I have been writing Civic Parent in Jersey City for nearly 10 years, since November 2013, soon after the "Journal Squared" pilot was approved. I started Civic Parent because I cared about local public schools and my community, did not understand local finance related to the public schools, had concerns around that financing, and wanted...
Jersey City’s 2022 tax hikes & Q3 and Q4 tax bill flux, explained
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...Continue reading
How does your town’s property tax allocation compare to the state average?
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...Continue reading
Update on Water Advocacy in Jersey City Public Schools
It’s worth sharing some good news as we head into the new school year: Jersey City Together’s education team has helped push for water remediation in over a dozen schools. Specifically, more than a dozen schools now have new, 21st century working water fountains. The list of schools that have had new working water fountains...Continue reading
$89M Maintenance of Equity to JCPS & the Eventual “Fiscal Cliff”
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...Continue reading
Jersey City’s 2022 Municipal Budget: a Focus on Structural Expense
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...Continue reading
Jersey City’s 2022 Municipal Budget: the Big Picture
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...Continue reading
Demystifying Jersey City’s $1 billion budget for JCPS high schoolers
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...Continue reading
Jersey City Municipal Budgets: a high level visual review of 2015 through 2023
I was curious about Jersey City’s budgetary trends and so created a few high level visuals that I am sharing on CivicParent in case others were interested in understanding these documents in real-time, i.e. relevant to the current budget process in 2023. I wrote a series about the “user friendly” budget in 2020 if you...Continue reading
JCPS audit revealing “failures” is actually welcome news
I’m playing catch-up (due to a busy spring), but I wanted to share important news from the JC Board of Education meetingon Monday, May 22nd (available here on Facebook) which is about the district’s annual audit. I read this report in the Jersey Journal and thought it was a good article about the meeting. I...Continue reading
Jersey City Municipal Budget, 2023: A visual walkthrough of the proposed budget
I dug into Jersey City’s municipal budget (as introduced on May 10th) and wanted to share a visual that I am using to better understand the budget. The one big constraint I find with Jersey City’s budget is that it is “locked” in PDF; I’m a visual thinker so I prefer to view data through...Continue reading
The local levy as connection between taxpayer and the local budget
This is part of a 2023 series about property tax in NJ. View the series landing page here. An upfront caveat: the levy is a topic with vast scope beyond what I can and want to cover here. There is a lot more you can reference; for instance, a good read if you have the...Continue reading
NJ’s 565 Municipalities & 21 County Tax Boards, Mapped
This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. New Jersey has 21 county tax boards and I’ve got links to their websites below (links are current as of the writing of this post). Click on a county to see the related information including the county board...Continue reading
Workshop #1: Property Tax Appeals (March 26th @2pm in SPU’s McIntyre Hall)
I'm excited to share my first workshop which will happen tomorrow, Sunday March 26th at 2pm in SPU's McIntyre Hall located on JFK Boulevard between Montgomery and Glenwood, which I've mapped below. The deadline for property tax appeals is rapidly approaching in Hudson County (and many other counties, too). To help community members engage the nuance,...Continue reading
Data Visualization of “Chapter 123” Law
This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. In my previous post I touched upon “implied” market value. In this post I want to touch upon NJ’s “Chapter 123” law which I last wrote about in 2021, but am revisiting again with an interactive teaching...Continue reading
Property Tax Appeals & “Implied” Market Value
This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. In advance of my upcoming property tax appeals workshop on March 26th, I’ve been thinking about how to distill property tax appeals math in the most intuitive way possible. And in my view, “implied” market value is...Continue reading
Your property tax bill & what it’s pointing to
This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. The tax bill offers a highly personalized context to connect our property (the basis of our property tax) with the larger system of property taxation in the community (which involves the levy, the tax base, and the...Continue reading
The local budget timeline
This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. To follow the public money and better understand what’s driving your property tax bills, you have to know when to engage the process. Understanding the “when” can take a taxpayer into a series of bureaucratic rabbit holes...Continue reading
Jersey City set to lose $51 million in NJ education aid; how this connects to rising school tax
NJ's Department of Education released its state education aid summaries for the 2023/24 academic year and Jersey City is set to lose another $51 million next year. This will amount to $276 million in state aid reductions since the "S2" law was passed in 2018. Jersey City will likely lose $134 million by the time...
Property Tax & Local Budgets, Resources & Notes
This is part of a series about local budgets and property tax. View the series landing page here. Throughout this series I am using resources and links from a variety of sources. I’m sharing as I go and will update this page as the series progresses. Helpful initial resources: NEW JERSEY HOMEOWNER’S GUIDE TO PROPERTY...Continue reading
Property tax dashboard: visualizing tax levies, tax base, & tax rates from 1998-2022
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...Continue reading
Property Tax & Local Budgets, An Intro to the series
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...Continue reading
Help build civic “people power” for kids in Jersey City to have water fountains in every public school
I recently spoke after mass at my church, St. Aedan’s, about the fact that most of Jersey City’s public schools lack working water fountains in all the schools. The result, I shared, was that kids often go through the school day thirsty; they are distracted from academics due to thirst, they suffer headaches due to thirst,...Continue reading
JCPS Update: Positive school climate, trauma informed schools, and social emotional support for kids
In my years within Jersey City Public Schools as both an advocate and a parent, I have heard stories of children who experience poor school climate. School climate is a casual term that some of us may use in a colloquial sense, but it is also framed professionally by school and mental health experts in...Continue reading
Jersey City Budgets & the Connection to Property Tax Expense (an interactive teaching visual)
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...Continue reading
Jersey City’s 2022 Municipal Budget: Focus on Revenues & Increasing City Tax Levy
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....Continue reading
Series Kickoff: the 2022 Municipal Budget
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...Continue reading
Jersey City Board of Education Passes Historic School Levy Investment
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...Continue reading
Interactive tools to learn about school tax increase in Jersey City
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...Continue reading
Some final words on 2022-23 Schools Budget, anti-school tax rhetoric, and city/BOE budget timelines
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...Continue reading
Jersey City Schools Budget, 2022-23, a brief update & next steps FYI
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...Continue reading
A picture of state aid reduction in Jersey City
I wanted to share a picture of the state aid reductions to Jersey City Public Schools. State Aid can be confusing because there are various forms of state aid, including: Adjustment aid – this was a one-time bucket of aid that was tied to the initial enactment of SFRA in 2008 Equalization aid — this...
Take Action: Support Jersey City Public Schools
This letter was created by the Jersey City Together Education Team. I am hosting the letter on CivicParent to support the advocacy. To learn more about Jersey City Together's advocacy and ongoing work (and how you can plug in), click here.
Putting Jersey City’s low school tax rate into perspective
Jersey City lost another $68 million in state aid on March 10th, 2022. This cut was expected, part of the phased “S2” cuts that have been reducing Jersey City’s state aid by $100+ million just in the last three years alone. A question I continue to get is: why is state aid being cut, anyway?...
Jersey City Public Schools: Visualization for Federal Covid-19 Aid
The Jersey City Public Schools have received over $160 million in federal COVID-19 aid since 2020 and I was curious how the funds have been used, the status of what remains, and what insights we can glean from this public data particularly as we approach the annual budget process. I have published a few visualizations...
See how your property tax bill is computed
Let’s take a look at how a tax bill comes together. It’s an interesting and empowering exercise to tie your local government budgets – and the property taxes needed to fund them – to your personal property tax. Every year, the state publishes town-by-town property tax data here that includes a wealth of information including...Continue reading
Midway through Jersey City’s “S2” state aid cuts: assessing the fiscal landscape.
