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Fort Lee mayor warns of steep 2026 cost increases, proposes hiring freeze and spending cuts
Summary
Mayor Mark J. Sokolich told the council Fort Lee faces a "perfect storm" of rising costs in 2026 — including a health-insurance increase he put at "over 6 million dollars" and nearly $1 million more in Bergen County Utilities Authority charges — and said the borough will consider hiring freezes and spending pauses to limit tax impacts.
Mayor Mark J. Sokolich opened the March 19 council meeting by describing what he called the borough’s biggest near-term challenge: municipal finances. "What is the biggest challenge of the Borough of Fort Lee these days...it is the same challenge that a lot of municipalities face which are finances," he said, attributing the pressure to higher costs and stagnant assessments.
Sokolich provided specific figures and policy options. He said health-insurance costs from 2025 to 2026 represent "over 6 million dollars" in additional expense and that a Bergen County Utilities Authority surcharge on water and solid-waste treatment adds "almost a million dollars." He said debt-service costs have declined by more than $2 million year-over-year due to efficient pay-downs, but overall operating pressures remain severe.
To blunt tax increases, the mayor said the borough will consider a hiring freeze (with exceptions for essential positions), defer vehicle purchases and ask department heads to identify expendable items. "We are working and taking steps to make sure that the taxpayers do not suffer all of the brunt of this," he said.
The mayor framed the budget work as careful trade-offs rather than cancellation of community events; he noted Fort Lee will still plan 2026 celebrations tied to the nation's semiquincentennial and the World Cup but said the governing body must be cautious about other expenditures.
The council did not take action at the meeting to implement a hiring freeze; Sokolich said the measures would be discussed at an upcoming work session and in meetings with department heads.
