I wrote this newsletter, together with Parts 2 and 3 that will follow shortly, to answer questions I have received and to help explain:

• Why your tax bill looks the way it does - an eye-popping 21.5% increase compared with last quarter's bill, based on a total increase for 2026 of 10.75%.
• What relief programs may be available.
• What happened during this year's budget process.

If you are a renter, please don't look away. These increases may affect you as well, and some of the relief programs in Part 2 may apply to you, too.

These are big numbers, and I know they are difficult to absorb. My own tax bill increased by approximately $1,620 this year.

Everyone has a perspective on what happened. Mayor Jabbour shared hers in the insert that accompanied your tax bill. Other elected officials have shared theirs by email. There are truths in all of them, even if the conclusions differ.

My perspective is a little different.

Since first being elected in 2015, I have participated in 11 budget cycles. As I shared ad nauseam during the mayoral race, my professional background is in finance, and I have spent the past decade analyzing Hoboken's budgets, debt, reserves, and long-term obligations.

This year, like every other year since 2016 except one, I led the effort to reduce the mayor’s proposed tax increase as much as responsibly possible.

Councilwoman Imus and Council President Ramos were indispensable partners throughout the process this year. Together, we introduced the only financially supported budget amendments, ultimately presenting three separate versions as we continued refining the numbers and building support among our colleagues.

After identifying most of the savings that reduced Mayor Jabbour's original proposal from 24% to the 19% increase she ultimately introduced, we continued to drill down into the numbers.

• Our first proposed amendment reduced the increase further to approximately 13.5%
• Our second reduced it to approximately 10.5%.
• Ultimately, working closely with our colleagues, we reached a compromise at 11.5% - a reduction of more than half from the original proposal.

Could the increase have been lower? Perhaps. But not by much. The narrative you may be hearing about a 3% increase was never financially realistic and relied upon structural changes involving labor contracts, health-care costs, and staffing levels have been discussed by the entire City Council and will take longer to implement and could not have been accomplished within this budget cycle.

Over these three newsletters, starting with this one, I will walk you through what happened, why your bill looks the way it does, and what relief may be available.

So with this, let's begin.

PART 1: YOUR TAX BILL Q&A

I have received several questions about the tax bills - some have been straightforward, while others have involved the rather unusual way property taxes are calculated and billed in New Jersey.

I put together this section to answer the questions I have heard most frequently.

I've also created a tax calculator that allows you to enter your own property's assessed value and see exactly how your own tax bill was calculated.  

You can find it here:

Note that the figures used in the property tax calculator, and those in the tables below, are based upon my own tax bill.

Q: What was my overall tax increase, and how is it calculated?

A: The overall tax increase for 2026 was 10.75%. This represents a combination of taxes collected by the City of Hoboken, Hudson County, the Hoboken Board of Education, the library, and the open space trust funds.

Collectively, the tax levies of these taxing authorities increased by approximately 12%. However, Hoboken also experienced approximately 1.2% growth in its tax base as new properties were added and assessments increased. In other words, there were more taxpayers over whom the increase could be spread, reducing the increase paid by the average property owner from 12% to 10.75%.

The easiest way to understand this is to look at the tax rate itself:

• In 2025, the combined tax rate was $1.805 per $100 of assessed value.
• In 2026, the combined tax rate increased to $1.999 per $100 of assessed value.

The table below illustrates how that rate was  calculated.

Although the City of Hoboken, the Hoboken Board of Education, and Hudson County each account for approximately 30% to 1/3 of the average tax bill, the increases were not distributed evenly this year.

As the table below shows, the Hoboken Board of Education accounted for 55.3% of the total 2026 increase, despite representing only 33.5% of the overall tax levy. This was the result of the Board of Education's 21.57% levy increase.

By comparison, Hudson County accounts for approximately 29.4% of the overall tax levy but was responsible for only 9.7% of the increase because its levy increased by only 3.7%.  The City of Hoboken accounted for 33.6% of the total increase, almost exactly in line with its 31.9% share of the overall levy.

Q: Why was my August tax bill 21.5% higher than my May bill if the annual increase was only 10.75%?

A: Did you notice that 21.5% is exactly twice the annual increase of 10.75%?

That is not a coincidence.

In New Jersey, the first two quarterly tax payments are always based on the previous year's taxes. Once the budget is adopted, the entire annual increase is incorporated into the final two quarterly payments.

As a result, the increase is concentrated entirely in the August and November payments.

That means that if your annual increase was 10.75%, the increase reflected in each of those final two payments was approximately 21.5%.

The table below illustrates how this works.

Q: Why, when I calculate the total amount on my tax bill through May 2027, is it 14.9% higher than the same period ending May 2026? Is that another increase?

A: I received this question from many of you, and the answer is a little more esoteric than straightforward, so just bear with me.

This is not an additional tax increase. Instead, the rolling four-quarter figure simply reflects which four quarterly tax bills are included in the comparison.

As the table below shows, the calendar-year increase for 2026 was 10.75%. By May 2027, the lower August and November 2025 bills have fallen out of the comparison and been replaced by the higher August and November 2026 bills. In other words, the quarters reflecting a 2.2% increase have been replaced by quarters reflecting a 10.75% increase.

That temporarily pushes the rolling four-quarter increase above the calendar-year increase.

The reverse happened last year. When the calendar-year increase fell from 8.4% in 2024 to 2.2% in 2025, the rolling four-quarter comparison as of May 2026 declined by 0.5%.

The important takeaway is that the rolling four-quarter figure reflects which bills are included in the comparison, not an additional tax increase.

Q: Why was my tax bill so late, and when is it due?

A: Unlike most states, New Jersey has a multistep process involving municipal, county, and state approvals before final tax bills can be issued.

This year, that process was delayed at the county and/or state level. As a result, Hoboken issued tax bills later than usual and extended the payment deadline without penalty to August 31.

If you have not yet paid your bill, please remember that payment must be received by that date to avoid interest charges.

I hope this Part 1 helped answer some of your questions.  Parts 2 and 3 will be in your mailbox shortly offering relief for some, and some answers around Hoboken’s budget and 11.5% increase.  

I know this year's tax burden has been difficult for many of you. My door, inbox, and phone are always open.  Don’t hesitate to reach out to discuss this or anything else important to.