How Oakland is run
Who runs Oakland, 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 Oakland's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 11, 2026.
Who runs Oakland
Oakland has an elected mayor and a six-member borough council. The mayor is the chief executive and votes only to break a tie. The council adopts the budget and ordinances and appoints a Borough Administrator, who runs the borough day to day.
What they are paid
Oakland city staff
The budget and audit list salaries and wages by department. We found no staff count we could confirm or list of individual employee pay. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Oakland 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: $6.2M (2025-12-31). Borough of Oakland · Jul 8, 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 2025.
Comes from
- Property tax for municipal purposes$18.1M · 65%
- Fund balance (surplus) used$2.9M · 10%
- State aid (energy receipts tax)$1.3M · 5%
- Library property tax$1.2M · 4%
- Construction code fees$983,751 · 4%
- Interest on investments$688,727 · 2%
- Other (shared services, cell tower and franchise fees, fines, grants, reserves and others)$2.7M · 10%
Goes to (2025)
- Police$5M · 19%
- Employee health insurance$2.6M · 10%
- Pensions and Social Security$2.5M · 10%
- Trash and recycling collection$2.5M · 9%
- Debt service$2.2M · 8%
- Capital improvements$2.1M · 8%
- Library$1.2M · 4%
- Other (administration, public works, courts, utilities, other insurance, reserve for uncollected taxes and others)$8.2M · 31%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Oakland collects one property tax bill and passes most of it on. In 2025 about 64% of the rate went to the local and regional schools and about 11% to Bergen County. The borough's own share, including the library and open space taxes, was about 25%.
25¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Oakland
- Oakland local schools0.997 · 46%
- Regional high school district0.401 · 18%
- Borough of Oakland (municipal purposes)0.508 · 23%
- Bergen County (including county open space)0.236 · 11%
- Oakland library0.033 · 2%
- Borough open space tax0.01 · <1%
- Total ($ per $100 of assessed value)2.185
2025 tax rates for a property in the Borough of Oakland (Bergen County). Borough of Oakland · Jul 8, 2026
Who provides your services
Not everything in Oakland is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityOakland Police DepartmentBorough of Oakland
- FireThe cityOakland Fire Department (volunteer)Borough of Oakland · Jul 8, 2026
- WaterThe cityBorough of Oakland Water UtilitySix production wells, six storage tanks and over 70 miles of water main.Borough of Oakland
- SewerThe cityBorough of Oakland Sewer UtilityServes about 230 residential units and local businesses in three areas, with three treatment plants.Borough of Oakland
- Trash and recyclingAnother agencyBorough of Pompton Lakes (shared services agreement)Borough of Oakland
- StreetsThe cityBorough of OaklandBorough of Oakland · Jul 8, 2026
- Parks and recreationThe cityBorough of OaklandBorough of Oakland · Jul 8, 2026
- LibraryThe cityOakland Free Public LibraryFunded by the borough's minimum library tax.Borough of Oakland · Jul 8, 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 | WallingtonNJ | FreeholdNJ | OaklandNJ | Bound BrookNJ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 12,092 | 12,562 | 12,837 | 13,038 |
| Top administrator's base pay | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Council member pay | Not confirmed | $8,347 | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| General fund per resident | $1,442 | $1,722 | $2,105 | $1,694 |
| Debt per resident | $1,292 | $2,293 | $2,286 | $2,040 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $701 | $1,021 | $1,123 | $752 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | — | — | — | — |
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 Oakland 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 budget, user friendly budget and budget presentation are posted on the borough's Budgets page. Borough of Oakland
- No: City manager's contract findable onlineThe Administration page names the Borough Administrator but links no contract. We found no document stating his pay. Borough of Oakland
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member onlineCouncil minutes record a roll call naming each member's vote, including on the 2026 budget adoption. Borough of Oakland · Apr 28, 2026
- Partly: Council pay stated in a public documentThe 2025 budget set $61,000 of salaries and wages for the mayor and council together, without a per-member figure. Borough of Oakland · Jul 8, 2026
Questions to ask your council
- The Current Fund balance was $6.18 million on December 31, 2025, and the 2026 budget uses $2.855 million of it. How much fund balance does the council aim to keep?
- Oakland's share of state pension liabilities was $14.4 million at June 30, 2025. How will pension contributions fit into future budgets?
- Police cost $5.0 million and employee health insurance $2.6 million in the 2025 budget. What options does the borough have to slow those costs?
The budget year runs January 1 to December 31. The council approved the introduced 2026 budget on March 24, 2026. It held the public hearing on April 28, 2026 and adopted the budget at that meeting by Resolution 26-145. See who is running for council
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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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