Your property tax bill can at times be confusing, but that's not your fault. Local governments strive to communicate information, but the content can often be incomplete, lacking context, or presuming a baseline understanding of wonk nuance and math. Let's demystify the key details.
Your tax bill helps fund three local governments
Local property taxes fund our three local governments: the municipality (eg City Hall), the County, and the public schools. Property tax is typically the largest revenue item in each government's annual budget.
Your property tax bill is dependent on a local government "levy" and the "tax base"
Your property tax is dependent on two factors: each local government's local levy and the tax base. This page aims to be taxpayer bill centric, but understanding these other areas (e.g. local government budgets, the tax levies, the tax base, etc) are key context to understanding what drives your tax bill.
Tax appeals require learning a bit of numerator-denominator tax math
A tax appeal attempting to lower your tax assessed value, which in turn can lower your property tax expense. The tax appeal deadline is April 1st each year, must be filed with your local county tax board, and the process to appeal is based on tax math that is understandable with a bit of civic elbow grease. The math is what I aim to help explain on my site, because I believe every taxpayer can do so.
Two approaches to assessing property in 2024 (Jersey City & Monmouth County focus)
NJ Property Tax Dataset, Visualized for 1998 through 2022 (CivicParent work paper)
NJ’s 565 Municipalities & 21 County Tax Boards, Mapped
Workshop #1: Property Tax Appeals (March 26th @2pm in SPU’s McIntyre Hall)
Data Visualization of “Chapter 123” Law
Property Tax Appeals & “Implied” Market Value
Your property tax bill & what it’s pointing to
Property tax dashboard: visualizing tax levies, tax base, & tax rates from 1998-2022
Jersey City’s 2022 tax hikes & Q3 and Q4 tax bill flux, explained
Property Revaluation 701: Property Tax Appeal Math…Are You Over-Assessed? A Tax Math Explainer
Open Letter/Comments to Mayor Fulop & City Council: What is being done to pressure-test the need for another citywide revaluation?
Jersey City Property Tax Appeals: A Civic Step-by-Step Overview
Property Tax Rate Math: A Quick Breakdown
Jersey City Together Helped Homeowners Save $40,000+ via Tax Appeal Workshops
