the staff of the Ridgewood blog
HACKENSACK, NJ — September 2025 — Bergen County homeowners are carrying the heaviest school tax burden in New Jersey, paying more than $2.6 billion in local school costs in 2024, while receiving far less state aid than other counties. Republican commissioner candidates Jay Costa, John Dinice, and Andrea Slowikowski are blasting county Democrats for failing to fight for fairness.
Bergen Families Shortchanged
“Bergen County school districts have been getting shortchanged for years, and our residents’ property taxes are suffering because of it,” said Costa, a River Vale businessman and father of three.
Dinice, a Mahwah school board member, noted that state aid makes up only 6% of Mahwah’s school budget, while urban districts in other counties get up to 80% of their school costs covered by Trenton.
Slowikowski, president of the Demarest Borough Council, added, “School taxes are a major driver of property tax increases in Bergen County, yet our commissioners do nothing to address this obvious financial crisis. Seniors and middle-class families are being crushed.”
The Numbers: Bergen vs. Other Counties
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Bergen County taxpayers: $2.6 billion in school costs (2024)
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Middlesex County taxpayers: $1.7 billion
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Essex County taxpayers: $1.33 billion
For the 2025–2026 school year:
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Bergen will receive $505.6 million in state aid.
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Essex County will get $2.07 billion.
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Union, Passaic, Middlesex, and Camden will each receive over $1 billion.
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Newark alone will collect $1.32 billion, nearly triple all of Bergen County.
GOP Candidates Promise a Fight
“When you look at the disparity in state school aid, it’s impossible to ignore that Bergen County is getting cheated,” said Costa. “The Democrat commissioners are willing to send our money to Newark, Paterson, and Camden instead of fighting for Bergen.”
Dinice stressed, “This is not just a state issue — when Bergen families pay billions more because of unfair funding, it’s a county issue too.”
Slowikowski concluded, “Bergen sends the most tax money to Trenton. Our commissioners should be demanding more of it back for our schools.”
WTF is wrong here?
2.6 Billion????
Bloated salaries – Pensions that no other working families get all on the taxpayer dime????
And anyone wonders why people are pissed off?
Ridgewood BOE budget is over 100MM / Where is it going?
Yup, Bergen is sending its money elsewhere.
In Ridgewood, the BOE has opted to satisfy DEI requirements with the new contracts that went to bid.
No fiscal responsibility to taxpayers. Just a straight up power grab and shakedown.
Anyone can do a simple search and report to find this is accurate.