WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J.—The Borough Council voted unanimously May 18 to adopt a $19 million municipal budget for 2026 that increases local taxes by $199 on an average assessed home of $1 million, officials said.
Following a budget presentation and public hearing, the council approved a $19,034,947 budget that increases taxes nearly $200 on a 2026 average assessed home of $1,019,417. The average assessed home in 2025 was $944,047, said Paul Lerch, auditor with Lerch Vinci & Bliss.
The $199 tax increase raises average local municipal taxes from $4,995 in 2025 to $5,193 in 2026, Lerch said. Chief Finance Officer Jonathan DeJoseph assisted with budget preparation and the budget presentation.
Overall, Lerch reported that the local tax levy decreased 0.2% from 2025, lower by $28,999, to a total of $12,853,757. However, he noted assessed home values increased in 2026 from 2025. The borough conducts rolling assessments of residential and business properties yearly to maintain up-to-date assessments, he said.
Showing a pie chart of the budget, Lerch said salaries and wages comprise 29%; other expenses, plus grants, 24%; debt service and ordinance paydowns, 14%; insurance, 14%; statutory expenses — pensions — 7%; and sewer charges, 4%.
An illustration showing where the tax dollar goes broke down as follows: 24 cents for municipal government; 27 cents for regional high school; 38 cents for local schools; and 11 cents for Bergen County government.
Two residents, former mayor Josephine Higgins and Bert Taylor, offered public comments. Higgins questioned the origins of funds used to pay down debt on Woodcliff Park bonds and warned councilors against putting taxpayers on the hook for future environmental remediation costs at a gas station site that may be developed.
Taylor asked whether businesses and residents paid the same tax rate and was told they did. He warned councilors about replacing a developer’s payment in future years to prevent taxes from increasing. Council President Joshua Stern answered his questions and directed him to attend local school district meetings, which affect a larger percentage of local tax bills.
Mayor Carlos Rendo called it “a good budget.”
Rendo said residents have to look at what’s going on in New Jersey. “It’s not just Woodcliff Lake, but every municipality is being hit big-time,” Rendo said, noting big increases in health insurance. He said a few years ago, the council moved local employees to a private health care plan, where costs increased only 17%, versus a nearly 34% rise in state health plan costs.
Rendo said that in speaking to other Pascack Valley mayors and mayors statewide, the $199 municipal tax increase is “extremely low compared to what other neighboring municipalities are being faced with.” He said the municipal budget increase was the lowest in the last five years.
Rendo said the borough no longer can depend on its commercial or corporate sector to contribute to the municipal budget as it did before. He said moving to a rolling property assessment has helped limit tax appeals.
Stern said the budget faced “over a million dollar increase” for health insurance and other insurance. He said that during recent collective bargaining negotiations, the borough transitioned police and other municipal employees to a high-deductible insurance plan, which will save taxpayer dollars.
Councilman Craig Pollack noted the borough had worked nearly six months to compose and trim the budget to keep municipal taxes down. He said there were other reasons property taxes go beyond the $199 local increase, including increased taxes from local and regional school districts and Bergen County government.
Pollack said the $199 local tax increase is fair and that the average assessed home price continues to rise. He noted that as average home assessments go up, and property values rise, taxes go up. Several councilors noted home market values continue to rise in the borough.