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News 12 Staff

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Revelations this week of a major cash crunch that has led to scathing criticism and a whole lot of finger pointing in our second largest city. Jersey City Mayor James Solomon dropping a bomb this week that the city faces a structural deficit of $250 million. He says the truth is serious. Joining me now is the mayor of Jersey City, James Solomon. Mayor, we thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Listen, this video that you posted online explains some of what the city is facing right now. We want to listen to a very quick clip here. When that federal money ran out. Instead of facing the problem, former Mayor Fullip doubled down on budget tricks, selling city property, raiding the rainy day fund, borrowing to pay operating expenses, pushing bills into the future. By 2023, nearly 26% of the city's revenue came from these one-time gimmicks that can't be repeated. Mayor, how long have these gimmicks, as you call them, have, have, how long have these been going on for? Yeah, they, they really exploded in 2021, 2022, uh, when the COVID money was provided and instead of that money being used to ensure the long-term fiscal health of our city, it was used to provide a one-time election year tax cut that could never be repeated. During that year, we ran a $90 million. Deficit and basically for the last 4 years the prior administration continued to use gimmicks after gimmick after gimmick to cover up the fact that the city's financial structural deficit was growing each year. Former mayor Fullip released this statement saying, quote, We obviously disagree. It's also worth noting that James served on the city council for 8 years with full budget responsibilities, and during that time he never raised any of these concerns and actually voted for virtually every contract and resolution that came before the council. How do you respond to the former mayor's statement? Yeah, the mayor can't defend his record, so he's got to obfuscate. Uh, let's be clear, I voted against the budget all 8 years on council. I, in fact, raised these issues in the budget hearing. I specifically called out his sale of land. I said, you're selling city land, you're using the money to fill budget gaps, and there's going to be no more land. To out and it's unfortunate the mayor was so disengaged from the budgeting process. He didn't literally know what I voted and what I said in the meetings. But what's important now is that we move forward and fix the problem, and we are building a whole coalition. At yesterday's press conference we had nearly the entirety of the Hudson County state delegation. And we're gonna be both working in Trenton as well as working locally to come up with solutions that limit impacts on working families in Jersey City because in Jersey City rent has gone up 50% in 5 years, property taxes have gone up 50% in 5 years. Working families in Jersey City are struggling, and this crisis is not of their. It is the doing of the former mayor, and we're going to be committed to solving it. So let's talk about that. The city has faced multiple credit rating downgrades, as you know, by Moody's, S&P Fitch. Moody's in December noted a deteriorating liquidity profile, a struggling financial position. How do you dig the city out of this? Yeah, so we, our, our core commitment is a 5 year plan because the whole problem, the whole reason we got into this was sort of 1 year gimmicks, right? We're, we're done with those. Those do not help. They add costs in the long run and so we're going to be committed to making sure that we build a 5 year plan in place, uh, that gets the city to structural soundness. The good news is Jersey City's economy is strong, uh, so we have a strong. Foundation from which to build upon, but a couple of things we've done already. First, we switched our third party health care administrator. The city will spend $30 million less because of that. Second, we've attacked some of the incompetence that was leading to a loss of city revenues. The city paid $3 million in late fees for prescription drug benefits because we just didn't pay our bills on time. So we're putting in new. Controls to prevent that from happening. He lost $3 million because the IRS said, hey, you overpaid us. Just file a form and you'll get the money back, and the city never filed the form. So those are we're putting in basic procedures in place to prevent those things from happening. Mayor, when you hear about a deficit, especially one this large, one of the questions becomes will residents be facing tax hikes, increased costs for services? We know right now that Jersey City taxes have gone up 50% in 5 years, so we're going to do everything in our power to work with our state partners to create a 5 year sustainable plan which builds into the fact that we know Jersey City residents have already been taxed significantly. Um, we are not, and I'm always the whole thing and the whole change what we're doing is being honest with people. Um, we have all options on the table. I'm not going to make it during the campaign. I was unwilling to make promises that I can't keep, so. The honest answer is all options are on the table, but we know how hard it's been. We know how much taxes have already gone up, and we are gonna work with our state partners to build a sustainable plan that takes all of that into account. The mayor and I also discussed recent ICE activity in Hudson County. Last weekend there was an enforcement on the border of Jersey City and Hoboken. Jersey City councilperson recording this video at the path. Do you have a warrant? I, I don't, we don't need a warrant, bro. Stop getting that in your head. Mayor Solomon has said Jersey City will not cooperate without a warrant. I asked what this means going forward and what should city employees do if they encounter an ICE enforcement. Everybody agrees folks who have committed crimes shouldn't be out operating and living in the community, um, and so, but beyond that, we do not want to see ICE agents terrorizing families in Jersey City, uh, and, and I've heard since that incident, right, people afraid to send their kids to school, people afraid to go work, just members of our community who are just living their lives. Making Jersey City a better place by being here. And my message to them is Jersey City has your back. I can't stop ICE from being in Jersey City. We're calling on the federal government to pull back and focus only on criminals, uh, but, uh, they haven't. So what our executive order says is Jersey City property, Jersey City personnel, Jersey City resources will not be used to aid ICE. DHS disagreeing with the mayor's approach, saying, quote, On February 1st, ICE conducted a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Jersey City, New Jersey to arrest 10 illegal aliens, including multiple illegal aliens who committed felonies by illegally re-entering the US. Solomon says this is a lie. It's clear to understand the sort of propaganda unfortunately that's in that statement. The only felony that was committed was entering the country without papers, right? That's the only felony. These were not people who committed the way we think of felonies, right? We think of somebody who engaged in assault or any other type of serious crime. She didn't say these people had committed crimes because what they Doing was indiscriminately targeting people on their way to work. Um, those types of raids we saw in Minnesota, the damage they do. Again, the federal government insists these are legitimate felonies. To see our full interview with Jersey City Mayor James Solomon, go to news12.com. Stay with us. We've got much more coming up today when Power in Politics returns.

