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Re: ‘Massive’ $120M budget shortfall is subject of special Jersey City BOE meeting
#1
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A local property tax rate by itself is a meaningless piece of information.

That is the second and last time I will write this statement. It just exemplifies fiscal illiteracy.

You are better off spending your time educating yourself on the topic, than posting nonsensical and irrelevant, slap dash text (ie Billions as in over the course of years, plural.)

Posted on: 2020/7/8 17:24
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Re: ‘Massive’ $120M budget shortfall is subject of special Jersey City BOE meeting
#2
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Very selective, chery picking post. And the "downtown" locations you cite are folks who commute TO Jersey City for employment - you know Jersey City's downtown waterfront properties. How much affordable housing do those towns have...Answer really not much.

With that they, the NIMBYs and segragists really should keep a lid on whining about having Trenton fund urban school districts.


Receiving Billions is just not correct. That is easy to dismiss as the combined school and municipal budgets is barely a single billion. Jersey City does generate more state tax revenue than it receives.

Posted on: 2020/7/8 12:53
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Re: ‘Massive’ $120M budget shortfall is subject of special Jersey City BOE meeting
#3
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Quote:

HeightsNative wrote:
Quote:

Ralph_Abutts wrote:
Sorry, but $116 million is not a tiny amount nor a tiny percentage.


LOL. In a city as large as ours, yes it is. On both accounts. We pay a significantly lower tax rate than almost every city in this state.


It?s this very problem, which everyone called Yvonne crazy on, is why tax abatements were absolutely improper with regards to how much they were used.

Honest question: who do you think pays the portion of the budget that we don?t? (Spoiler alert, most of the suburban taxpayers in this state) You do understand what ?subsidy? means right? You do get that SOMEbody else pays for most of our failing schools in addition to paying for their own, right? You do get that we?ve been getting a mostly free ride for a long time while Nero Fulop fiddled despite being warned about this for years, right?

Not even Charlie from society hill (aka neverleft) can spin his way out of this mess.


Comparing solely property tax rates is meaningless information. If you weren't innumerate in public finance, you would know better.

Let's ask your question another way, who pays for affordable housing for those and that being a majority of suburban towns? Answer: Jersey City does.

So you can lament the rest of the state paying more in taxes to fund urban school districts, but you then have to consider who willingly houses the poor and their children attending urban school districts like Jersey City, Newark, Patterson, and Elizabeth.

Many towns skirt their affordable housing responsibility. Some get out of such by paying Jersey City directly, like tony Upper Saddle River.

By the way, state spennding on public education is a small slice of the state budget pie. Over half the state's budget goes to pension and healthcare.

Also, most of the state's revenue comes from sales and income taxes. This includes businesses and residents in Jersey City that pay such to the State Treasurer.

How much does your suburban town's businesses generate in State tax revenue? Answer not as much as Jersey City. Maybe it is not fair that Jersey City sends more tax revenue to Trenton than other suburban towns. In other words, Jersey City is a net benefit to Trenton. It provides more tax revenue to Trenton than it takes. You cannot say that is true of many suburban municipalities.

When you write suburban tax payers, their local property and school taxes go to pay for local services and local education. None go directly to Jersey City and other Abbott districts.

Posted on: 2020/7/7 22:36
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Re: ‘Massive’ $120M budget shortfall is subject of special Jersey City BOE meeting
#4
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Sorry, but $116 million is not a tiny amount nor a tiny percentage.

Posted on: 2020/7/4 21:52
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Re: Beaches Open near Jersey City!
#5
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Cape May's beach is not "near" Jersey City. Might as well list Montauk and Jones Beach.

Posted on: 2020/6/27 11:32
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Re: Where
#6
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Isn't the CFO position still vacsnt after the city fired it's last CFO and transition to a new municipal clerk. That might explain the temporary absence of the documents from the website.

Posted on: 2020/6/4 1:48
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Re: Where
#7
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You may find the budget document on the State's website along with the remaining 565 municipalities for any given year. I've posted the link on this website before in response to a prior post by you.


I'm sure it is a simple oversight by the city and one that can be rectified easily if it is clearly communicated to start with. That is, I hope you did not dorect the clerk's office to watch a youtube video to communicate a simple and direct equest.

