Want To Run For Hoboken City Council? Pay Starts At $35K; Deadline Thursday

HOBOKEN, NJ — Do you want more of a say in how Hoboken is run?

Six seats on Hoboken's nine-member City Council are up for election on Nov. 7. Each one represents a different section of the mile-square city (see the six wards on the map here to find out which one is yours.)

But in order to run, you must get a number of valid signatures from voters in your ward and file them with the Hoboken city clerk by this Thursday, Aug. 24. Read on for more on that.

In 2021, the nine members of the City Council became perhaps the only people in the city who were able to vote to raise their salaries by more than a third. Perhaps this only means they'll get more of a run for their money.

Salaries for Hoboken City Council members are $35,000 for the part-time slots, including $37,500 for the council vice president, and $40,000 for the council president. They also get benefits.

The current council president is Emily Jabbour, but she's an at-large member and thus is not up for re-election this year. The three at-large members always run when the mayor runs, with the next such election scheduled for 2025.

The six ward council members, on the other hand, will run this Nov. 7 and then again in 2027. See which ward you live in here, using the color key in the upper right. You can only run (and vote for your council person) in your own ward.

In the 1st Ward, Councilman Michael DeFusco is not running for re-election.

The members running for re-election are: 2nd Ward, Tiffanie Fisher; 3rd Ward, Michael Russo; 4th Ward, Ruben Ramos Jr.; 5th Ward, Phil Cohen, and 6th Ward, Jen Giattino.

Cohen was the first candidate to announce his re-election bid, and faces a challenge from Liz Urtecho.

Watch Patch for more coverage. Are you running? Send your announcement and campaign photo here. Got a letter about a candidate? You can post it here any time using these instructions.

Political Tidbits And Getting Signatures To Run

Currently, five of the nine council members almost always vote in favor of Mayor Ravi Bhalla's initiatives, and rarely speak publicly against City Hall proposals. The other four candidates (Fisher, Russo, Ramos, and Giattino) sometimes publicly criticize the administration.

The end result of the debates is more nuanced policy; for instance, when the opposition bloc asked for another look at recent rent control revisions, Bhalla's allies eventually agreed they needed a closer look in committee.

The council holds a public meeting twice a month to vote on ordinances and resolutions related to city programs and personnel.

In Hoboken, where millions of dollar rides on these votes, elections for the seats — considered part-time — have been heated (and sometimes result in arrests).

But the elections aren't the usual Democrats vs. Republicans split you see on the national level. In Hoboken, council, school, and mayoral elections are non-partisan.

In Hudson County, most of the candidates have been Democrats.

For decades, elections in Hoboken have generally been divided among pro- and anti-administration lines, regardless of the mayor in charge.

To find out the right number of signatures needed in your ward, reach out to the Hoboken city clerk at 201-420-2230 or Hudson County clerk at 201-369-3470. Again, the deadline to submit valid signatures to run is this Thursday, 4 p.m.

On Monday, a spokesperson for Hoboken Councilman Cohen Councilman Phil Cohen said he had filed 141 petition signatures, "more than double" the amount required to qualify.

In the past, opponents have tried to get a certain number of signatures declared invalid, because the signer wasn't a registered voter, didn't live in the ward, or for other reasons, so candidates often try to collect more signatures than needed.

Voting Information

Voters can cast a ballot three ways. They can vote early from Oct. 28-Nov. 5, or in person on Nov. 7, or by mail up to Nov. 7. Find out more about that here.

They can also vote in the Hoboken school board election that day, and for other General Election races.

If you're a candidate in a Hoboken council race and want to submit a statement or candidate photo, send it here. Got a letter about a candidate? You can post it here any time using these instructions.