Tax Abatements – Civic Parent

Jersey City 2021 Budget: 160 abatements on city’s books; visualizations on abatement type, value, PILOTs, and taxes if billed in full

July 26, 2021June 16, 2022Brigid D'Souza

This is part of a series on the 2021 city budget. The spirit of this series is: I’m interested in unpacking the budget and sharing as I go. In that same spirit, I’m sharing interactive Tableau data visualizations that help others dig into the budget. See the full serieshere. The 2021 budget documents are...

Why the School Tax Levy is Key to Funding JCPS (and why seeking abatement funds is not a concrete solution).

January 30, 2020January 30, 2020Brigid D'Souza

I've heard "can't we go after the abatement money to fund our schools? Rather than increase the school tax levy?" The answer is: no, at least not directly. I wrote about the intersection of abatements & school funding back in 2015; this current moment has been foreseeable for years, unfortunately our elected are only...

Jersey City: Approximately $40 Million of School Tax is Locked Up in Abatement Contracts

May 7, 2019June 12, 2021Brigid D'Souza

This is part of a series about the 2019/20 proposed municipal and schools budgets in Jersey City. Jersey City’s proposed 2019/20 municipal budget shows that over $120 million in PILOT fees are expected to be collected in in the coming year. What is notable about PILOT fees is that they don’t contribute to the...

Updated: Jersey City Abatements from 2016 User Friendly Budget. Mapped by Project Type & Ward.

March 16, 2018May 19, 2021Brigid D'Souza

If you are new to the topic of abatements, I recommend my tax abatement series here including my 2015 article,”Jersey City PILOTs Rob Funding from the School System.“ This post is a refinement of my previous “Mapping Jersey City Abatements By Project Type and Ward” post. I wanted to update the data, and the map, to...

Fulop Era Abatements Approved from 2013 to 2016

July 6, 2017June 12, 2021Brigid D'Souza

I’m sharing a new map I created that pin-drops all abatements approved since Mayor Fulop and the current City Council took office*, i.e. since the summer of 2013. I created the map after reading Terrence McDonald‘s recent article from the Jersey Journal titled “Has Steve Fulop Evolved on Tax Abatements?” It’s a valid question...

Op-Ed Follow-Up: Get the Facts & Figures About Abatements & Public School Funding in Jersey City

May 30, 2017June 12, 2021Brigid D'Souza

I teamed up with Ellen Simon to co-author an op-ed in The Jersey Journal about how Jersey City’s PILOT policy harms our public schools. The article is dense with facts, figures, and assertions. To ensure our assertions are as accessible as possible to the public, I’ve created a landing page to help readers sort through...

Jersey Journal Op-Ed Highlights PILOT vs. Public Schools Tension in Jersey City

May 15, 2017June 12, 2021Brigid D'Souza

I teamed up with Ellen Simon, a friend, fellow public school parent, and former board trustee of the Jersey City BOE, to co-author an op-ed in the Jersey Journal. The topic: how Jersey City’s PILOT policy “robs” funding from our public schools. The term “rob” is not ours…to find out who did coin the term, in...

Mapping Jersey City’s Abatements by Project Type and Ward

April 23, 2017June 12, 2021Brigid D'Souza

If you are new to the topic of abatements, I recommend my tax abatement series here. I’ve updated my 2015 long-term abatement map to include 2016 data. The map is provided below, along with reports showing underlying data grouped by project type (affordable housing vs. market) and by ward. Source data was derived from the city’s user...

Jersey City PILOTs Rob Funding from the School System

November 17, 2015June 12, 2021Brigid D'Souza

A strong public school system is essential bedrock to a healthy community. Yet in Jersey City, our bedrock is threatened by a fiscal policy that is over-reliant on PILOTs. Here’s the crux of the problem: PILOTs help grow the city, which in turn increases demand for public schools. But PILOTed residents don’t pay school tax, leaving taxpayers to bear the burden...

Mapping Abatements in Jersey City

September 16, 2015June 12, 2021Brigid D'Souza

As I explained in my last post, transparency around abatements is finally, slowly, increasing. As data is unlocked, taxpayers can glean greater insight into how their tax dollars are spent. To help with this effort, I’ve mapped the 146 abatements from Jersey City’s 2015 “user friendly budget” into an easy-to-use Google map. Let’s Get Civic...

Jersey City, We Have A Problem.

May 18, 2014September 28, 2019Brigid D'Souza

Jersey City has been estimating the cost of its abatements incorrectly for at least eight years, and the impact to conventional taxpayers could amount to millions of dollars. Here’s the problem: Jersey City has been under-counting the number of (a) residents and (b) public school students that will eventually live in each abated building. The City has been...

What Does 1.88 Students Look Like?

March 28, 2014September 28, 2019Brigid D'Souza

On Wednesday night, the City Council approved an 80-unit abatement in downtown Hamilton Park. Here are some of the specs on the property: located at 9th & Brunswick in downtown Hamilton Park a community the abatement will extend for 20 years contain 80 units, including 20 3-bedroom units and 35 2-bedroom units 1.88 kids from the building will attend...

Let’s Get Civic

December 15, 2013September 28, 2019Brigid D'Souza

The genesis of CivicParent.org…. I live in Jersey City and on November 14, 2013 I learned that Mayor Fulop’s first abatement – the 3 towers planned for Journal Square – would not include dedicated funding for Jersey City public schools. I also learned that five City Council members, all of whom were Fulop-endorsed candidates,...