Jersey City preparing new, wider broker RFQ as both broker contracts, including $81,500 donor RD Parisi's, end Oct. 31

Jersey City is preparing a new request for quotations for health insurance broker services that “expands the scope of services to encourage more competition,” and “both existing broker contracts expire October 31,” a city spokesperson told Hudson TV in an on-the-record email. Any award or renewal will go to the City Council, the city said.

One of those brokers, RD Parisi Associates, reported giving $81,500 to campaigns for Mayor James Solomon, his council slate and Council President Denise Ridley in 2024 and 2025, according to the firm’s own sworn filings with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).

In August, the council added about $40.1 million over three years to the city’s prescription drug contracts. The resolutions say the change came “after the completion of the 2026 actuarial report from the city’s insurance broker RD Parisi & Associates,” which found “the rx plan was not funded appropriately.”

Nothing in the records shows the contract or the donations broke the law. The city hired the firm through a publicly advertised “fair and open” process, which state pay-to-play law allows even when a vendor has made donations. The donations Hudson TV reviewed fall within state contribution limits.

The Jersey City Times first reported on Parisi family donations to Solomon in July 2025, and Hudson County View has reported several of the individual gifts.

What the city says

City spokesperson Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said in an on-the-record email Thursday that RD Parisi “helped the City evaluate its healthcare options, resulting in a switch in providers that is saving taxpayers more than $30 million.” She said those savings matter “as Jersey City works through its current fiscal crisis.” The city did not provide a breakdown of the $30 million figure.

Asked whether the administration will use the contract’s last renewal option, she said the city “has generally exercised available renewal options when a vendor is performing satisfactorily and there is no increase in the contract amount.” She added that the city “has been preparing a new RFQ that expands the scope of services to encourage more competition,” that “both existing broker contracts expire October 31,” and that any award or renewal “will go before the City Council for consideration.”

First reported by Hudson TV: the city’s on-record statement that both of its broker contracts expire Oct. 31 and that it is preparing a new, wider request for quotations. Other outlets reported the $30 million savings claim earlier, and Sundays reported in August that the prescription plans were underfunded.

Asked whether the mayor would return or stop taking donations from the firm, she said campaign contributions “are handled separately from City operations” and referred the question to Solomon’s campaign.

On the August drug-plan increases, she said the city “is reviewing the actuarial report and the adjustments referenced in the August resolutions to provide an accurate explanation.” She said medical and prescription drug costs are within the city’s 2026 budget and projected to stay there through year’s end. Through September, she said, medical plan costs were 27% below what Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield projected and 15% below what the city spent in the same period last year. The city did not share the actuarial report.

Asked whether RD Parisi advised on choosing the 2025 prescription vendors, she said giving “professional guidance and recommendations is part of its job” as broker of record, but “ultimately, the City is responsible for selecting its vendors, not the broker.”

On commissions, she said city procurement rules bar broker compensation in medical plan proposals and stop-loss requirements bar commissions, so “RD Parisi is not permitted to receive broker commissions under those arrangements.”

Council President Ridley and RD Parisi Associates did not respond to emailed requests for comment sent Oct. 9. Solomon's campaign did not respond to emailed questions sent Oct. 15.

The contract

The council hired RD Parisi on Oct. 17, 2024 (Resolution 24-776) as broker of record and consultant for employee and retiree health, prescription and stop-loss insurance, replacing Acrisure. The one-year contract was for $440,000, according to the resolution. Later city records and the firm’s ELEC filing list it at $444,000.

The vote was 7-0. Then-Councilman Solomon and Councilwoman Ridley voted yes, according to the meeting minutes.

On Nov. 12, 2025, the council renewed the contract for a year at $444,000 (Resolution 25-710), 7-0. Solomon and Ridley did not vote. The renewal runs through Oct. 31, 2026, and city paperwork shows one renewal option left.

The donations

On its 2024 and 2025 Form BE, the annual sworn report public contractors file with ELEC, RD Parisi Associates listed these contributions:

The Sept. 30, 2024 gift came 17 days before the council voted to hire the firm.

Campaign reports show some of the gifts came from Robert Parisi, a former West Orange mayor, and his wife, Sheila Parisi, rather than from the company. The firm still reported them as its own.

The largest, $33,000, went to the joint committee for Solomon, Ridley, Rolando Lavarro, Mamta Singh, Michael Griffin and Tom Zuppa during the Dec. 2, 2025 runoff. That committee reported it as received Nov. 26 from Venbrook Insurance Services, RD Parisi’s parent company. That works out to $5,500 per candidate, the most one donor could give each candidate in a 2025 election.

ELEC records also show two gifts not counted in the $81,500: $5,000 from Robert Parisi Jr. to Solomon’s mayoral committee on Dec. 31, 2024, and $4,700 from RD Parisi Associates Inc. to Solomon’s 2029 mayoral committee on May 26, 2026, while the current contract was in effect.

A repealed ordinance

Jersey City used to have a stricter local pay-to-play law, Ordinance 08-128. The council repealed it on Nov. 29, 2023. The 2024 resolution hiring RD Parisi still says the firm certified it complied with that ordinance and that a “Certification of Compliance” is attached. Hudson TV did not find it in the packet the city posted online. Wallace-Scalcione said the city “is reviewing why the older ordinance was referenced in the 2024 resolution and locating the certification referenced in the paperwork.”

The drug contracts

On Dec. 10, 2025, the council voted 9-0 to approve two three-year prescription contracts: one through Crumdale Specialty for RxBenefits and SaveOn (Res. 25-818) and one for Express Scripts coverage of Medicare-eligible retirees (Res. 25-819).

On Aug. 19, 2026, the council amended both (Res. 26-482 and 26-483), 8-0, with Councilman Frank Gilmore not voting.

The resolutions say the original amounts “were based on preliminary and claims data through August 2025” and that the earlier resolutions “incorrectly stated” the costs. It is not yet clear how much of the increase reflects higher expected spending and how much corrects earlier figures. The city has not released the actuarial report.

A broker does not set drug prices. Under the city’s RFQ, RD Parisi is paid a flat annual fee.