You Deserve The Truth About Parsippany’s Finances

The following letter to the editor was submitted by Pulkit Desai:

For four years, Mayor Barberio has repeatedly told residents that he “inherited an $8.5 million deficit” from the prior administration. He’s said it at public meetings, most recently on October 22, 2025 during the Mayoral Election Debate.

That statement is not true; and he knows it.

According to Parsippany’s own official financial reports for 2021, the town had a surplus, of over $8.5 million not a deficit when Mayor Barberio took office. Despite this, he increased property tax by 14% in 2022. This is the largest one-year local tax hike in Parsippany’s history, even though the town’s finances were solidly in the black.

Then, in December 2023, just before new Town Council members were sworn in, over 700 residents attended a Town Council meeting held at the PAL overwhelmingly opposed several 30-year PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) deals. These sweetheart agreements shift local revenue away from our schools leaving taxpayers to cover the revenue shortfall while handing long-term tax breaks to developers and corporate interests. The Mayor and Republican controlled council approved them anyway. You remember, they ignored you and your concerns.

At our recent Mayoral Candidates debate (available on YouTube), I was called a liar by the Mayor for calling out his blatant misrepresentation of the financial statement he inherited and was challenged by him to prove my numbers.

Mr. Mayor, I once again asked independent financial experts to review and verify the Town’s financial statement. Parsippany had a surplus. Not just of $8.5 million but actually of $10.5 million. The Mayor’s claim of a deficit is simply false. There has never been any truth to the claims of a deficit. Anyone can see with their own eyes in the financial statement, we had a surplus, not a deficit.

Numbers don’t lie; but politicians on the other hand…misrepresent facts to fit their own political agenda. Residents deserve honesty, transparency, and accountability, not spin and scare tactics from the elected officials they pay.

The audited town financials do not use the term “Surplus”, they show “Fund Balance”. These Fund Balance numbers closely match the Surplus numbers in the town’s unaudited financials which are also on the town’s website.

I said it at the debate and I will say it again, “Trust but verify.” Various verifying documents are provided below:

You can fact check the numbers yourself using these excerpts from the actual financial statement:

https://drive.google.com/drive...

The official 2021 Parsippany Audit will show the same surplus (214 pages):

https://www.parsippany.net/_Co...

Unaudited 2021 Financial Statement:
https://www.parsippany.net/_Co...

Mayoral Debate Clip of Mayor Barberio calling me a liar:

youtube.com/live/ThwGr538wNA?si=eflv0ZlxaOtMIHDN

Pulkit Desai

Mayoral Candidate

(With support from)

Diya Patel and Matt Kavanagh

Council Candidates