Oakland council previews preliminary $27.0M 2026 budget, cites 3.49% levy rise as health-insurance and personnel costs drive increase

Oakland Borough Council heard a presentation of the preliminary 2026 municipal budget on March 17, when finance staff laid out a plan that would present the current fund, including the library, at $27,000,016 and put the municipal tax levy (excluding the library) slightly over $18,000,000 — an increase of about 3.49% over 2025. (Board Administrator Richard ***** said the finance committee "respectfully submit[s] to the mayor and borough council the preliminary 2026 municipal budget for the Borough Of Oakland." )

CFO David Young and the borough administrator told council the proposed budget is compliant with state appropriation and levy caps. Staff said the council directly controls roughly 25% of the total tax bill residents receive, with the remainder collected for the county, regional school and other entities; they reiterated that the library levy is set by state statute and is outside the council's discretionary control.

The presentation identified two main cost drivers. Staff said health insurance costs for employees and retirees are projected to increase by about $440,000 — a roughly 16% rise — and that, by their estimate, health-insurance increases alone represent about 60% of the year-over-year rise in appropriations. Personnel-related costs generally (salaries, wages, pension and insurance) were described as representing about 57% of total appropriations, leaving limited near-term flexibility other than through headcount changes or contract negotiations.

Finance staff also highlighted areas of offset and one-time items in the proposed budget. A new shared-service agreement with Pompton Lakes for tax-collector services was said to generate anticipated revenue that offsets part of a finance line increase; a separate shared-service arrangement is expected to reduce the borough's solid-waste budget by about $204,000 in 2026 despite contract disposal price escalations. Among one-time items are an estimated $35,000 to cover personnel and election costs from a recent special election and roughly $9,000 proposed to engage a codification company to audit and update the borough code.

On capital, staff described a package of projects including a plan to transition low-band radio infrastructure for public safety, financed partly by an Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) of about $335,000; staff said total radio-related funding would be about $1.1 million with grant support and that no debt would be required for that component. The presentation also cited a $300,000 plan for Great Oak Park basketball-court improvements, to be funded by a $150,000 Bergen County grant plus $150,000 from the Open Space Trust Fund, and noted a proposed near-term bond of roughly $1.2 million for road and downtown streetscape work that the borough intends to retire in the short term.

Staff characterized the capital program in aggregate as having projected gross costs of $4,260,500 with $2,413,500 in cash required; they proposed using about $253,000 of existing capital fund balance and leaving a contingency balance of roughly $850,000.

On the tax impact to homeowners, Young estimated the municipal portion of the proposed budget would increase taxes for the average assessed home by about $111 and the library portion by about $23 — a combined estimated increase of about $134 for the average home (Young cited an average assessed value of about $678,000).

Next steps: staff said the borough plans to introduce the budget by the statutory deadline (the first meeting after the end of March) and aim for adoption in April. Council scheduled a heavier follow-up presentation covering senior services, police, fire and DPW for Wednesday.

Sources and attributions: The reporting above is based on statements and figures presented at the March 17 council budget presentation by Board Administrator Richard ***** and CFO David Young.