the 2026 budget. There are no easy solutions to a budget crisis of this magnitude, and the mayor lobbied and won a historic $120 million aid package from Trenton to lessen the burden on Jersey City taxpayers and protect vital city services this year - like public safety," Styer said.
"In the end, we cut city spending by over $58 million and limited this year's tax increase to the lowest possible level," he said. "While both the cuts and tax increase are painful, we believe they are the first steps towards getting Jersey City's finances back to healthy and stable."
City Councilman at-Large Rolando Lavarro said in an interview with NorthJersey.com that he has heard from constituents who have were "upset" over the increase and talk of a recall of Solomon and the council.
"I don't blame people for wanting to do that, frankly. We promised affordability, we promised stabilizing taxes," Lavarro said.
Ricardo Kaulessar covers Jersey City, including race, immigration, and culture, for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Jersey City residents express shock and concern over tax increase