On June 18, 2026, Jersey City Mayor James Solomon announced a proposed 20% property tax increase aimed to fix their massive “inherited” deficit. Many residents spoke loudly against the news through social media, packed council meetings and supplementary community town halls that took space and weighed as a burden in conversations as casual as “How are you doing?”
Then at an Aug. 26 special council meeting—where just a few people gathered to hear the final decision—the noise immediately dissipated after City Clerk Sean Gallagher uttered, “City resolution is approved 8-0-1.”
The 15.15% property tax increase is now a reality…
‘Affordable To Who? … Apparently It’s Not Us’
But the main question Slice of Culture has been inquiring is the scope of legality as to how Jersey City landed in a $255 million financial crisis.
“There are very few criminal statutes affecting how governments run their finances, the big one is consciously approving over expenditures of budget line items,” said Marc Pfeiffer, an associate director at Rutgers’ Bloustein Local Government Research Center, in a phone call interview.
“At the end of the day, the governing body is responsible for the finance of the community.”
He also chairs the city’s budget advisory committee, and has said the increase will hammer lower-income residents who predate the recent wave of newcomers. Renters are the larger exposure—Jersey City is roughly two-thirds renter households, and the tax lands on landlords who pass it through at lease renewal.
According to the Solomon administration, Jersey City homeowners could see their tax bills jump over $1,600 next year.