How Plainfield is run
Who runs Plainfield, 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 Plainfield's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 11, 2026.
Who runs Plainfield
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
Plainfield city staff
The CY2026 budget does not state a total head count. It says 82 employees chose a payment instead of city health coverage in 2026. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Plainfield 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 against the city's own target
Unassigned general fund balance: $6.6M (2025-12-31). The city's own target: We found no written reserve target. New Jersey towns report a Current Fund balance (surplus) rather than an unassigned balance. Plainfield's was $6.6M on December 31, 2025, down from $10.4M a year earlier. The introduced CY2026 budget uses $5.7M of it. City of Plainfield · Jul 22, 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 CY2026 (introduced).
Comes from
- Property tax for city purposes and the library$68.1M · 57%
- Grants (public and private programs)$13.8M · 12%
- Local revenues (fees, fines, payments in lieu of taxes, utility surplus)$11.7M · 10%
- State aid$9.9M · 8%
- Fund balance (surplus) used$5.7M · 5%
- Special items, mostly prior-year utility surpluses$5.2M · 4%
- Other (delinquent taxes, construction code fees)$5.3M · 4%
Goes to (CY2026 (introduced))
- Salaries and wages$43.8M · 37%
- Grant programs and other costs outside the cap$19.1M · 16%
- Employee group insurance$17M · 14%
- Other operating expenses$16.1M · 13%
- Pension and Social Security$13.5M · 11%
- Debt service$5.3M · 4%
- Reserve for uncollected taxes$4.1M · 3%
- Other (capital, deferred charges)$686,600 · 1%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Plainfield collects one property tax bill and passes part of it on to the schools and Union County. The city's own share, including the library and open space taxes, is about 58%.
58¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Plainfield
- City of Plainfield (local purpose)5.058 · 57%
- Plainfield Public Schools (local school tax)2.428 · 27%
- Union County1.246 · 14%
- Plainfield Public Library0.12 · 1%
- Union County open space0.054 · <1%
- City of Plainfield open space0.02 · <1%
- Total ($ per $100 of assessed value)8.926
2025 tax rates for a property in the City of Plainfield (Union County). City of Plainfield · Jul 22, 2026
Who provides your services
Not everything in Plainfield is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityPlainfield Police DepartmentCity of Plainfield
- Trash, bulk waste and recyclingThe cityPlainfield Solid Waste & Sewer Utility (PSWSU), a city utilityCity of Plainfield
- Sewer maintenanceThe cityPlainfield Solid Waste & Sewer Utility (PSWSU), a city utilityCity of Plainfield
- Public health and social servicesThe cityPlainfield Department of Health and Social ServicesCity of Plainfield
- LibraryAnother agencyPlainfield Free Public Library, run by its own boardCity of Plainfield · Jul 22, 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 | LindenNJ | SayrevilleNJ | Perth AmboyNJ | PlainfieldNJ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 45,752 | 46,787 | 56,739 | 57,141 |
| 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 | $3,149 | $1,774 | $1,801 | $2,094 |
| Debt per resident | $1,514 | $1,557 | $2,221 | $898 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $2,121 | $1,076 | $1,265 | $1,506 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | — | 5.7 | — | — |
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 Plainfield publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Partly: Adopted budget posted online City of Plainfield
- No: City manager's contract findable onlinePlainfield has a Business Administrator, not a manager. We found no contract or salary document for the post. City of Plainfield
- Partly: Council votes recorded member by member onlineThe introduced CY2026 budget records each council member's vote by name. We did not check every posted resolution. City of Plainfield · Jul 13, 2026
- No: Council pay stated in a public documentWe found no ordinance or budget page stating council pay on the city's council or finance pages. City of Plainfield
- Partly: Employee pay published City of Plainfield · Feb 12, 2024
Questions to ask your council
- Fund balance fell from $10.4 million to $6.6 million during 2025. What would it take to stop drawing it down?
- Employee group insurance is $17.0 million in the CY2026 budget, more than the city spends on debt service, capital and reserves combined. What is driving that cost?
- The city's share of state pension liabilities was $86.0 million at June 30, 2024. How will rising pension contributions fit within the levy cap?
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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