With Wednesday’s budget introduction looming, Mayor Emily B. Jabbour announced on Monday, April 21, that the city would stop filling a targeted set of vacant positions, a step her office says will trim approximately $600,000 from spending and pull the overall deficit to just under $13 million.
- Hoboken froze select hiring on April 21 to save $600,000, bringing the budget deficit to nearly $13 million.
- The projected tax increase has dropped from 24 percent to under 19 percent, but Mayor Jabbour confirmed a hike is unavoidable.
- The Board of Education proposed a $104,848,035 budget with a 27 percent tax increase, and Hudson County has not yet introduced its budget.
Four Departments Lose Positions Under the Freeze
The roles taken off the table cover a wide slice of city operations. A Police Inspector position scheduled for a second reading this week is on hold, along with several other police officer slots. Two laborer positions in the Department of Infrastructure are also frozen, as are administrative roles in the Municipal Court office and the Director of Community Services post.
Months of Community Input Have Already Moved the Needle
The hiring freeze builds on work that began when the city’s fiscal troubles surfaced in early March. Since then, a series of subcommittee meetings, public workshops, and a community-wide online survey helped drive the deficit from $17 million down to roughly $13.2 million, while the projected tax increase fell from 24 percent to under 19 percent.
Even so, Jabbour said in a video published on Friday, April 10, that a tax increase could not be avoided, even after about $1 million in cuts had been identified, and she pledged to protect city services throughout the process.
A Councilman Breaks Ranks Over the Tax Hike
1st Ward Councilman Paul Presinzano made his position plain in a post on X on Sunday, April 20, writing that the mayor appeared to have secured the five votes needed to pass the spending plan without further changes.
“I will say what no one else will: It appears the Mayor has the votes to pass a 20% tax hike. Anyone saying or believing that costs are out of the City’s control has forgotten why they were elected: to find solutions, not excuses,” Presinzano wrote.
Day827: I will say what no one else will: It appears the Mayor has the votes to pass a 20% tax hike. Anyone saying or believing that costs are out of the City’s control has forgotten why they were elected: to find solutions, not excuses.
Stay Sharp #Hoboken pic.twitter.com/2h3E2XI6xA— Paul Presinzano 1st Ward City Councilman (@presinzano4hob1) April 19, 2026
School and County Levies Cloud the Full Tax Picture
The city’s budget is not the only line on residents’ tax bills. The Hoboken Board of Education has put forward a preliminary spending plan of $104,848,035 that carries a proposed 27 percent tax increase, and Hudson County has yet to introduce its own budget at all, leaving the combined tax burden for the year still unresolved.
Wednesday’s Meeting Opens the Official Budget Process
The proposed municipal budget will be formally introduced at the City Council meeting on Wednesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. at Hoboken City Hall, 94 Washington St., with a live stream available on the city’s YouTube channel. From that point, the council is free to review and amend the document, but the administration’s window to make changes closes at introduction. A second-reading vote by the council is the final step that converts the proposal into the city’s binding spending plan for the year.
