“This audit is a serious document, and it deserves a serious response, not just from the administration, but from the entire governing body. The Chief Financial Officer will submit a corrective action plan to the council and the state Division of Local Government Services, as required. That’s a necessary first step, but it can’t be the last one,” Rutgers’ Center for Urban Policy Research Associate Director Marc Pfeiffer said in a statement.
“A corrective action plan that sits on a shelf accomplishes nothing. Public finance in Jersey City is complicated. Nobody expects any council member to be an accountant. But understanding the critical issues, asking hard questions, getting clear answers from the city’s professionals, and staying engaged between audits is part of the job. The mayor and council need to act prudently and effectively as the city realigns its fiscal condition and moves forward.”
Writing about the city’s use of emergency appropriations, the auditing firm states that financing current operating costs in future budgets “shifts the financial burden to future taxpayers who did not receive the related services or benefits.”
They further note that emergency appropriations are intended under the Local Budget Law for “unforeseen expenditures requiring immediate action,” and that employee health insurance costs — the largest use of the mechanism in 2025 — are “recurring and reasonably estimable.”
The 2025 budget appropriated $147,385,033 for employee and retiree health insurance.
In November 2025, the City Council adopted a $22,500,000 emergency appropriation, financed by notes, to cover health insurance and tax appeal costs the budget had not funded…