Secaucus School District And Town Both Seek 7 Percent Tax Increases

SECAUCUS, NJ — Brace yourself, Secaucus property owners: The town and the school district are both seeking seven-percent increases in taxes this year.

This was revealed at the emergency joint public meeting of the town and Secaucus school board Thursday night, held in the high school PAC. It was Mayor Mike Gonnelli who convened the meeting, so "everything could be discussed in public," the mayor said.

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If both tax increases get approved, Secaucus homeowners will be asked to pay a combined 14 percent increase to their school and town tax bill. The average assessed Secaucus home will pay $415 more in taxes this year.

Hudson County taxes will increase this year as well, said Gonnelli. How much? The county did not publicly announce it yet.

At the meeting, interim superintendent Dr. Mark Toback revealed the Secaucus school district has a $2-million budget deficit.

To plug that hole, the school district will ask homeowners to pay 7.2 percent more in the school tax levy. That works out to be about $170 more per average assessed home per year, according to the budget presentation the school district presented Thursday night: 4.files.edl.io/9f70/04/30/26/214107-7624fcde-d1d7-415b-8c6e-88fc3518816a.pdf

It would be higher if there weren't so many hotels and industry in town, which offset the tax burden on homeowners, Gonnelli pointed out.

The 7.2 percent tax increase is part of next year's budget, which the board will be asked to adopt at their meeting next Thursday, May 7.

Similarly, the town of Secaucus will ask the Council to approve a seven-percent increase to the town tax levy. That works out to be about $245 more per year to the average assessed home in Secaucus.

$170 + $245 = $415 more per year.

The town will ask the council to approve this at their public budget hearing, scheduled for May 27, said town administrator Gary Jeffas.

Without that 7.2 tax increase, staff and programs will be cut in Secaucus public schools, superintendent says

The Secaucus school district also plans a 4-percent tax increase for the 2027-'28 school year, and another 4-percent increase the year after that. It's all part of a three-year plan Toback presented Thursday night to fix the district's finances. (See page 8.)

Toback said the Secaucus school district is in "a budget crisis."

If the school board approves the three-year plan, it will bring in $6.6 million for the district, and nothing will have to be cut, said Toback. Academic and athletic programs will not have to be cut, staffing will be kept stable and class sizes will be kept as small as possible, promised Toback.

"Without it, there will be significant program reductions and staffing impacts," Toback said.

For the past several years, the Secaucus school district has not raised its tax levy beyond the two-percent cap imposed by the state. The town tax increase last year was zero.

Except the costs to run a school district and town have skyrocketed, both Gonnelli and the superintendent said, including costs to pay staff salaries, healthcare costs and energy costs to heat and air condition schools.

"If you follow the news, it seems like every day there's a new school district announcing budget cuts, layoffs, significant tax increases," Toback said. "During the pandemic there was an enormous infusion of funds into school districts," referring to federal pandemic relief funding.

This year? "That funding dried up. Now, it's worse than ever."

Not only is enrollment down in the Secaucus school district, which means reduced state aid from Trenton, but Secaucus schools are also funded the least out of all the school districts in Hudson County, Toback said, pointing to page 6 of his budget presentation.

On top of that, the Secaucus school district was walloped with a 30 percent increase in healthcare premiums for staff in 2026, and a 32 percent increase in prescription drug costs for staff, said school district business administrator Grace Yeo.

Raising taxes is the only way school boards and town governments can keep up, both the mayor and Toback said.

"Look at Montclair, look at Hackensack," said Gonnelli. "It's happening all over the state."

"The last several budget years have been very difficult; we've had million-dollar increases in multiple expenditures by the town," said Patrick DeBlasio, Secaucus' chief financial officer and the person who prepares the town's budget every year. "Last year was a 0 percent tax increase, and that was really tough to do."

"Nothing goes down," said Jeffas. "How much did your electric bill go up this year? More than double? Imagine that for the town. "

Here is a livestream of Thursday night's meeting: