What is a property tax abatement?
An abatement is a contract between the city and a developer (and then subsequent homeowners in the case of an abated condo building) that results in the building's occupants paying a "PILOT" (payment in lieu of tax) instead of regular tax. While schools receive a portion of regular property tax, they do *not* receive any of the PILOT fees. Jersey City abatements have historically sent 95% of the PILOT fees to the city, 5% to the county, and 0% to the schools. This the most direct impact that abatements have on our schools, but more is explained below.
There are two types of abatements...
- Short-term (5 year) abatements pay regular tax, but at reduced levels for 5 years (eg 20% of tax in Year 1, 40% in Year 2, and so on...until by Year 6 the building pays full, regular tax).
- Long-term (10+ years) abatements make a "payment in lieu of tax" (PILOT) fee instead of paying property tax and are typically used to incentivize the building of (i) affordable housing, (ii) market rate housing (eg rentals & condos), (iii) hotels, and (iv) commercial properties like office buildings.
The articles below detail abatements from a range of perspectives, mostly using context from Jersey City. In 2021 I was granted a Kenny Fellowship at Saint Peter's University to study this issue further; this is a topic that I plan to write more about in the future, with a wider (statewide) lens.