Jersey City eliminates its Finance Department

Jersey Journal
by Ken Thorbourne
Thursday June 26

The city of Jersey City's finance department is no more.

The City Council voted last night to abolish the department -- but none of its roughly 68 employees will lose their jobs, city officials said.

The functions of the department, which range from keeping tabs on city investments to producing payroll checks, will be absorbed by the business administrator's office.

The city's chief financial officer, Donna Mauer, is already performing many of the department's functions, said Business Administrator Brian O'Reilly.

"There was a lot of redundancy between finance director and the CFO, who is under my administration," O'Reilly said.

Paul Soyka, the finance director, stays on as the person in charge of treasury and debt management, which essentially means collecting fees owed to the city and making sure its responsibly invested, O'Reilly said.

The finance department is also in charge of tax abatements, tax collection, and tracking expenditures in the city's various departments.

The city will realize savings as employees retire and others are "cross-trained" to perform multiple jobs, O'Reilly said.

"Three people have already left the finance department and their positions will not be filled," he said. "I expect we'll be down 10 finance employees in the next three years."

The City Council also voted to put the Department of Public Works' Division of Traffic and Transportation, which is in charge of among other things, signage, and street closings, under the Division of Engineering.