What Hugo Cabrera Inherits: North Bergen, N.J., Debt, Taxes, Census

WATCH LIVE: Hudson TV is streaming tonight’s North Bergen meeting and Mayor Hugo Cabrera’s swearing-in live on Facebook. Watch the Hudson TV live stream here.

HUDSON TV EXCLUSIVE — First reported by Hudson TV: NORTH BERGEN, N.J. — As Hugo Cabrera takes the oath Wednesday night as North Bergen’s first Hispanic mayor, he inherits a $122,091,179.01 municipal budget, $216,663,912 in gross debt on the township’s books, a Current Fund surplus that will be down to $781,959.47 once this year’s budget draws on it, and $222,457,888 in unfunded retiree health benefits, according to a Hudson TV review of the township’s own budget, audit and financial statements, the school district’s annual financial report, state tax records and U.S. Census data.

Cabrera, 61, follows Nicholas Sacco, who was first elected in 1985, became mayor in 1991 and retires effective today after 35 years as mayor. The township’s Board of Commissioners scheduled a 6:30 p.m. meeting tonight that is expected to include Cabrera’s swearing-in and the appointment of Nick Sacco Jr. to his father’s commission seat.

The Transition: From Sacco to Cabrera

North Bergen has a Walsh Act commission government. Voters elect five commissioners, and the commissioners pick one of their own as mayor. The township says state law requires the four remaining commissioners to fill Sacco’s seat within 30 days. Once that is done, the five commissioners vote on a mayor and assign the municipal departments. Sacco endorsed Cabrera, and Cabrera and the other commissioners (Allen Pascual, Claudia Rodriguez and Anthony Vainieri) back Nick Sacco Jr., the principal of Lincoln Elementary School, for the open seat.

Cabrera’s first test at the ballot box comes in just over six months. On May 11, 2027, voters choose all five commissioners. Before then, he has to put together and introduce a 2027 budget.

The 2026 Budget Cabrera Inherits

The township adopted its CY 2026 budget on June 10, 2026, by a 5-0 vote of the commissioners, Cabrera included. Total appropriations came to $122,091,179.01, up $2,106,382.44 (+1.76%) from 2025’s $119,984,796.57. Property taxes raised for municipal purposes went up to $81,295,000.

Where the money comes from

The biggest cost drivers

The budget lists 352.5 full-time and 418.5 part-time employees, with personnel costs of $52,373,103.20. That figure covers 129 police officers who cost $25,008,213.91. The township is not in the State Health Benefits Program, and its health line pays for 279 retirees at $7,889,316.36.

A thin cushion: surplus and one-time aid

The Current Fund closed 2025 with $5,681,959.47 in surplus. The 2026 budget uses $4,900,000 of that, or 86.24%, which leaves $781,959.47. The state Department of Community Affairs operating grant, the budget’s largest one-time aid line, has swung from $10,000,000 in 2024 to $2,000,000 in 2025 and $3,000,000 this year. Local cannabis tax revenue is budgeted at $102,238.10 in 2026, down 87.7% from the $832,332.37 collected in 2025. The 2026 levy is $2,681,880.57 below the state’s 2% levy cap, and the cap bank carried over from 2023 is used up.

North Bergen’s Debt: Township, Sewer Authority and Schools

The township’s own debt statement in the 2026 budget (UFB-10) shows $216,663,912 in gross debt and $106,796,362 in net debt after statutory deductions. That works out to 1.01% of the three-year average equalized valuation, well below the 3.5% limit in state law. Moody’s rates the township A1.

Short-term notes at 5%

At the end of 2025, the township’s 2025 Annual Financial Statement listed $42,263,741 in general capital bond anticipation notes. Most carried a 5.00% rate and were due April 20, 2026. The notes date back to ordinances from 2020 (#470-20) through 2025, including $9,880,000 under #635-24, $5,671,500 for Stan Newman Field (#636-24) and $1,700,000 for the NJDOT 85th Street and Mazzoni project (#677-25). In 2026 the budget pays $2,020,632.23 in note interest alone. The township authorized $5,996,884 in new capital ordinances in 2025, and the 2026 capital budget plans $19,880,586 in projects, $13,430,586 of it to be financed with debt.

The sewer authority guarantee

The township’s 2024 audit shows its guarantee of North Bergen Municipal Utilities Authority debt rising from $36,270,918 at the end of 2023 to $95,480,066 at the end of 2024, an increase of $59,209,148.

