Newark Council OKs City Budget: Tax Hike, Library Update

NEWARK, NJ — The Newark City Council recently gave a green light to a $968.15 million municipal budget – the city's largest-ever spending plan – which will come with a tax increase of 2.3 percent for local homeowners.

On Friday, the council unanimously voted to approve the 2024 budget. A home valued at $190,335 will now pay $7,259 in municipal taxes, an increase of $216.

Property taxes in New Jersey are mainly made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Here’s how that played out in Newark for 2023, according to state data:

• School – 31%
• Municipal – 54.8%
• County – 14.2%

The city's latest budget contains a $20 million increase for the public safety department, with total spending increasing 14.1 percent from last year, TAPinto Newark reported.

Some council members and administrators said the budget is a reasonable compromise between meeting rising costs and keeping taxes as low as possible. But some residents criticized the city’s spending plan – and how it came together – during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Watch footage from the Sept. 27 meeting below, or view it online here.

LIBRARY SPENDING

Earlier this month, more than 100 people rallied at City Hall to demand more funding for the Newark Public Library, which will now get an extra $1 million under an amended version of the spending plan. See Related: Library Workers Demand More Funding In Newark City Budget

The extra funds will not add to the local tax burden, Newark business administrator Eric Pennington said.

The library’s annual budget of nearly $17 million is about 70 percent composed of city contributions, with the rest paid by grants and donations, NJ Advance Media reported.

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