How Woodbury is run
Who runs Woodbury, 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 Woodbury's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 11, 2026.
Who runs Woodbury
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
Woodbury city staff
91 full-time-equivalent positions. 2026 budget. City of Woodbury · Jan 1, 2026
The 2026 budget lists 91 full-time and 67 part-time employees, including 33 full-time police officers. The salary ordinance gives pay ranges by job title. We found no list of individual employee pay. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Woodbury 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 budget raises $12.84M in local tax for municipal purposes, up 6.46% from $12.07M in 2025. The local tax rate rises to 2.047 from 1.921 per $100 of assessed value. The budget uses $1.3M of a $3.15M fund balance, leaving $1.85M by the city's own table. City of Woodbury · Jan 1, 2026
Savings
Unassigned general fund balance: $3.3M (2024-12-31). City of Woodbury · Jun 16, 2025
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$12.8M · 63%
- Other special items (mainly shared-service payments from neighboring towns)$3M · 15%
- State aid$1.4M · 7%
- Fund balance (surplus) used$1.3M · 6%
- Miscellaneous local revenues$1M · 5%
- Delinquent taxes$500,000 · 2%
- Library tax$339,760 · 2%
Goes to (2026)
- Public safety (police, fire, emergency management)$6.5M · 32%
- Insurance (mainly employee health)$3M · 15%
- Public works$2.8M · 14%
- Pensions, Social Security, library and other statutory costs$2.5M · 12%
- Debt service$1.9M · 9%
- General government$1.4M · 7%
- Reserve for uncollected taxes$878,286 · 4%
- Other (utilities, court, code enforcement, parks, grants, capital)$1.5M · 7%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Woodbury sends one tax bill, but most of it goes to the local school district and Gloucester County. The city and its library take about 39 cents of each dollar.
39¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Woodbury
- Woodbury City Public School District2.248 · 47%
- City of Woodbury (municipal)1.834 · 38%
- Gloucester County0.641 · 13%
- Woodbury Public Library0.045 · <1%
- Gloucester County Open Space Preservation Trust Fund0.043 · <1%
- Total ($ per $100 of assessed value)4.811
2024 rates for a home in the City of Woodbury (Gloucester County). City of Woodbury · Jun 16, 2025
Who provides your services
Not everything in Woodbury is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityWoodbury Police DepartmentThe city also provides police services to Woodbury Heights under a shared-service agreement.City of Woodbury · May 27, 2026
- FireThe cityWoodbury Fire DepartmentFive career firefighters plus part-time and volunteer firefighters.City of Woodbury
- WaterThe cityWoodbury City Water DepartmentFive wells, supplemented by New Jersey American Water's Tri-County Pipeline.City of Woodbury
- SewerThe cityCity of Woodbury water-sewer utilityCity of Woodbury · May 27, 2026
- Trash and recyclingThe cityWoodbury Public Works DepartmentCity of Woodbury
- Streets and snow removalThe cityWoodbury Public Works DepartmentCity of Woodbury
- ParksThe cityCity of WoodburyCity of Woodbury
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 Woodbury publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- No: City manager's contract findable onlineWe found no contract for the City Administrator. The salary ordinance gives only a pay range for the job. City of Woodbury · Jan 28, 2026
- No: Council votes recorded member by member onlineAgenda packets carry blank roll-call tables. We found no 2026 council minutes on the city's meeting portal. City of Woodbury
- Partly: Council pay stated in a public documentThe salary ordinance sets pay ranges for the mayor and council, not exact amounts. City of Woodbury · Jan 28, 2026
- Partly: Employee pay publishedThe yearly salary ordinance lists pay ranges by job title. We found no list of individual employee pay. City of Woodbury · Jan 28, 2026
Questions to ask your council
- The 2026 budget uses $1.3 million of surplus, while the Current Fund balance was $3.28 million on December 31, 2024. How much surplus can future budgets rely on?
- The local tax rate rises to 2.047 from 1.921 per $100 of assessed value in 2026. Which costs drove the increase?
- Woodbury had $32.09 million of bonds, loans and notes outstanding on December 31, 2024, about $13.19 million of it for the water-sewer utility. How will water and sewer rates cover that debt?
- Woodbury's share of state pension liabilities was $13.99 million at June 30, 2025. How will rising pension payments fit into future budgets?
The fiscal year is the calendar year. The council introduced the 2026 budget on April 22, 2026, held the public hearing on May 27, 2026, and adopted the budget the same day. See who is running for council
Help decide what comes next
What do you want to know about Woodbury 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.