Proposed Bloomfield Town Budget Has Tax Increase Despite $2.6M In Cuts

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The numbers are in, Bloomfield – and they include a tax increase for local homeowners.

The Bloomfield Town Council introduced the proposed 2025 municipal budget at their meeting on Monday (watch footage below, video is cued to the budget introduction).

This year’s spending plan includes a 4.52 percent increase to the municipal portion of a local homeowner’s property tax bill. That comes to $205 per year for an average house assessed at $354,230, according to data presented at the meeting.

Mayor Jenny Mundell said that Bloomfield is home to many working families, seniors and young professionals who value safe neighborhoods, clean streets, reliable services and strong community programs.

“Our budget reflects those values,” Mundell said. “We’ve worked hard to find efficiencies, control costs, and limit the financial impact on residents, while making sure essential services remain strong.”

Meanwhile, officials have cut municipal operating expenses by $2.6 million since last year. Here’s how it was done, according to a statement from the township:

“The township reorganized operations within the Department of Public Works to streamline staffing, eliminated redundant expenses across departments, and required all departments to reduce operating budgets by 10%. Salary and wage costs were lowered through attrition rather than layoffs. Bloomfield also ended certain shared service contracts in the Board of Health, which were not deemed to be financially beneficial to the township, restructured project management to bring more work in-house rather than relying on outside consultants, and leveraged technology to improve efficiency and reduce long-term costs.”

Despite these reductions, “unavoidable cost increases” still impacted the budget – particularly in areas such as health care benefits, liability insurance, sewer treatment fees and mandatory pension contributions set by the state, officials said.

“These are challenges every town faces, but we were determined to respond with a budget that puts our families and community first,” Mundell said.

“We know affordability is a concern, and our approach reflects both compassion and smart financial planning,” the mayor added.

The 2025 Budget Synopsis and Budget Presentation Materials are available to the public online here.

The council will have to vote on the spending plan at an upcoming meeting before it becomes official. A public hearing for the budget is scheduled for Monday, July 21 at 6:30 p.m.

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BLOOMFIELD PROPERTY TAXES

Property taxes in New Jersey are mainly made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Here’s how that played out in Bloomfield last year, according to state data (percentages rounded up):

• School – 46%
• Municipal – 39.3%
• County – 14.7%

In 2024, the average Bloomfield resident paid $12,020 in property taxes on a home valued at $354,446 (not including credits and deductions). Read More: Here's How Much Bloomfield Homeowners Pay In Taxes (2025 Update)

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