Jersey City’s 2021 Municipal Budget — A postscript…and some closing notes around transparency & process improvement
This is a quick update to my 2021 municipal budget series which I wrote this summer based on the budget …
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Improving accountability and transparency for Jersey City Public Schools
In 2021 Jersey City Public Schools fully funded its schools for the first time in over a decade. Reasonable questions …
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Jersey City 2021 Budget: A focus on expense (including: structural expense is up $13 million this year)
This is part of a series on the 2021 city budget. The spirit of this series is: I’m interested in unpacking …
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Jersey City 2021 Budget: A focus on revenues (including how the city is achieving a property tax cut)
This is part of a series on the 2021 city budget. The spirit of this series is: I’m interested in unpacking …
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Jersey City 2021 Budget: 160 abatements on city’s books; visualizations on abatement type, value, PILOTs, and taxes if billed in full
This is part of a series on the 2021 city budget. The spirit of this series is: I’m interested in …
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Jersey City 2021 Budget: Dig into budget using keyword search
This is part of a series on the 2021 city budget. See the full series here. The 2021 budget documents …
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In one chart: Jersey City’s seismic change in tax levies fully funds the schools and reallocates property tax
A “levy” is the amount raised in property tax to fund a government budget. Typically, a levy is one of …
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Transparency & Better Communications Needed for Jersey City Public Schools
The Board of Education (BOE) nearly shut down “remote” public comment last week and it’s worth explaining what happened, simply …
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Initial thoughts on Jersey City’s Municipal 2021 Budget Press Release
Yesterday, Jersey City taxpayers received initial news that the 2021 municipal budget would “cut taxes for Jersey City residents by …
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Garden State Property Tax Viewer – Rates, Levies, Bases – for 2020
How does my town’s tax rate compare to the state average? Where does most of my property tax go – …
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NJ’s “Cost Per Pupil” is a flawed comparison of school district cost.
How NJ’s “cost-per-pupil” can mislead taxpayers to interpret “investing more in higher needs students” as “overspending” On its face, the …
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The Board of Education Should Approve Superintendent Walker’s Schools Budget & Fully Fund Our Schools
Superintendent Walker proposed a fully funded budget on Monday, March 15th, a monumental step forward in Jersey City’s efforts to …
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CivicParent NJ Property Tax Viewer: 2020 Levies
The 2020 property tax tables for calendar year 2020 are now available. This data provides insight into the way municipal, …
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Property Revaluation 701: Property Tax Appeal Math…Are You Over-Assessed? A Tax Math Explainer
This post is meant to help a taxpayer get a jump-start on determining: is my property over-assessed? This post is …
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JCPS: How does the schools budget process work?
Update, Feb 5, 2021: I’m re-upping this post from 2020 to share with anyone who’s interested in the upcoming schools …
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Jersey City Schools Parent Advocacy Update: Connect with Jersey City Together
COVID19 remote learning is extremely challenging. It’s important to note that some challenges are exacerbated by chronic underfunding of Jersey …
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Abatements 801: We need better abatement disclosures in NJ to show impact on public schools
This is post included in both my abatement series and a series about the User Friendly Budget in NJ. We …
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Abatements 701 & The “User Friendly Budget”, part 5 – Abatements (with a Jersey City Focus)
Note: the visualizations below are best viewed on a computer or tablet (vs a phone). Jersey City recently announced it …
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NJ Property Revaluation Dashboard, Part 1
This part of a CivicParent NJ Revaluation series. Please see PropertyRevaluation.org for additional posts and analysis. Tax fairness, at its …
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CivicParent NJ Property Tax Viewer – 2019 Levies
Last month (October 2020) the state published the 2019 property tax tables. This is a “look back” at the local …
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