JERSEY CITY, NJ —
September 01, 2026 |
By DailyHudson Staff
Resident Kevin Bing breaks down the $886.4M budget, the $255M deficit, and the tough choices that led to higher taxes.
The letter arrived on a Tuesday, tucked between a pizza coupon and a credit card offer. Inside was the number every Jersey City homeowner dreads: your tax bill is going up—$1,600 on average to the city, schools, and county combined. For a family juggling mortgage, groceries, and childcare, that’s real money. Real pain.
But here’s the thing, according to Jersey City resident Kevin Bing: it could’ve been much worse.
In an op-ed published this week, Bing, who serves as executive director of StreetsPAC NJ, lays out the stark math behind the city’s newly approved $886.4 million budget—a spending plan that carries a 15.15% municipal tax increase. And while he doesn’t sugarcoat the hit to taxpayers, he argues the city had no other path forward.
The hole they had to climb out of
When the 2026 budget process began, Jersey City was staring at a $255 million deficit. That’s not a small crack in the sidewalk; that’s a sinkhole in the middle of the road. Even the maximum tax increase allowed by state law wouldn’t have covered it all.
How did we get here? For years, the previous administration used accounting tricks to push costs into the future. Think of it like paying only the minimum on your credit card—it feels fine in the moment, but the interest compounds. Now, as Bing puts it, “the future is now.”
The alternative to a tax hike wasn’t free money. It was cutting services so deep that garbage pickup, senior centers, youth programs, and public pools would’ve been on the chopping block. That’s not a budget; that’s a dismantling.
What the tax increase means for Hudson County families
For the average homeowner, that $1,600 hit could mean less money for summer camp, a delayed car repair, or skipping a few dinners out. It’s not a small sacrifice. But Bing argues it’s the price of keeping the city functional without gutting the community.
He also points to a broader lesson for Hudson County: the city is finally on “stable ground.” The administration and City Council chose what he calls “the honest path”—targeted cuts plus a significant tax increase—rather than kicking the can down the road again.
That’s small comfort when you’re writing a bigger check, but it matters. This budget, painful as it is, was designed to put the city’s finances on a sustainable track. No more gimmicks. No more borrowing from tomorrow.
What people are saying
Bing gives clear credit to the City Council for making an unpopular choice. “They chose to be the adults in the room,” he writes, voting for a sustainable future over easy political points.
But he doesn’t hold back when it comes to the Board of Education. In contrast to the city’s budget, the BOE has raised taxes abruptly—again with double-digit increases—even as student enrollment declines. Bing calls it a billion-dollar budget with “no clear long-term plan.” For taxpayers, it raises a fair question: where’s the accountability?
What comes next
Residents should watch for the BOE’s next steps and any budget documents that show how the district plans to manage its finances. The city’s budget is set, but the school board’s decisions are still evolving.
For now, the takeaway is simple: Jersey City made a hard choice, and it wasn’t easy. But the alternative—more gimmicks, more debt, more denial—was worse.
As Bing says, paying for the truth is expensive. Paying for a lie is costlier in the long run.
Source: Hudson County View
