Paterson council rejects budget introduction tied to 5.6% tax increase; members press administration for alternatives

The Paterson City Council on May 13 voted down the administration’s proposed introduction of the calendar-year 2025 municipal budget after heated debate over assumptions the document used about state transitional aid and a planned 5.6% municipal tax increase.

The votes on resolution item 11 were 3 in favor, 5 against and 1 absent, and the resolution failed.

Council members said the introduced budget relied on uncertain state aid and did not include a credible fallback plan. Councilmember concerns focused on the size of projected increases in salaries, insurance and pension costs, the city’s heavy reliance on transitional aid, and a lack of detail on vacancies, grants and line‑item savings. Several members pressed the city’s new business administrator and finance staff for more data before they would support introduction or adoption.

“This budget is based on, us getting 27,000,000 transitional aid,” Mark Seaman, the city’s new business administrator, told the council after introducing himself and summarizing his short review of the files. “From an introduction perspective, I'm comfortable with that because I know that we are not going to adopt that.” Seaman said he has been on the job roughly a week and asked for more time to work with council members, auditors and state contacts to identify…