Democratic socialists’ plan to curb Jersey City police funding falls flat in budget crisis

Jersey City’s public safety operations are slated to get a $7 million increase even as municipal leaders grapple with a historic financial crisis and plan to spike property taxes by at least 15%.

The planned increase comes as Jersey City’s making sweeping cuts across local government — and despite local progressives seizing the political moment by calling for a “People’s Budget” that would instead trim $3 million from police overtime and salaries. A pair of Jersey City councilmembers endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America pushed that plan, looking to spend the money on a variety of other city programs and hoping the progressive slate that took over the mayor’s office and governing body this year would be receptive.

But the proposal ultimately never won the support it needed, with proposed spending on police operations essentially flat as the overall public safety allotment grows. A higher power — the state of New Jersey — compelled city leaders to reach a compromise that did trim the police overtime fund, but just by $200,000.

Now the finish line is almost here. The City Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday evening to hold final votes on the budget. That means the debate over police funding in Jersey City for next year is effectively over, but it’s likely to be a point of tension again in future spending plans.

Mayor James Solomon has repeatedly said that public safety is one of his top priorities. His administration has touted a 26% decrease in major crime since he took office in January, along with investments to re-establish the police department’s traffic enforcement unit and modernize city 911 operations.

Solomon’s proposed budget would boost overall spending on the Department of Public Safety by roughly 4%, with the increase stemming from the need to set aside more money for any new salary or benefit obligations that will arise from new police and firefighter union contracts.

The proposed budget calls for roughly $105.5 million on police department spending in 2026, compared to about $104 million in 2025.

“This comprehensive, all-of-the-above approach to community safety is being done while also keeping spending under control through real cuts to overtime, contracts, and responsible fiscal management within JCPD,” Nathaniel Styer, a spokesperson for Solomon, said in a statement.

Administration officials told the City Council during budget hearings that police overtime spending was down nearly 10% in 2026 compared to 2025. Anthony Ambrose, the city’s public safety director, said much of that could be attributed to the police department ending the practice of fixed posts, which often used overtime to keep officers stationed at specific locations in the city for hours on end.

Joel Brooks and Jake Ephros wanted to see more trimmed from the police budget. The city’s two DSA-endorsed councilmembers aimed to reallocate $3 million from from police overtime and salaries to things like direct rental assistance, funding more community health positions and increasing money for the fire department.

“I made a commitment to folks in my ward that I don’t want to see any officers or detectives laid off, and I want to make sure that when people call 911, that someone answers,” Brooks said. “But as a proud member of DSA, I want us to look at how do we create a city where we don’t have as many calls?”

They called the number of supervisors and administrators in the police department an area of bloat. The Jersey City Police Department has 769 sworn officers; officers ranked lieutenant or higher make up 72 of those. The department has eight deputy chiefs. That’s twice as many as Newark’s police division.

“ We could save something like that $3 million number if we really cut the top brass and tried to whittle that down,” Ephros said.

City Council President Denise Ridley said the Department of Public Safety was expected to find cuts just as every other part of city government was. But she said among the council there were “ some reservations to cut too much and leave people at risk.”

“ I can’t say that that would have passed the entire Council,” Ridley said of the floated $3 million cut to police wages. “Public safety is a big concern, the top concern anywhere you go.”

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs gets final approval on the city’s spending as a condition of this historic $120 million bailout state leaders gave Jersey City this summer. And DCA officials have been a constant presence in the city’s budget process — effectively mandating a local tax hike of at least 15% before Solomon introduced his budget proposal, and limiting the City Council to submitting just a single amendment resolution to Solomon’s proposal.

DCA confirmed to Gothamist that councilmembers originally submitted four budget amendments for state review and that the department directed the council to submit a single amendment instead.

Lisa Ryan, a DCA spokesperson, said in a statement that this is a standard practice, because state officials cannot assess the financial impacts of multiple changes to an introduced budget.

“As soon as one amendment passes, it alters the introduced budget, and the other amendments are invalidated because the introduced budget no longer exists,” Ryan said. “For this reason, DCA told the City Council to work together on the front end and submit a compromise amendment.”

“The City Council ultimately went through this process and submitted a very lengthy amendment with many things included,” Ryan added. “This is the standard process because governing bodies ultimately have to speak with one voice; there’s no way for DCA to prioritize one amendment over another when they conflict.”

Multiple council members bemoaned the DCA’s instructions.

“This is not the ideal scenario that we wanted to be introducing amendments under. We would have loved to present them and debate them out in the open,” Councilmember Eleana Little said. “But we were told by the state that that was not an option.”

Ridley said the councilmembers and their staff rushed to hash out what would be included in that single amendment, which was introduced on Wednesday.

“ We had to find that happy medium, especially once the state decided that we had to come to one amendment outside of the four,” Ridley said. “So I’m comfortable with where we landed.”

The amendment included, among other cuts, a $200,000 reduction to the allocation for police overtime and wages.

“Maybe if there were four [amendments], we could have gotten a little more,” Ridley added, referring to cuts to police spending.

And the amendment restores funding for some items that had been scaled back or cut in Solomon’s proposal, including restoring 11 of the 31 provisional employees across city government who had been laid off last month. It also sets aside more money for mental health emergency response programs.

All in all, the council’s amendment slightly reduces the city property tax increase from Solomon’s proposed 15.5% down to 15.15%.

Ephros said the budget amendment is “ an improvement, but it’s certainly not everything we need.”

DSA leaders say they will continue calling for reallocating police funding.

“This is an ongoing battle, and what we would like to ultimately see is for other forms of public safety outside of just policing to also be increased and prioritized,” said Yusra Razouki, the Hudson County Branch co-chair for the North New Jersey DSA.

Ephros and Brooks said they will be looking for opportunities to do so in future budgets, with a focus on reducing spending on police brass.

“ We’re doing everything that we can within these constraints to fund the priorities that we campaigned on and that we talk to residents about every single day,” Ephros said.

But Ambrose warned the police department generally will need more money in coming years to increase salaries and wages. He said during budget hearings that 111 police officers and supervisors have left the department over the past five years, including 25 in this year alone. Ambrose said young officers, especially, are leaving for better paying departments elsewhere.

“ It’s concerning to the residents and to everyone that our levels of police officers are up, so when people call 911, we’re readily available and we can respond,” Ambrose said.

Anthony Silver, a Jersey City cop with 11 years of experience on the force, echoed that point to the City Council Wednesday night. He said morale within the department is cratering as veteran officers and detectives leave. Silver warned that Jersey City cops already feel underpaid compared to other departments in Hudson County, making it increasingly difficult to retain officers and recruit new ones.

“There was a time when people fought to become a police officer here. People wanted to work here, build their careers here, raise their families here,” Silver said. “Today, people are leaving, and fewer people are willing to come. We need to ask ourselves why.”