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Follow the public money.
Civic Parent is a fiscal literacy platform focused on public finance in New Jersey.
NJ's User Friendly Budgets
This series explores municipal budget data using 565 individual User Friendly Budget files from across the Garden State.
Jersey City's City Budget
An archive of municipal budget data for #JerseyCity residents & taxpayers.
Property Revaluation
All taxpayers can endeavor to understand whether or not they are being fairly taxed by the local government.
Tax Abatements
In NJ, tax abatements are not required to pay school tax, creating a link between these contracts and the funding paradigm of the community's public schools.
Jersey City's School Funding Crisis
Jersey City Schools are *locally* underfunded. Get the facts.
A New CivicParent Series: NJ's "User Friendly Budget" - Let's Demystify Your City's Budget
This is a new, ongoing series & will include data for NJ's 565 municipalities.
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 4b: Public Health & Public Safety (with Focus on Police) Spending in the Garden State
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 4a: View Your Town’s Structural Spending with the “UFB-3 Appropriations Summary” Data
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 3: the “Cover Page”, an Inventory of NJ’s 565 Municipalities, & An Overview of How UFB Data was Compiled
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 2: What’s in the User Friendly Budget?
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 1: Intro to the Series & How to Access the UFB
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Tax Abatements 601: Brighter Sunshine Mandated for NJ Abatements
Jersey City's Board of Education Unanimously Approves
Superintendent Walker's Full Budget for 2020/21 School Year.
Parents and advocates with NJ Together mobilized to help support the full budget. Learn & connect with NJ Together's Education Team at https://www.njtogether.org/education.
Jersey City's School Funding Crisis
Dig into the Proposed 2020 City Budget:
How does Jersey City Spend Its Money? (A look-back at 2015-2018 budgets)
Download the Proposed 2020 City Budget from Google Sheets (dive into the data!)
Latest Posts:
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 4b: Public Health & Public Safety (with Focus on Police) Spending in the Garden State
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 4a: View Your Town’s Structural Spending with the “UFB-3 Appropriations Summary” Data
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 3: the “Cover Page”, an Inventory of NJ’s 565 Municipalities, & An Overview of How UFB Data was Compiled
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Open Letter re: Police Reform to the Mayor, City Council, Chief of Police and Public Safety Director
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 2: What’s in the User Friendly Budget?
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The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 1: Intro to the Series & How to Access the UFB
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Jersey City School Tax Expense Calculator for 2020/21 School Funding Year
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It’s Now or Never to Support the 2020/21 Schools Budget for Our Kids.
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Approve the 2020/21 #JerseyCity Schools Budget: Invest in Jersey City’s Kids
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Jersey City Public Schools Enrollment Data Shows Diversity of District, Imperative to Progressively Fund
A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate
A Four-Part CivicParent Series About Jersey City's School Funding Crisis
Part 1: The Public Data
Part 2: Statewide Comparisons & the Role of the Tax Base
Part 3: Let's Talk About the School Tax Levy
Featured Topic: Learn About Tax Abatements
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Why the School Tax Levy is Key to Funding JCPS (and why seeking abatement funds is not a concrete solution).
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Jersey City: Approximately $40 Million of School Tax is Locked Up in Abatement Contracts
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Updated: Jersey City Abatements from 2016 User Friendly Budget. Mapped by Project Type & Ward.
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Fulop Era Abatements Approved from 2013 to 2016
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Op-Ed Follow-Up: Get the Facts & Figures About Abatements & Public School Funding in Jersey City
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Jersey Journal Op-Ed Highlights PILOT vs. Public Schools Tension in Jersey City
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Mapping Jersey City’s Abatements by Project Type and Ward
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Jersey City PILOTs Rob Funding from the School System
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Mapping Abatements in Jersey City
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Tax Abatements 601: Brighter Sunshine Mandated for NJ Abatements
Featured Data Visualization: The Property Tax Split...
Find your town using the filters...see how your property tax dollars are used by Municipal, County, and Schools
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Learn
Learn at your own pace. Articles are written as knowledge building blocks and include key concepts, infographics, and links to additional resources.
NJ Public Schools
Learn the basics about school funding in NJ. Access public school data, analysis, and insight using customizable Tableau views. Dig into details about Jersey City's Public Schools funding crisis.
Learn moreProperty Taxes
Property tax basics, property revaluation, tax abatements, and more. Dig into property tax for your county and town. Learn ways to advocate for tax fairness.
Learn moreTax Abatements
Learn the basics about tax abatements: what they are, how they are granted, and the impact on the tax base, the public schools, and the funding paradigm for the local community.
Learn moreProperty Revaluation
Learn about property revaluation, including: the who/what/when/where/why of revaluation, how to compute if you are under or over taxed, and how to determine if your town or city is due for a revaluation.
Learn more-
Give #OpenData a Try
Tax data is rich "open data" available to the public.
We can learn much about community through the lens of taxes.
