Montclair’s new town manager, Stephen Marks, isn’t sugarcoating the year he’s walked into.
Six months in, he’s juggling a lot: fallout from a $19.6 million school deficit, street-safety upgrades, self-funded upgrades to the Clary Anderson rink, a cancelled senior hub, and a 36.5% spike in employee health insurance premiums that’s forcing tough choices. The school shortfall looms large, and it’s why Marks says that while the town doesn’t oversee the board of education, residents need straight answers before asking residents for more.
“You may need a state fiscal monitor… it’s probably warranted if you have a $19 million hole in your budget,” he told us, adding that a forensic audit should answer, “What did everybody know? When did they know it and what did they do about it?”
He’s also asking the question on many residents’ minds: “If we’re gonna have a referendum to raise an additional $19 or $20 million, is it money well spent or is there a corrective action plan?”
In practice, that’s the fork in the road: under New Jersey’s School District Fiscal Accountability Act, the education commissioner can assign a state fiscal monitor when audits or other red flags suggest serious risk, someone who sits inside the district and can review or even override budgets, contracts, and key hires while enforcing a corrective-action plan.
For Montclair, the Dec. 9 special election asks voters to raise the levy in two parts to both repay the state loan and stabilize the current-year gap, as we outlined in our explainer and ballot guide; if it passes, the money is earmarked to the holes at hand, and if it fails, officials have warned that deeper program cuts – and the risk of state intervention – become more likely.
Meanwhile, the town and the schools remain separate levies, which is why Marks keeps stressing that any municipal aid would have to be formally appropriated in a future budget, not conjured mid-stream.
A working budget, street safety momentum
Marks says municipal operations have been steadied and pointed toward visible fixes.
“Back in May, we introduced a budget with a 1.98 percent increase… the budget was approved by the mayor and council on June 3, which, he says, “is good… good to have a working budget.”
He also points to an upgraded Complete & Green Streets framework. “The mayor and council approved a Complete Streets ordinance with a Complete Streets director and a Complete Streets Oversight Board,” plus a federal Safe Streets for All grant that’s “kicked off” and targets high-crash corridors.
He adds that capital dollars are starting to reach the ground: “The mayor and council did approve a bond with about two-and-a-half million dollars worth of road resurfacing and striping, as well as a half-million dollars for pedestrian and traffic safety improvements.”
Turning the rink into a utility—“skaters pay the bill”
On the financially fraught Clary Anderson Arena, Marks says the town flipped the model: “Besides canceling the $6 million bond we actually created a utility… users are incentivized to have skating fees that cover the costs. … The mayor and council approved a $1 million capital ordinance… [funded by] enhanced skating fees. So now we are on our way to financial self-sustainability.”
That pivot came alongside a grassroots lifeline: local hockey families and the Clary Anderson Arena Association raised more than $400,000 for urgent repairs. Recent reporting adds that immediate fixes were estimated at around $1M as the town restructured operations.
Senior center: cancel the pricey lease
Another inherited headache: an expensive lease at the Mills Building, for a proposed senior center, that has since been cancelled. “I think the cost of that was over $13,000 per month. So we canceled that. It was not cost-effective,” Marks says. The township now plans a Senior Citizen Health & Wellness Center within the municipal building at 205 Claremont, with design work underway and public “visioning” sessions underway.
The budget bite: health insurance, hiring freeze, three scenarios
Then came the line item that blew a crater in every New Jersey town’s spreadsheet: a massive increase in the cost of health insurance premiums for city employees. “That 36.5% increase [in State Health Benefits for local governments] is non-negotiable,” Marks says. He’s exploring leaving the state plan in future years, but notes that any change must meet contractual standards and be bargained.
The State Health Benefits Commission indeed adopted ~36.5% renewals for local governments for the 2026 plan year, after actuaries recommended the spike; state reporting through the summer tracked the same magnitude.
Facing that pressure, Marks says he “instructed each department head” to prepare three scenarios for 2026: status quo, flat at 2025, and 5% cuts. He also instituted a hiring freeze. Still, Marks stresses the fundamentals are sound: “We actually got an audit back, which had… no financial findings. Which is incredible.” The revised 2023 municipal audit noted no instances of noncompliance under Government Auditing Standards, and the township continues to post audit and budget documents for public review.
All of that said, generating new revenue is also a priority.
“Montclair… has very little industry… out of 11,000 line items… only 2 are industrial,” Marks says. Zoning won’t change that overnight, so he’s looking at fees more than taxes: “filming fees… are fair game,” and “we’re looking possibly at ways of increasing parking fees for non-residents.” For context, Montclair already codifies filming fees in its ordinances and recently expanded overnight street parking permits.
Housing heat, without the displacement
Marks is blunt about the cost of living: “I don’t know how people afford multimillion-dollar homes on a middle-class income…” comparing today’s sales to earlier waves in Hoboken and Jersey City. And yet, he says, demand remains strong:
“Montclair is an extremely attractive place to live… the comparables… are still very strong and we have a very strong housing market compared to our neighbors.” His job, as he frames it, is to manage success so it sticks for everyone.
Bottom line: steady taxes, safer streets
As for priorities, Marks keeps it simple: “Keeping taxes stable, at least for the municipal portion… and protecting the life, health and safety of residents and employees through Complete Streets investments.” That tracks the through-line of his first six months: stabilize the numbers, move the money to visible improvements, and force clarity—especially when the bill is big and the stakes are bigger.
Graphic created with assistance from ChatGPT (OpenAI)