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Bitter, dangerous cold this weekend is going to have home heating bills soaring, but the recent stretch of below freezing temperatures is also causing a surge of water main breaks statewide, and the repairs are not cheap. A civil engineer says that when the ground freezes, pressure from traffic and potholes is sent straight down to pipes, making them more likely to break. In Montville, repairs of the water lines cost the town about a million dollars per mile. We're told much of New Jersey's water system is outdated. Problem is all of these pipes were put in so long ago and out of sight, out of mind. Russ never sleeps. We don't think about it until something drastically happens and we're seeing that now. He adds without major investment to replace the pipes, water main breaks will keep happening. Now the waterfront in Long Branch is getting a new look. The city council approving a contract to restore the iconic pier there. The original one stood for more than 75 years. It was destroyed by a fire back in the 80s for those of you old enough to remember. Construction on the new pier will start in about 60 days' time, and it should take anywhere from 12 to 18 months. The pier will be for recreational use only. New Jersey politics is a blood sport. You've heard me say that before. No, really, it's, it's serious stuff. Or is it? Your Honor, I'd like to enter the most recent Cranford Town Committee meeting into evidence. Philly, turn off the music. Mr. Philly. Turn off the music. OK, well, that's Will Philly. He's been holding a dance party protest during the committee meeting since September of last year. Uh, this one was to remind the Cranford committee to celebrate carnival season, which is actually right before Ash Wednesday, so it's basically now. He's had other dance protests in case you were wondering, and things including reggae and hip hop and he even had a karate demonstration. As you can see he's got some moves. The committee, uh, was less than amused, let's put it that way. They actually decided to take a 3 minute break. Might make them think twice before asking if there are any other public comments in the future. That'll do it for this week's show. I'm Eric Lanz Cronner. We thank you so much for watching New Jersey Power and Politics. We'll see you again next time. Stay warm, everyone.

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Tom Prendergast, CEO of the Gateway Development Commission, and Jersey City Mayor James Solomon join the show. 

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