How Waldwick is run
Who runs Waldwick, 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 Waldwick's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 11, 2026.
Who runs Waldwick
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
Waldwick city staff
The 2026 budget lists salaries and wages by department. We found no staff count or list of individual employee pay. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Waldwick 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.
The city's own outlook
The 2026 operating budget of $17.05M is up $392,568, or 2.36%, from 2025. The largest increases are police salaries and wages ($336,000, with the police union contract in negotiation) and employee group health ($226,000). The budget uses $2.25M of fund balance. The tax on the average home assessed at $567,000 rises $232.47 for the year. Borough of Waldwick · Mar 24, 2026
Savings
Unassigned general fund balance: $5.5M (2025-12-31). Borough of Waldwick · May 14, 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$10.1M · 57%
- State aid$2.5M · 14%
- Fund balance (surplus) used$2.3M · 13%
- Local fees and other local revenues$1M · 6%
- Library property tax$841,730 · 5%
- Grants with offsetting appropriations$505,500 · 3%
- Receipts from delinquent taxes$235,000 · 1%
- Other (construction code fees, shared service payments and other items)$413,968 · 2%
Goes to (2026)
- Police salaries and wages$3.4M · 19%
- Northwest Bergen sewer authority share of costs$2M · 11%
- Employee group health$1.1M · 6%
- Reserve for uncollected taxes$977,215 · 5%
- Police and fire pension (PFRS)$917,120 · 5%
- Library$841,730 · 5%
- Garbage collection$595,500 · 3%
- Other (administration, public works, recycling, insurance, other pensions, debt service, capital and others)$8.1M · 45%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Waldwick collects one property tax bill and passes most of it on. In 2025 about 69% of the rate went to the schools and about 11% to Bergen County. The borough's own share, including the library and open space, was about 20%.
20¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Waldwick
- Waldwick School District1.59 · 69%
- Borough of Waldwick (municipal purposes)0.416 · 18%
- Bergen County0.248 · 11%
- Waldwick Free Public Library0.036 · 2%
- Municipal open space0.005 · <1%
- Total ($ per $100 of assessed value)2.295
2025 tax rates for a property in the Borough of Waldwick (Bergen County). Borough of Waldwick · May 14, 2026
Who provides your services
Not everything in Waldwick is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityWaldwick Police DepartmentBorough of Waldwick
- WaterThe cityBorough of Waldwick Water Department (water utility)Borough of Waldwick
- Sewer linesThe cityDepartment of Public WorksBorough of Waldwick
- StreetsThe cityDepartment of Public WorksBorough of Waldwick
- Parks and poolThe cityDepartment of Public Works and RecreationBorough of Waldwick
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 | WoodburyNJ | MaywoodNJ | WaldwickNJ | South AmboyNJ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 10,130 | 10,166 | 10,252 | 10,403 |
| 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 | $2,018 | $2,055 | $1,745 | $2,360 |
| Debt per resident | $3,168 | $1,666 | $1,825 | $2,058 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $1,381 | $1,048 | $965 | $1,326 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 9.0 | — | — | 7.2 |
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 Waldwick 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 budget presentation are posted on the borough's Annual Budget page. Borough of Waldwick
- No: City manager's contract findable onlineThe budget and administration pages do not post a contract. We found no document stating the Borough Administrator's pay. Borough of Waldwick
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member onlineCouncil minutes record each member's vote in a roll-call table. Borough of Waldwick · Jun 23, 2026
- Partly: Council pay stated in a public document Borough of Waldwick · Apr 28, 2026
- Partly: Employee pay published Borough of Waldwick · Apr 28, 2026
Questions to ask your council
- Police salaries and wages rise $336,000 in 2026 while the police union contract is in negotiation. How would a new contract change future budgets?
- Waldwick's share of state pension liabilities was $9.9 million at June 30, 2025. How will pension contributions fit into future budgets?
- The borough had $18.7 million of bonds, notes and loans at the end of 2025, plus $5.04 million authorized but not issued. What projects is that borrowing for?
Departments meet in November and December, the council finance committee reviews the draft in February and March, the council introduced the 2026 budget on March 24, 2026, the presentation scheduled the public hearing and adoption for April 2026, and the adopted budget is dated April 28, 2026. See who is running for council
Help decide what comes next
What do you want to know about Waldwick next?
One tap, no sign-in. We count answers; we never show who chose what.
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?
See something wrong? Report an error
Something wrong or missing? Tell us what and where, with a link to a source if you have one. Reports feed the next verification run.