Use the Tableau visualization below to find your hometown's tax base value. Compare your town with others throughout your county and the state, to see how your town's taxable wealth measures up. The tax base values are published each year by the State Division of NJ. The tax base is a foundational concept to the topic of property taxes.
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Civic Parent Library - Take a Tour
Read about school funding, tax abatements, property revaluation, and more.
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NJ School Funding Basics: The Tax Levy
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Tax Abatements 201: Abatement Impact on Conventional Taxpayers
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How does Jersey City Spend Its Money? A Data Visualization of Budgets from 2015-2018
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Property Revaluation 301: Estimating Your Post-Revaluation Tax Bill
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Tax Abatements 301: Two Sides of the Same PILOT
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JC BOE Used Incorrect Tax Base Value in Its 2019/20 Budget: Explaining the Tax Math
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Jersey City’s 2019/20 Proposed Budget: Visualized Revenues
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NJ Property Tax Dashboard: Updated for 2018 w/ Jersey City Highlights
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Jersey City Together Helped Homeowners Save $40,000+ via Tax Appeal Workshops
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Am I Paying Too Much in Property Tax?
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Country Village Revaluation Update: $3+ Million Estimated Tax Expense Reduction (and counting…)
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Property Revaluation Update: 202 out of 206 Homes on Neptune Ave in Greenville #JerseyCity were Over-Taxed.
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Jersey City: Who in City Council & the NJ State Legislature Represents Your School?
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Mapping Jersey City’s Abatements by Project Type and Ward
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Mapping Abatements in Jersey City
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Jersey City 2017 Sales for Class “2” (1-4 Family) Properties, Mapped
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Quick Analysis: Tax Expense Change on the West Side, south of Lincoln Park
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Updated: Jersey City Abatements from 2016 User Friendly Budget. Mapped by Project Type & Ward.
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JerseyCity Revaluation Update: Society Hill Highlighted
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Fulop Era Abatements Approved from 2013 to 2016
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What Investing in Jersey City Public Schools Looks Like for 2020/21
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Civic Questions for the Board of Education Upon Passing of their 2019/20 Budget
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PS #5 Advocacy Campaign -Jersey City’s school funding crisis is NOT resolved. City Council — #FundOurSchools!!
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Jersey City’s 2019/20 Proposed Budget: Visualized APPROPRIATIONS (Expenses)
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Mayor Fulop: Please Stop Politicizing Our Public Schools
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Street Safety – PS #3 Parent Concerns Survey (Responses)
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Infographic: Jersey City: the Municipality’s Role in School Underfunding
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A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate, Part 1: the Public Data
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Jersey City: Who in City Council & the NJ State Legislature Represents Your School?
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Let’s Get Civic
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Tax Abatements 601: Brighter Sunshine Mandated for NJ Abatements
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JC BOE Used Incorrect Tax Base Value in Its 2019/20 Budget: Explaining the Tax Math
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#PayrollTax Ordinance: Public Testimonials About Our Public Schools
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Updated: Jersey City Abatements from 2016 User Friendly Budget. Mapped by Project Type & Ward.
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Jersey City, We Have A Problem.
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Jersey City’s 2019/20 Proposed Budget: Visualized APPROPRIATIONS (Expenses)
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JCPS Demographic Study: Pertinent Facts re: Classroom Space
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PS #5 PTA School Funding Advocacy Action: Keep the pressure on the BOE & City Leadership: No Pink Slips!
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Infographic: Jersey City: the Municipality’s Role in School Underfunding
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Mapping Abatements in Jersey City
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Tax Abatements 401: The Transparency Issue
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Mapping Abatements in Jersey City
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Jersey City PILOTs Rob Funding from the School System
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Tax Abatements 601: Brighter Sunshine Mandated for NJ Abatements
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Tax Abatements 301: Two Sides of the Same PILOT
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Jersey City: Approximately $40 Million of School Tax is Locked Up in Abatement Contracts
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Abatements 501: A Critique of Mayor Fulop’s “Buy Up” Abatement Policy
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Updated: Jersey City Abatements from 2016 User Friendly Budget. Mapped by Project Type & Ward.
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What Does 1.88 Students Look Like?
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Jersey City, We Have A Problem.
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Jersey City Revaluation: Interactive Map Now Available from ASI, Inc.
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Property Tax Revaluation: Will my property tax expense go up or down? (YouTube Video)
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Making Sense of Your New Tax Post Card
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Property Tax Rate Math: A Quick Breakdown
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Property Revaluation 101: the Equalization Ratio
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An Analysis of 2015 Jersey City Property Sales – by Ward
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Jersey City 2017 Sales for Class “2” (1-4 Family) Properties, Mapped
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Who/What/When/Where/Why of Property Revaluation
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Property Revaluation 501: Mapping & Color Coding Jersey City Home Sales by Assessment-Sales Ratio
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Jersey City Revaluation: Intro from ASI Inc, the firm doing the Revaluation