School debt, the high school campus and overcrowding

The Board of Education’s FY 2025 annual financial report shows $57,270,000 in school bonds (2013: $275,000; 2020: $17,995,000; 2022: $39,000,000) and $87,665,585 in total long-term liabilities. The district’s acquisition and renovation of the former Hudson County high tech high school campus at 2000 85th Street, now Nicholas J. Sacco Junior High School, is authorized at $97,540,426: $44,627,170 in bonds, $20,000,000 in state aid and $32,913,256 from capital reserve. A separate North Bergen High School project of $15,372,830 is fully bond-funded. The district’s governmental fund balance fell $19,124,995 in the year, to $91,649,387.

The report lists North Bergen High School at 2,369 students in a building with capacity for 1,377, which is 992 students over capacity, or 172% of design.

Liabilities that don’t appear in the debt total

Property Taxes: Rates, the Average Bill and the Tax Base

The state’s 2025 Hudson County abstract of ratables sets North Bergen’s general tax rate at $1.828 per $100 of assessed value. With the average residential assessment at $483,100, that comes to an average 2025 total property-tax bill of $8,831.07.

*Components add to $8,831.08 due to rounding. In 2026, the municipal rate rises to 0.834 (+3.47%). That brings the municipal share of the average bill to $4,029.05, about $135 more. The 2026 school levy is $60,623,427, up $1,912,245. The municipal purpose levy has gone from $64,425,000 in 2023 to $81,295,000 in 2026, an increase of $16,870,000 (+26.19%) in three years. The township collected 98.70% of its 2025 levy.

Is North Bergen under-assessed? No.

Some residents believe North Bergen has gone decades without a revaluation and assesses property at a small fraction of market value. The primary records say otherwise. The school district’s report lists a revaluation effective in 2022. The state set North Bergen’s 2025 county equalization ratio at 91.45%, and the 2026 budget lists an average assessment-to-true-value ratio of 86.99%, which gives an equalized taxable value of $11,222,916,027.13.

The largest taxpayer, Hartz Mountain, has $446,114,600 in assessed value, which is 4.60% of the base. Tax appeals are an ongoing exposure: the budget lists 105 appeals at the county board, 109 at the state Tax Court and 35 pending. The township paid out $444,698 on appeals in 2025.

PILOTs

The 2026 budget expects $6,844,500 from 13 payment-in-lieu-of-taxes and settlement revenue lines, including $1,351,500 from Post River Road Urban Renewal, $807,000 from Hudson Mews, $500,000 from a Palisades hospital settlement and $410,000 from the Housing Authority. In 2025 those lines brought in $6,691,432.79. The budget’s long-term exemption sheet lists 8 urban-renewal projects, assessed at $285,526,300, that were billed $4,721,028.40. Taxed conventionally, they would have owed $5,219,091.72.

Who Lives in North Bergen: The Census Profile

Cabrera’s election as mayor matches the township’s makeup: more than seven in ten residents are Hispanic, and more than half were born outside the U.S. Most households rent, so a large share of residents pay property taxes indirectly through their rent.

What Cabrera Faces

• Rebuilding surplus. Only $781,959.47 is left after the 2026 draw, which limits how much surplus can offset the 2027 levy.
• Dependence on one-time aid. The DCA grant has gone $10M → $2M → $3M, and cannabis revenue is expected to fall 87.7%.
• Tax fatigue. The municipal levy is up 26.19% since 2023, and the average total bill was $8,831.07 in 2025.
• Refinancing short-term notes. $42.26M in BANs, mostly at 5%, will need to be rolled over or converted into permanent bonds.
• The sewer guarantee. $95.48M in MUA debt is backed by the township.
• Fixed-cost growth. Fire service is up 6.00%, the PFRS pension bill up 12.27% and health benefits up 15.62%.
• Long-term liabilities. Retiree health and pension obligations total about $289.2M.
• Schools. As BOE Board Secretary and now mayor, he takes office with the high school at 172% of capacity and a $97.5M campus conversion underway.
• The May 11, 2027 election. All five commission seats are on the ballot.

For more verified New Jersey public-records data, see gardenstate.ai.

Hudson TV asks: What should Mayor Hugo Cabrera tackle first: property taxes, debt, or school overcrowding?
Share your take in the comments.