FEATURED SERIES

My latest series is looking at property tax as the local budget timelines & related property tax milestones unfold

Part 1: The framework and timeline for local budgets and property tax

Property Tax & Local Budgets, An Intro to the series

This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. I am launching a new series on CivicParent about the local government budget process and property tax.  My hope is for this ...
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Property tax dashboard: visualizing tax levies, tax base, & tax rates from 1998-2022

This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. I am sharing in this post a tool I’ve been using (and will continue to use) as I write this series. It ...
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The local budget timeline

This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. To follow the public money and better understand what’s driving your property tax bills, you have to know when to engage the ...
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NJ's 565 Municipalities & 21 County Tax Boards, Mapped

This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. New Jersey has 21 county tax boards and I’ve got links to their websites below (links are current as of the writing of ...
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Part 2: The tax bill and what it’s pointing to

Your property tax bill & what it's pointing to

This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. The tax bill offers a highly personalized context to connect our property (the basis of our property tax) with the larger system ...
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Property Tax Appeals & "Implied" Market Value

This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. In advance of my upcoming property tax appeals workshop on March 26th, I’ve been thinking about how to distill property tax appeals ...
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Data Visualization of "Chapter 123" Law

This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. In my previous post I touched upon “implied” market value. In this post I want to touch upon NJ’s “Chapter 123” law ...
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Workshop #1: Property Tax Appeals (March 26th @2pm in SPU's McIntyre Hall)

Location update for the March 26th 2pm Property Tax Appeals Workshop: I'm excited to share my first workshop which will happen tomorrow, Sunday March 26th at 2pm in SPU's McIntyre Hall located on JFK Boulevard between Montgomery and Glenwood, which I've ...
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The series will continue with:

  • Part 3: The local levy as a connection between taxpayer and the local budget
  • Part 4: The tax base: assessed vs market value
  • Part 5: The tax rates as a lens into tax equity
  • Part 6: Special topics

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NEW JERSEY: BY THE NUMBERS

While we are one Garden State, we are fragmented by county, town, and school district. This has implications with property tax, including school & city taxes.

1

State

21

Counties

565

Municipalities

650+

School Districts

CivicParent Series

Learn about local public finance in the Garden State

PROPERTY TAX & LOCAL BUDGETS

Learn about the local government budget process and property tax.  My hope is for this series to be a practical roadmap for taxpayers who may want to engage the local budget and related property tax expense.

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JC MUNICIPAL BUDGET

This is a multi-year series that I began in 2019 and have continued each year to unpack my local budget in Jersey City. Understanding your local municipal budget is one important step in understanding what is driving your property tax expense..

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JC PUBLIC SCHOOLS BUDGET

Since 2018 I have been closely following the school budget process in Jersey City. This coincided with the enactment of the "S2" law which was the phased reduction of state aid from Jersey City.

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NJ'S USER FRIENDLY BUDGET

This series unpacks the 'User Friendly Budget' to enable exploration of local municipal budgets across the Garden State.

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REVALUATION

Learn the who/what/when/where/why of property revaluation through a series that uses Jersey City as a case study. In 2018, Jersey City conducted its first revaluation in 30 years.

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TAX ABATEMENTS

A full series unpacks the topic of tax abatements including the intersection of city and school funding. Jersey City, the largest grantor of tax abatements in NJ, is used as a case study.

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