Rahway City Council Rolls Out a Packed Agenda on the Heels of the July 4th Weekend
Rahway City Council's July 6 agenda includes nearly $49 million in water utility borrowing, a vote to raise the city's own budget cap, downtown demolition near the train station, and a $6.65 million cell tower sale.
A June 2026 photograph of Rahway City Hall. (The Central Jerseyan)
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Chris Howell | July 5, 2026
Rahway City Council rolls out a packed agenda on the heels of a contentious primary race. Monday’s meeting includes nearly $49 million in water system borrowing, a proposal to raise the city’s own spending limit, plans to tear down buildings near the train station, and the sale of the city’s cell tower rights for $6.65 million.
The council will vote on nearly $49.2 million in borrowing for the water utility, split into two pieces. The larger piece, $37.5 million, is short-term borrowing the city uses to get money moving quickly on water system work before locking in permanent, long-term bonds later. The smaller piece, $11.69 million, rolls up ten years of older water system borrowing, going back to 2016, into one new bond sale.
This comes months after the city’s February 2 presentation on a possible sale of the water utility, which was met with immediate and heavy pushback from residents. The council later backed off a plan to solicit purchase offers, though Mayor Raymond Giacobbe told residents at the time that “canceling the receipt of bids does not end the conversation.”
With the sale question still unresolved, Monday’s borrowing locks the city into paying for major water system work either way.
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The council will also introduce its 2026 budget and vote on a separate measure letting the city spend more than state law normally allows. State law caps how much a town’s budget can grow each year, usually around 2 to 2.5 percent. This measure lets Rahway grow its budget by up to 3.5 percent instead, and lets the city bank the extra room, $865,875, to use in either of the next two years if it doesn’t need it now.
The actual budget numbers, how much money is coming in, and where it’s being spent, were not included in Monday’s meeting packet. The paperwork introducing the budget says the full document will be posted on the city’s website on Wednesday, two days after the council votes to introduce it.
That raises a simple question: if the budget is ready to post by Wednesday, why wasn’t it shown to residents before the vote Monday night? Neighboring towns introduced their budgets weeks earlier this year, a point a resident raised directly at the June 8 meeting.
A view of the Rahway River with the city water tower rising above the tree line.
The council will vote to tear down several vacant or blighted buildings near the train station, across two separate bonds. One bond, $250,000, pays for demolition. A second, $400,000 bond pays for an expansion of the existing Fulton Street Municipal Lot.
Among the buildings coming down are the former Mangos restaurant at 1349 Fulton Street and a large vacant house next door at 97 East Milton Avenue, along with a few residential-style structures further down Pierce Street, all bordering the existing municipal lot the city wants to expand. The storefronts fronting East Milton Avenue, including Michelino’s Pizzeria and a hemp shop, sit in a separate building and are not part of the demolition.
Given its location right next to the train station, the project is likely to cause months of noise and potential disruptions for commuters and nearby residents.
A separate set of addresses on Main Street, near the Union County Performing Arts Center, is also included in the demolition bond. Those addresses match the long-vacant building that once housed Monchy’s Colombian Grill, closed since a fire in December 2022, on the opposite side of downtown from the Fulton Street work.
These moves follow a broader pattern of downtown property purchases the city has made through borrowing over roughly the last year, including Pierce Street, Irving Street, and two lots on Hamilton Street tied to the city’s Arts District plans.
The council will award a contract selling the city’s rights to lease space on its cell towers, one at the water tower on Westfield Avenue and one at the DPW property on Hart Street, to a company called TowerPoint for $6.65 million. Five companies submitted bids, with a $6 million floor set in advance.
The city hasn’t said publicly what the money will be used for.
Other agenda items include borrowing for new police vehicles and trucks ($520,000), refinancing an emergency payout tied to retired employees’ unused sick and vacation time ($970,000), and a zoning change for a small industrial lot on Wescott Drive.
Editor’s note: The Central Jerseyan is free to read and supported by advertising. If you value this kind of local reporting and want to help sustain it, you can become a citizen supporter on Patreon. Your contribution helps fund continued coverage of local government, schools, and community issues.