Every municipality is funded by a mix of income streams, including:
- Property taxes (everyone pays property tax...you either pay it directly if you're a property owner, or you pay it to your landlord. Your rent includes the cost of property tax)
- State Aid
- Local Revenues - these are user-fee income streams like marriage licenses, pet licenses, and so on
- Construction fees
One thing to note about Jersey City is that it relies on abatement "PILOT" (payment in lieu of tax) fees. Jersey City is the largest grantor of abatements in the entire state; this is reflected in abatement PILOT fees comprising over 20% of the city's budget, making it a structural component of the revenues. Also: the PILOT fees we see in the city's budget reflect a source of revenue that is currently available to the city but not to the public schools. State law allows a municipality to grant an abatement, collect a PILOT fee, and not share it with the public schools.
