There are three local, public budgets approved each year: (1) the municipal (aka city, or town) budget proposed by the administration (e.g. the mayor) and approved by the municipal government (e.g. city council), (2) the county budget proposed by the county executive and approved by the county board of freeholders, and (3) the public schools budget proposed by the superintendent of schools and approved by the board of education. This is the typical scenario but given NJ's fragmentation, it is important to pay attention to your local landscape and look for nuance (e.g. if a school board refuses to approve a budget, then the budget is sent to the county superintendent for approval...). Further, each of these budgets contain a line item called "tax levy" and that is the property tax revenue needed to fund that year's budget. The tax levy revenue is what drives your property tax bill. So understanding the budgets will help you understand what you are funding with your property tax bill.
The articles below detail this process, but I wanted to share an upfront video that explains the timeline and the intersectionality of these budgets with resident property tax bills.