How Edgewater is run
Who runs Edgewater, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Edgewater's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 11, 2026.
Who runs Edgewater
The elected mayor heads the city government and appoints its top administrator and department heads. The council passes laws, adopts the budget and sets the tax rate.
What they are paid
Edgewater city staff
The 2026 budget lists 82 full-time and 106 part-time budgeted employees with $11.8M of base pay in total, reported by employee group. We found no list of individual employee pay. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Edgewater in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
Savings
Unassigned general fund balance: $10.4M (2025-12-31). Borough of Edgewater · Mar 12, 2026
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for 2026.
Comes from
- Property tax for municipal purposes$29.9M · 73%
- Fund balance (surplus) used$4M · 10%
- Special items (PILOT payments, hotel occupancy tax, commercial sewer fees, capital fund balance and others)$2.1M · 5%
- Library property tax$1.6M · 4%
- Delinquent taxes collected$1.1M · 3%
- Local revenues (fees, permits, court fines, interest)$945,000 · 2%
- State aid (energy receipts tax)$759,683 · 2%
- Other (construction code fees and grants)$538,995 · 1%
Goes to (2026)
- Public safety (police, fire, emergency services)$9.7M · 24%
- Insurance (including employee health benefits)$6.3M · 16%
- Debt service$4.9M · 12%
- Public works$4.8M · 12%
- Pensions and Social Security (statutory expenditures)$3.2M · 8%
- General government$2.5M · 6%
- Reserve for uncollected taxes$2.2M · 5%
- Library$1.6M · 4%
- Other (parks and recreation, utilities, solid waste disposal, construction code, health, court, land use and deferred charges)$5.1M · 13%
Who provides your services
Not everything in Edgewater is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityEdgewater Police DepartmentThe 2026 budget funds 36 full-time police officers.Borough of Edgewater · Apr 15, 2026
- FireThe cityEdgewater Volunteer Fire DepartmentBorough of Edgewater · Mar 12, 2026
- StreetsThe cityBorough of EdgewaterBorough of Edgewater · Mar 12, 2026
- Parks and recreationThe cityBorough of EdgewaterBorough of Edgewater · Mar 12, 2026
- Sewage treatmentSeparate districtBergen County Utilities AuthorityBorough of Edgewater · May 4, 2026
Compared with similar cities
The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.
| Per city | RamseyNJ | EdgewaterNJ | Roselle ParkNJ | Asbury ParkNJ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 14,925 | 15,499 | 15,603 | 15,632 |
| Top administrator's base pay | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Council member pay | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| General fund per resident | $2,148 | $2,645 | $1,563 | $4,036 |
| Debt per resident | $1,191 | $2,648 | $1,097 | $3,315 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $1,224 | $1,268 | $882 | $3,383 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | — | — | — | 15.7 |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how).
What Edgewater publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Yes: Adopted budget posted onlineThe 2026 introduced and user friendly budgets are on the Finance page. The adoption resolution is posted with the May 4, 2026 meeting. Borough of Edgewater
- No: City manager's contract findable onlineThe Finance page posts budgets, audits and debt statements. We found no contract or resolution stating the Borough Administrator's pay. Borough of Edgewater
- Partly: Council pay stated in a public documentThe budget and audit show one salaries and wages line for the mayor and council together, without a per-member figure. Borough of Edgewater · Mar 12, 2026
- Partly: Employee pay published Borough of Edgewater · Apr 15, 2026
Questions to ask your council
- The 2026 budget uses $4.0 million of surplus, up from $3.4 million in 2025, while the fund balance stood at $10.43 million at December 31, 2025. How much surplus does the borough plan to use in future budgets?
- Edgewater's share of state pension liabilities was $19.7 million at June 30, 2025. How will rising pension contributions fit into future budgets?
- The borough owed $41.04 million in bonds, notes and loans at December 31, 2025, including short-term bond anticipation notes. When does it plan to convert those notes to long-term bonds, and at what cost?
- Insurance, including employee health benefits, is budgeted at $6.33 million in 2026. What is the borough doing to manage that cost?
Help decide what comes next
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Every number here was checked by hand against the linked document. Cities publish on different schedules, so years differ between sections; each figure says which year it describes. Spotted something wrong or out of date?
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