Public budgets – Civic Parent

JCPS: How does the schools budget process work?

February 5, 2021February 5, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public budgets, Public Schools

Update, Feb 5, 2021: I’m re-upping this post from 2020 to share with anyone who’s interested in the upcoming schools budgeting process in 2021. The annual public schools budgeting process is fairly regimented due in part to milestone dates that live in state law. A timeline of key dates from last year’s budgeting process...

NJ Abatements: We need better abatement disclosures in NJ to show impact on public schools

December 11, 2020December 16, 2020Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public budgets, Public Schools, Tax Abatements

This is post included in both my abatement series and a series about the User Friendly Budget in NJ. We need better disclosures in NJ to understand the impact of tax abatements on the local fiscal landscape, particularly as it relates to public schools. The user friendly budget – mandated by the state starting...

The “User Friendly Budget”, part 5 – Abatements (with a Jersey City Focus)

December 3, 2020December 3, 2020Brigid D'SouzaPublic budgets, Tax Abatements

Note: the visualizations below are best viewed on a computer or tablet (vs a phone). Jersey City recently announced it was terminating an abatement on four buildings within the Beacon complex. The reason: “ownership defaulted on an obligation to retain and present employee records, city officials announced.” This is a good reminder that abatements...

The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 4b: Public Health & Public Safety (with Focus on Police) Spending in the Garden State

July 1, 2020July 3, 2020Brigid D'SouzaPublic budgets

This is a post in a series about NJ's User Friendly Budget. My intent is to share basic analysis and insights with community as a way to encourage taxpayers to engage with this document and learn more about local public finance. Read the other posts in this series here including how to access your town's UFB and...

The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 4a: View Your Town’s Structural Spending with the “UFB-3 Appropriations Summary” Data

June 23, 2020June 29, 2020Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Public budgets

The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 3: the “Cover Page”, an Inventory of NJ’s 565 Municipalities, & An Overview of How UFB Data was Compiled

June 22, 2020October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Public budgets

This is a post in a series about NJ’s User Friendly Budget. My intent is to share basic analysis and insights with community as a way to encourage taxpayers to engage with this document and learn more about local public finance. Read the other posts in this series here including how to access your town’s...

The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 2: What’s in the User Friendly Budget?

June 15, 2020June 29, 2020Brigid D'SouzaPublic budgets

This is part of a series about the User Friendly Budget. This is a relatively short post to lay out what’s in the User Friendly Budget. I also want to share some of how I think this file can be used by taxpayers and advocates. As I explained in the first post in this...

The “User Friendly Budget”, Part 1: Intro to the Series & How to Access the UFB

June 15, 2020October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Public budgets

Five years ago, New Jersey began mandating that every municipality* in New Jersey file a “User Friendly Budget (UFB)” as part of the annual budgeting process. This file is “user friendly” for a few reasons: The data is aggregated in unique ways that help us see the structural nature of how the city both...

Jersey City’s Proposed 2020 Budget (Tableau #DataViz)

February 13, 2020October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Data Visualizations, Property Taxes, Public budgets

In February 2020 the City Council introduced its 2020 budget (the city has typically approved the annual budget only in the summer / Quarter 3 timeframe — I don’t know the reason for the lag, only that the lag exists). Upon release of the budget, I converted the PDF into Excel and then uploaded...

Jersey City’s 2019/20 Proposed Budget: Visualized Revenues

May 5, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Taxes, Public budgets

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,...

How does Jersey City Spend Its Money? A Data Visualization of Budgets from 2015-2018

April 25, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Data Visualizations, Property Taxes, Public budgets

As we look towards the coming weeks and months, two local governing bodies are undergoing a public budgeting process: The Board of Education will be determining the 2019/20 schools budget. The city of Jersey City will be determining the 2019 municipal budget. A key question is: how can taxpayers engage? How can we peel...

Tax Abatements 601: Brighter Sunshine Mandated for NJ Abatements

September 3, 2015October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Public budgets, Tax Abatements

Tax abatement reporting in Jersey City is finally getting more transparent. Two distinct authoritative bodies have mandated changes that require Jersey City (and other cities) to get onboard the transparency train. This news should come as a relief to taxpayers since abatements now constitute over 20% of Jersey City’s annual revenue yet have been sharply criticized by the NJ Comptroller as being too opaque...