It has been nearly four years since NJ passed the “S2” law, leading to state aid cuts to Jersey City. In this post I want to assess the fiscal landscape of the public schools using nine years of user friendly budget data, with particular focus on: where the district is with state aid reductions (and...Continue reading
Understanding Montclair’s Municipal Budget: A Webinar & Teaching to Empower Taxpayers to “Follow the Public Money”
On January 26th, 2022 I joined Montclair Councilor-at-large Peter Yacobellis for a zoom webinar about the Montclair municipal (aka town) budget. My portion of the webinar was a teaching about how to engage the public budget file, which is large, complex, but ultimately a primary source for understanding how the local government both collects and...Continue reading
What is in our local public schools budget? (a tool for advocates)
What’s included in our schools budget, and how is it structured (laid out)? I wanted to create a visualization for the 2021-22 budget; that is provided below. I’m interested in the details of the budget because we need to see, with greater clarity, how funding is being used to invest more in full-time teachers and...Continue reading
Montclair City Budgets: high-level, 6-year review
For the past few months I’ve been working with a fantastic group of advocates in Montclair to learn more about their city budget. The visual below is an outgrowth of our work. Through dialog, teaming, and learning together, these views helped us better understand revenue and expense trends within the budget. Some of these visuals...Continue reading
Accountability Check: a look back at mental health services included in the FY2021-22 Jersey City Public Schools Budget
Jersey City's FY2021-22 public schools budget included concrete, promised investments in mental health services for our city's students. In this post I want to reopen the budget document that was approved last May and revisit some of that promised investment. A budget can inform future investment but it can, and should, also be used as...Continue reading
The “User Friendly Budget,” part 7: What is the mix of residential vs. business property in my town? (UFB-5)
This is an update to my “User Friendly Budget” series with a focus on Montclair. Your town’s user friendly budget must be posted on your town’s website (per state law here). The 5th page of the user friendly budget (“UFB-5”) provides a detailed view of your town’s tax base. This is a very informing lens...Continue reading
The “User Friendly Budget,” part 6: What drives my property tax bill? (UFB, Page 1)
This is an update to my “User Friendly Budget” series with a focus on Montclair. Your town’s user friendly budget must be posted on your town’s website (per state law here). The first page of the user friendly budget (“UFB-1”) provides a view of the “average” tax bill in your town. The “average” tax bill is based on...Continue reading
Let’s get civic, Montclair!
I’m excited to share that I’m currently working with a team of civic advocates in Montclair to help grow awareness around NJ’s User Friendly Municipal Budget. On January 26th at 7pm, we’ll be doing a quick but intense dive into Montclair’s local finance, with a teaching about how to navigate the NJ User Friendly Budget....Continue reading
Outgoing 2021 Jersey City Board of Education misses mark on showing budgeted investment for mental health services for students; new BOE should aim higher
On Thursday, December 16th, the Board of Education held its final regular meeting of the 2021 calendar year and while many speakers had signed up to speak about mental health services in our schools, and many also sent emails (including those sent from this call to action), the Board of Education did not address the...Continue reading
JCPS Mental Health – 2021 Call to Action
I have written this post with the help and input of Jessica Taube and Divya Dodhia, who are both parents, mental health professionals, and school advocates. The three of us are members of Jersey City Together's Education Team. We came together through our advocacy work and put this page together as a resource for parents,...Continue reading
Jersey City Public Schools Urgently Need Counselors for Our Kids
Update: the BOE did not speak in public to the issue of mental health counselors at the Nov 29th BOE meeting but they did take up an issue around teacher pay which you can read about here. The post below summarizes an issue that is ongoing and merits public attention and advocacy. There is a...Continue reading
Jersey City Public Schools Staffing Shortage: A data-driven view from Board Docs
Jersey City is experiencing a staffing shortage in its public schools. While this is part of a nationwide trend, local attention and solutions are needed particularly as we experience our first fully funded budget in over a decade. In this post, I am sharing data I compiled in later October from JCPS “Public Board Docs.” I compiled...Continue reading
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 introduced in June 2021. On August 31st 2021, the city council approved the budget in its final form with some changes. I wanted to briefly summarize those changes and also close the series with some...