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Linden council adopts $138.7 million municipal budget for 2025
Summary
After a public hearing and discussion of staffing and inflationary pressures, the Linden City Council adopted a $138,709,902.73 municipal budget that increases the average homeowner's municipal tax by about $327.21 annually.
The Linden City Council on May 20 adopted the 2025 municipal budget, approving $138,709,902.73 in municipal appropriations and authorizing $72,147,634.13 in municipal tax levy.
Alexis Zach, municipal finance staff, presented the budget to the council and the public, saying, “The municipal budget is a $138,709,902.73.” She told the council the budget includes salary and wage appropriations of $57,252,378.32 covering 695 full- and part-time positions and other expenses totaling $81,457,524.41. Zach said public safety (police, fire and OEM) accounts for about $42.45 million, or 30.6% of appropriations, and that insurance costs total roughly $24,983,600, or about 18% of appropriations.
The budget hearing attracted several residents who asked questions about staffing and line-item increases. Pat Hero, a West Elizabeth Avenue resident, pressed for explanations of increases in the mayor's and city clerk's offices and engineering costs; Zach replied that some increases came from part-time positions becoming full time, contractual wage obligations, higher professional services and the need to cover engineering work while several staff positions remained vacant.
The budget documents break revenue into multiple streams: local taxation is the largest single source, $72,147,634.13 (about 52.0% of revenue); state aid was listed at just over $20 million (about 14.5%); pilot payments from redevelopment projects were projected at $9,305,945.13 (about 6.7%); and surplus and special items accounted for other shares. Zach said the city expects more than $1.1 billion in redevelopment investment and roughly 4.8 million square feet of industrial and commercial space tied to those projects.
Zach and other officials emphasized cost drivers that forced a tax increase after several years of level municipal levies. The presentation cited roughly $4 million of state-mandated increases in statutory expenses (pensions, Social Security, unemployment), about $2.1 million of inflation-driven increases in departmental other expenses, and $3.6 million from collective bargaining increases across 10 bargaining units. Zach reported the resulting impact on an average assessed home (value stated in the presentation as $133,860.71) will be an annual municipal increase of $327.21, or about $27.27 per month. She said the administration began budgeting from zero-based requests and reduced initial department requests by about $13.2 million to limit the increase.
Council President Michelle Yamakaitis moved to adopt the budget; the motion was seconded and adopted on a roll call vote. The council recorded approval by voice roll call; the clerk read the resolution adopting the municipal budget and the minimum library tax of $3,288,023.42.
Why it matters: The budget sets municipal spending priorities for the year and funds public safety, public works, parks, the library and capital projects including streets and an ongoing city hall parking garage rehabilitation. Officials said capital investments and redevelopment pilot revenues are central to the city's fiscal strategy and that mandated costs limited the ability to avoid a tax increase in 2025.
Following the adoption, council members and staff invited further questions and said written details and the adopted budget were available on the city website. Residents who asked for follow-up during the hearing were offered opportunities to discuss their questions with finance staff.
