How Lincoln Park is run
Who runs Lincoln Park, 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 Lincoln Park's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 11, 2026.
Who runs Lincoln Park
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
Lincoln Park city staff
78 full-time-equivalent positions. 2026. Borough of Lincoln Park · Mar 16, 2026
The user friendly budget lists budgeted positions and total personnel costs by group. We found no list of individual employee pay. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Lincoln Park 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: $4.1M (2025-12-31). Borough of Lincoln Park · Jun 28, 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$17.8M · 66%
- Fund balance (surplus) used$2.9M · 11%
- Sewer rents$2.5M · 9%
- State aid (energy receipts tax)$890,646 · 3%
- Library property tax$829,115 · 3%
- Payments in lieu of taxes (three Main Street projects)$556,000 · 2%
- Delinquent tax collections$462,505 · 2%
- Other (interest, fees, court fines, grants and others)$1M · 4%
Goes to (2026)
- Police$4.4M · 16%
- Employee health insurance$2.5M · 9%
- Regional sewerage authority share of costs$2.2M · 8%
- Deferred charges (paying cash for past capital projects)$2.2M · 8%
- Pensions and Social Security$2.1M · 8%
- Debt service$1.9M · 7%
- Road repairs and maintenance$1.6M · 6%
- Other (administration, trash, parks, library, insurance, reserve for uncollected taxes and others)$10.1M · 37%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Lincoln Park collects one property tax bill and passes most of it on. In 2025 about half of the rate went to the local schools and about 11% to Morris County. The borough's own share, including the library and open space taxes, was about 39%.
39¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Lincoln Park
- Lincoln Park local schools1.094 · 50%
- Borough of Lincoln Park (municipal purposes)0.8 · 37%
- Morris County0.228 · 11%
- Lincoln Park library0.032 · 1%
- Borough open space tax0.01 · <1%
- County open space tax0.007 · <1%
- Total ($ per $100 of assessed value)2.171
2025 tax rates for a property in the Borough of Lincoln Park (Morris County). Borough of Lincoln Park · Mar 16, 2026
Who provides your services
Not everything in Lincoln Park is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityLincoln Park Police DepartmentBorough of Lincoln Park
- 911 call answeringAnother agencyTownship of Pequannock (shared service)Borough of Lincoln Park · Mar 16, 2026
- FireThe cityLincoln Park Fire Department (volunteer)Two stations; members are volunteers.Borough of Lincoln Park
- WaterThe cityBorough of Lincoln Park Water UtilityBorough of Lincoln Park · Jun 15, 2026
- StreetsThe cityBorough of Lincoln ParkBorough of Lincoln Park · Jun 28, 2026
- Parks and recreationThe cityBorough of Lincoln ParkBorough of Lincoln Park · Jun 28, 2026
- Public healthThe cityBorough of Lincoln ParkBorough of Lincoln Park · Jun 28, 2026
- Animal controlAnother agencyTownship of Pequannock (shared service)Borough of Lincoln Park · Mar 16, 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 | Somers PointNJ | Lincoln ParkNJ | WestwoodNJ | WanaqueNJ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 10,590 | 10,950 | 11,365 | 11,418 |
| Top administrator's base pay | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Council member pay | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | $5,970 |
| General fund per resident | $2,056 | $2,466 | $2,038 | $1,626 |
| Debt per resident | $2,697 | $824 | $967 | $2,612 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $1,146 | $1,142 | $1,298 | $840 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 6.9 | 7.1 | — | 5.3 |
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 Lincoln Park 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 adopted and introduced budgets and the user friendly budget are posted on the Budgets & Financial Documents page. Borough of Lincoln Park
- No: City manager's contract findable onlineThe Administration page describes the Business Administrator's duties but links no contract. We found no document stating his pay. Borough of Lincoln Park
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member onlineCouncil minutes record each roll call by name, including the June 15, 2026 budget amendment and adoption. Borough of Lincoln Park · Jun 15, 2026
- Partly: Council pay stated in a public document Borough of Lincoln Park · Dec 15, 2025
- Partly: Employee pay publishedThe user friendly budget lists personnel costs by employee group. We found no list of individual employee pay. Borough of Lincoln Park · Mar 16, 2026
Questions to ask your council
- Lincoln Park's share of state pension liabilities was $12.5 million at June 30, 2025. How will pension contributions fit into future budgets?
- The borough lists an AA+ rating last reviewed in 2015. Does it plan to seek a new rating before its next bond sale?
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