More Details About Proposed Montclair Town Budget Revealed

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Montclair town officials have released more details about the proposed 2026 municipal budget, with an eye towards a public hearing and a vote on May 5.

Interim chief financial officer Joseph Monzo gave a presentation about the preliminary 2026 municipal budget at a town council meeting in late March. According to Monzo, homeowners with a property assessed at $639,630 would see a $140 increase under the proposal, which is still being hammered out. Read More: Tax Hike Floated In Montclair's Proposed Town Budget

Township manager Stephen Marks gave a deeper dive into the draft budget at the town council meeting on April 7. View his full presentation here.

Marks reviewed the biggest changes to spending and revenue – noting that employee group health insurance premiums were the largest increase by far (see chart below).

Monzo also highlighted the rising cost of health insurance last month, reporting that the township made the “fiscally responsible decision” to extricate itself from the state health benefits plan in 2025.

“You’ve all seen the articles about the death spiral they’re in and the increases to their membership – which was 36.9 percent in 2026 – and it’s expected to be even higher than that in 2027,” he told the council.

The town is now insured through a private carrier, which saved about $188,000 compared to the state plan – a total that will hopefully increase as time goes on, Monzo said.

The township has rolled out a temporary hiring freeze for “non-essential” employees until further notice, he previously said.

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On the flip side of the coin, town administrators are recommending that Montclair uses only $7 million of its surplus – an $8 million decrease from last year – due to a $1.01 million dip in fund balance.

A public hearing and final vote will need to take place before the spending plan crosses the finish line.

Property taxes in New Jersey are mainly made up of three parts: school, municipal and county.

Montclair school officials are also planning to raise taxes under their proposed 2026-2027 budget. The average homeowner would see an $851 tax hike under the tentative spending plan, which also includes a wave of staffing cuts. This is in addition to the tax hike that was approved under the town’s recent voter referendum.

In 2025, the average Montclair resident paid $22,487 in total property taxes on a home valued at $639,628 (not including credits and deductions).

>> RELATED: Proposed School Budget Would Hike Taxes, Make Staff Cuts

Watch footage from the April 7 town council meeting below (video is cued to the presentation, which begins at the 5:27 mark):

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