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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.
Latest Posts:
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Get the latest updates on NJ COVID19 Testing & Tracing. #COVID19NJTracing
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Safely Reopening Our Schools in NJ: Understanding the Constraints of Fragmentation in the Garden State
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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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Jersey City BOE Passes Mr. Walker’s Full Budget: $52.7M
N.J. isn't ready to physically reopen its schools.
My latest post breaks it down:
NJ's "User Friendly Budget" - A Series
A New CivicParent Series diving into budget data across the Garden State
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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 Proposed 2020 Budget
A budget is moral document that reflects our public priorities. Dig in to learn more:
Dig into the Proposed 2020 City Budget:
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
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
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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.
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-
Civic Parent Library - Take a Tour
Read about school funding, tax abatements, property revaluation, and more.
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Demand Fair Property Taxation: Using the Equalization Ratio as a Civic Tool
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Am I Paying Too Much in Property Tax?
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Op-Ed Follow-Up: Get the Facts & Figures About Abatements & Public School Funding in Jersey City
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NJ School Funding Basics: “Adequacy” Budget, School Tax Levy, & the Impact of Inflation (A Case Study of Jersey City)
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Property Revaluation 201: Quantifying Tax Inequity (A Simple Example)
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Country Village Revaluation Update: $3+ Million Estimated Tax Expense Reduction (and counting…)
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Quick Analysis: Tax Expense Change on the West Side, south of Lincoln Park
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Property Tax Rate Math: A Quick Breakdown
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NJ Property Tax Dashboard: Updated for 2018 w/ Jersey City Highlights
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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 2017 Sales for Class “2” (1-4 Family) Properties, Mapped
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Mapping Abatements in Jersey City
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Property Revaluation 501: Mapping & Color Coding Jersey City Home Sales by Assessment-Sales Ratio
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Updated: Jersey City Abatements from 2016 User Friendly Budget. Mapped by Project Type & Ward.
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Mapping Jersey City’s Abatements by Project Type and Ward
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JerseyCity Revaluation Update: Society Hill Highlighted
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Quick Analysis: Tax Expense Change on the West Side, south of Lincoln Park
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Fulop Era Abatements Approved from 2013 to 2016
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Jersey City: Who in City Council & the NJ State Legislature Represents Your School?
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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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A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate, Part 1: the Public Data
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Jersey City’s 2019/20 Proposed Budget: Visualized Revenues
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2019/20 *Proposed* Advertised Appropriations (JCPS Spending for 2019/20 School Year)
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Jersey City, We Have A Problem.
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Jersey City’s 2017 School Based Budgets: Learn what’s being funded in your school
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JCPS Funding: How JCPS Spends Its Money…A High Level Primer
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The Clock is Ticking…What’s the Plan to #FundOurSchools?
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Jersey City Facing $27 Million State Aid Cut for 2019/20 School Year
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What Investing in Jersey City Public Schools Looks Like for 2020/21
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JCPS Funding Crisis: An Overview
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NJ Special Education Statistics | #DataViz #OpenData
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Jersey City’s 2017 School Based Budgets: Learn what’s being funded in your school
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Jersey City PILOTs Rob Funding from the School System
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Jersey City & NJ: Student Group Data from NJ School Performance Reports (A Focus on ELL, At-Risk, and Special Education Students)
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A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate. Part 2: Statewide Comparisons & the Role of the Tax Base
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Taxpayer Guide to Education Spending – Total Spending Per Pupil (#OpenData Visualization)
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JCPS Funding Crisis: An Overview
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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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#PayrollTax Ordinance: Public Testimonials About Our Public Schools
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NJ School Funding Basics: “Adequacy” Budget, School Tax Levy, & the Impact of Inflation (A Case Study of Jersey City)
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Op-Ed Follow-Up: Get the Facts & Figures About Abatements & Public School Funding in Jersey City
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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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Mapping Abatements in Jersey City
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What Does 1.88 Students Look Like?
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Let’s Get Civic
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Jersey Journal Op-Ed Highlights PILOT vs. Public Schools Tension in Jersey City
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Updated: Jersey City Abatements from 2016 User Friendly Budget. Mapped by Project Type & Ward.
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Jersey City: Approximately $40 Million of School Tax is Locked Up in Abatement Contracts
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Tax Abatements 401: The Transparency Issue
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Abatements 501: A Critique of Mayor Fulop’s “Buy Up” Abatement Policy
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Demand Fair Property Taxation: Using the Equalization Ratio as a Civic Tool
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Making Sense of Your New Tax Post Card
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Jersey City Property Tax Appeals: A Civic Step-by-Step Overview
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Jersey City 2017 Sales for Class “2” (1-4 Family) Properties, Mapped
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Property Revaluation 501: Mapping & Color Coding Jersey City Home Sales by Assessment-Sales Ratio
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Property Revaluation 101: the Equalization Ratio
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Property Tax & Revaluation Workshop: WHAT is Revaluation? (YouTube Video)
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An Analysis of 2015 Jersey City Property Sales – by Ward
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Jersey City Revaluation: Interactive Map Now Available from ASI, Inc.
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Who/What/When/Where/Why of Property Revaluation