Jersey City mayor accuses predecessor, Partnership for NYC head, of financial ‘deception’

The new mayor of Jersey City has been reckoning with the big and small challenges of leading a city in his first three weeks in office, including what he says is the financial mess his predecessor left.

Jersey City Mayor James Solomon says former Mayor Steven Fulop — the new head of the business advocacy group, Partnership for New York City — left Jersey City with a $250 million deficit. Fulop said his successor is just playing politics.

The following transcript represents two separate interviews and has been edited for clarity and subject matter.

Michael Hill: You say the city is facing a budget hole of more than $250 million. You blame your predecessor, former Mayor Steven Fulop. He'll join us in just a minute here. First, Mayor Solomon, you yourself were on the City Council for eight years before you became mayor. Was the city council paying enough attention to the city's fiscal health?

James Solomon: So I think my record is very clear. In all eight years on the council, I voted against the budget and when I voted against the budget, I said very clearly, I'm voting against this because these budgets are not sustainable. I called out many of the bad practices. I called out the fact that we were selling off city land and using the proceeds to plug budget holes. Money that would disappear the next year unless you sold more land. I called out the fact that we were deferring charges and we were bonding and paying interest. So I called those charges out. But when you face a deficit this big, you do worry that you know, what more could I have done? What else could I have said that would have gotten my colleagues on the council to agree with me, gotten them to vote down the budget that was presented and work collaboratively on more budgets. But I do have to say, one of the things that we found is there was real deception here as well. We knew the budget was bad. We knew they were gimmicks, but we have found $100 million in healthcare costs that we are now responsible for, that were never clearly articulated. We have unpaid healthcare bills mounting to $52 million. That is an extraordinary amount, and we believe that the healthcare costs of the city were intentionally and systemically under counted.

Mayor Solomon, how do you intend to address the deficit? Will you raise taxes on residents?

So our first step is to clearly outline the problem and to partner with a coalition of public servants to get our city back on fiscal health. What we cannot do is these one year gimmicks. That's how we got into this mess. So we are gonna present to the people of Jersey City a five-year plan. We are gonna work with our state partners, the governor, the legislature. We are gonna work with our City Council and we're gonna work with the community. My next step is to do a series of community meetings over the next couple of weeks, get feedback and then present a detailed plan for how we get back to sound fiscal footing. Because that's where the people of Jersey City deserve, not gimmicks.

Jersey City Mayor James Solomon. Thank you very much for joining us, sir.

Thank you, Michael. I appreciate it.

Joining us now, former Jersey City Mayor, Steven Fulop. Mr. Mayor, you heard what your successor there said. What do you say to his charge that you left Jersey City with a quarter billion dollar deficit and with some deception there. How do you respond to that?

Steven Fulop: Michael, first of all, lemme say thank you for having me. And, you know, look, it's nonsense. I think listeners would acknowledge the fact that there isn't a new mayor in the country that doesn't come in and blame their predecessor. I mean, James was on the City Council for eight years, and while you may vote no on a budget to grandstand, when you approve the spending of 95% of the contracts, it really undermines your argument. I'd also point out, Michael, that our budget goes to the state every single year for approval. You cannot bond for operating expenses in New Jersey. It's reviewed by the state government and they have signed off on our budget every single year. And then finally I point out that every single credit rating agency still rates us as investment grade. So I mean, I get it, James is playing politics. Maybe the job is a little bit harder than he anticipated, but if he wants to raise taxes on people, that's his choice. But I think that he'll be a one term mayor if he continues down the road that he's doing.

How did you leave the city's fiscal status?

Fulop: I think that we left it very stable. We had eight years of no tax increases. We prioritized making the city affordable by not having tax increases. And that was the main priority. I think this budget this year, we would've continued to have no tax increases because we had a sound plan for multiple years. So, you know, look, I, think he's playing politics, you know, and I think the one thing that I know about being the mayor of Jersey City is that people don't like blame, pointing fingers. They like accountability. You know, during the snowstorm we said the same thing. You know, it started with him saying he was ready and then later blaming. Here we are with the same sort of blame situation. But I get it, there's a little bit of politics being played here, but eventually people want you to be accountable.

What's your message to New Yorkers who hear these allegations about Jersey City's financial deficit there, and might feel concerned about your new role in the city as the leader for the Partnership for New York City.

Michael, I, think that anybody who looks at the Renaissance story in Jersey City could acknowledge that it's totally transformed. I think that's an absurd argument actually, to make. I'm not an elected office right now. Jersey City is on much better footing than it was when I took office. I think anybody can visibly see that. And, you know, I'm very, very proud of that track record there. And, I'm lucky to be in the job that I am today. I think it's fortunate. And I think that, you know, most people would acknowledge that this is just pure politics. New mayors always blame their predecessors and say, “the sky is falling, I was left in a terrible situation and I'm the one to fix it.” So I think that's par for the course, and I think that's what James is doing here.