I recently met with high school student leaders in Jersey City Public Schools who are sharing stories of the conditions inside their schools. They go by the name “Revolutionizers of Jersey City High Schools” (r.o.j.c.h.s.) and have an Instagram channel here. Their pictures and videos give a glimpse of what they are experiencing on a daily basis, which includes a bathroom sink sitting on the floor (detached from the wall), crumbling ceilings, ceilings with exposed ducts and wiring, classrooms disrupted by mice and roaches, and more. They had been interested in learning about the budget so I was happy to ...
This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. I am sharing in this post a tool I’ve been using (and will continue to use) as I write this series. It is a property tax dashboard, created from a fantastic set of datasets published by the NJ Department of Community Affairs (that site is here). Each year, the state collects prior year property tax data and published them in standalone Excel files. I’ve been compiling the data year on year and now have all of them in Tableau. In 2019 I ...
This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. I am launching a new series on CivicParent about the local government budget process and property tax. My hope is for this series to be: A practical roadmap for taxpayers who may want to engage the 2023 local budget cycle in their community. Primarily targeted at taxpayers who are relatively new to the realm of property tax and the local budget process. A space to share public data that informs the property tax landscape in municipalities throughout NJ. A space to share ...
This post made my head spin a bit … the math and timing is wonky and confusing. I’ve done my best to break it down and welcome dialog and feedback about anything that is unclear. This past week, Jersey City’s municipal council passed its annual 2022 budget with a $112 million increase to the city levy. This action caps a year of change in Jersey City’s property tax landscape; school tax and city tax have both increased. Residents will see these increases in their tax bills, but what can make this somewhat confusing is that the rates are not approved ...
I’ve often received the question: how does our town’s property tax compare to the state average? Using the most recently available 2021 statewide data (from the Division of Local Government Services here), I put that visual together below. When viewing the visual, it’s important to note: This visual shows property tax for 3 local governments — Schools, Municipality (aka Town or City), and County. Property tax is one of, and often the biggest, revenue for a local government budget. In terms of what this revenue pays for (another common question): I’ve primarily analyzed school and municipal budgets on CivicParent. One ...
I wanted to share some thoughts around the $89 million "maintenance of equity" funds that Jersey City Public Schools received this week. The quick highlight, if I could make one, is: yes, this $89 million is indeed a windfall...but we are still facing a fiscal cliff and we all have to be aware of that cliff now, not six months from now when the BOE is debating its next budget. I want to, in this post, aim to put the "maintenance of equity" funding into context with the broader paradigm of "S2" state aid cuts still playing out in Jersey ...
This is part of a series about the 2022 Jersey City budget. To see the full series, click here. For a listing of public data used in this post, please see the bottom of the post. Many thanks to those in community who gave feedback about this topic/post and helped improve it from concept to published post. Midway through the year, property tax bills are being adjusted for new local tax rates and questions arise, including: What might the new total tax expense be in 2022, based on 2022 local government budgets? What is the new breakout of school versus ...
In this post I’m using 2 public datasets: A: Jersey City’s 2022 Municipal Budget (Introduced) with proposed 2022 revenue and expense, located on the city website here. B: Jersey City’s 2015-2021 Municipal Budget summaries compiled in NJ’s User Friendly Budget Database (Excel file downloadable here). On June 15th, Jersey City released introduced its 2022 budget. I’ve reviewed that budget in tandem with historic budget data contained within NJ’s User Friendly Budget Database and wanted to share some key insights around revenues. I will point readers back to my previous post regarding structural expense, because it ties into three key insights ...
On June 15th, Jersey City released introduced its 2022 budget. This is a part of a series about that budget. In this post I’m using three public datasets: A: Jersey City’s 2022 Municipal Budget (Introduced) with proposed 2022 revenue and expense, located on the city website here. B: Jersey City’s 2015-2021 Municipal Budget summaries compiled in NJ’s User Friendly Budget Database (Excel file downloadable here). In my last post, I shared a big picture of the budget. In this post, I want to focus on some nuance around expense because expense gets at the services we all care about, and ...
On June 15th, Jersey City released introduced its 2022 budget. This is a part of a series about that budget. In this post I’m using two public datasets: A: Jersey City’s 2022 Municipal Budget (Introduced) with proposed 2022 revenue and expense, located on the city website here. B: Jersey City’s 2015-2021 Municipal Budget summaries compiled in NJ’s User Friendly Budget Database (Excel file downloadable here). Jersey City’s 2022 budget, as introduced in June, increased by $43 million over 2021’s final approved budget. As we dive into the budget details, we see nuance emerge that points to two major trends: Structural ...
The Jersey City municipal budget was introduced last week (June 15th) via resolution 22-4009. For the past three years, I've dug into the municipal budget to better understand it. I write about it and share insights and analysis as I proceed; this year will be the fourth cycle and this year I'm adding some live teach-ins to the mix. My first teach-in is June 27th at 7pm at Saint Peter's University. My main focus on June 27th will be the "user friendly budget." For now, I wanted to focus on the other budget document - the standard budget that is ...
Tonight the Jersey City Board of Education passed its 2022-23 school budget along a 5-4 vote, approving funds that staved off staff layoffs in the face of historic state aid cuts. The passing of this budget will create ripple effects on the city and county budgeting processes (the city and county have yet to reveal their calendar-year budgets). More to come on CivicParent as that unfolds. For now, I wanted to credit the BOE trustees who voted for this budget: Lorenzo Richardson Gina Verdibello Noemi Velazquez Gerald Lyons Paula Jones-Watson This may not have been a popular vote but in my ...
The Jersey City Board of Education increased the school tax levy...now what? I'm getting that question from more than a few people so I figured I'd share two tools: A school tax calculator - view an estimate of how your school tax expense will increase in 2022 A 2021 property tax split -- personalized for your home's assessed value, to put the school tax increase in perspective for the coming year A disclaimer: these are general teaching tools only, created to help illustrate the math at work and give a lens that is somewhat personalized. If you wish to understand ...
This is my final post re: the Jersey City Public Schools budget which will be voted on this Monday. The 2022-23 budget is far from certain to pass; anti-school-tax rhetoric may reduce funding so let's be honest about what that means: possible staff reductions or vacancies that won't be filled. And possibly more. A few related points, and information from my website to help inform the perspective: 1) This budget is majority staffing, so cuts to funding could result in cuts to staffing. I recall in 2019 seeing similar paradigm (need to fund but BOE chose not to fund w/ ...
This is an update on the unfolding budget process for Jersey City Public Schools; the budget was introduced Tuesday March 15th and will be finalized on or before next Monday, March 21st. I watched Tuesday’s board of education meeting and then reviewed the budget document on my own, trying to make sense of the numbers presented, including creating some graphs. I figured I’d share what I learned along with next steps advocacy for those who may be interested. 1-The needs. As Dr. Fernandez outlined on Monday night, the programs outlined starting on page 34 of the budget document includes (but ...