Posted on: 2020/6/2 11:20
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Re: Where
#8
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What's missing?

Posted on: 2020/5/31 23:45
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Re: JCBOE hikes school taxes by 39 percent. Paging Yvonne.
#9
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And despite a big drop in revenue, the BoE is increasing its spending with this year's forthcoming budget. Tone deaf to a fault.

Posted on: 2020/5/19 23:04
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Re: JCBOE hikes school taxes by 39 percent. Paging Yvonne.
#10
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The user friendly budget is an abbreviated budget format. Special ed spending should be foumd in the unabridged budget. I did not notice if it is made available om their website.


I cited the user friendly budget because it has the spending per student. The numbers in the budget are understated. I recall #s that were in the low $20k per student in JC from a decade ago. There was a lot of political blowback on the Christie adminstration to NOT include fringe benefits like pension costs in the school district reporting (state wide) for per student spending. Evidently the NJ Dept of Ed caved in.

As for Special Ed spending, that is difficult to track. There is a lot of horse trading among school districts and charter schools. One may send a student to another that specializes on that particular learning disability and vice versa.

I do recall quite a lot of variability in the cost of special education services, too. It can cost from $20k to $100k per special needs student depending on their educational needs. That also does not include transporting the student out to an out of district school.

The best way to learn about special ed costs is not the budget, but from the BoE resolutions and meeting agenda/minutes. They are rich with detail if you have the patience to search.

Posted on: 2020/5/15 23:28
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Re: JCBOE hikes school taxes by 39 percent. Paging Yvonne.
#11
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On the school district website you may find such information in its User Friendly Budget document. There is also a 2019 operational efficiency audit document, too.

Posted on: 2020/5/14 14:06
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Re: JCBOE hikes school taxes by 39 percent. Paging Yvonne.
#12
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If you look at the total spending per student in the JC school district, it is one of the highest in the state. The NJS DoEd provides such infornation on their website. Look at their school report card database. You may see where the school district outspend others in areas like janitorial, building maintenance, etc.

Posted on: 2020/5/14 12:39
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Re: Belgian-Dutch Study: Why in times of COVID-19 you can not walk/run/bike close to each other.
#13
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If one is inflicted with a viral infection, it is very unlikely they will be in any condition to physically exert themselves like running. Especially for an infliction that directly affects breathing.

Yes, I realize one can be asymptomatic with covid. What is still not known is how catagious the virus may be with someone in that asymptomatic state.

Posted on: 2020/4/11 2:25
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Re: Councilman Michael Yun - Dead from Coronavirus
#14
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I will remember Councilman Yun for his kindness and professionalism. He was truly a great public servant. It saddens me deeply to learn of his death. This is a big loss for Jersey City. Deepest condolences to his family.

Posted on: 2020/4/7 15:45
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Re: Some Grubhub drivers are no-shows, N.J. restaurants say. ‘This might just put me out of business.’
#15
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Incorrect. Labor is labor. It can be differentiated between skilled and non skilled. Grubhub delivery is the latter. Please explain how quality control applies to food delivery. You seriously can't.

However, the problem could be solved by paying Grubhub delivery staff more. Call it hazard pay. From an economic perspective, someone will be willing to work at a price/wage they think is worth the risk. A public policy perspective may differ.

Posted on: 2020/3/31 14:13
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Re: Some Grubhub drivers are no-shows, N.J. restaurants say. ‘This might just put me out of business.’
#16
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Quote:

JPhurst wrote:
When you rely on third parties and independent contractors, you are ceding quality control.


Really? Is that so? Like the iPhone (or other computing device) you used to type and post this message?

Posted on: 2020/3/30 21:22
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Re: * FEAR MONGERING LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE MEDIA *
#17
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What do you think about the recent medal of "honor" recipient equating the corona virus with the common cold? Do you consider that a Rush of "excellence in broadcasting"?

Posted on: 2020/3/4 0:06
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Re: Councilman's Wife Mugged
#18
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NJ pepper spray law..

i.Nothing in N.J.S.2C:39-5 shall be construed to prevent any person who is 18 years of age or older and who has not been convicted of a felony, from possession for the purpose of personal self-defense of one pocket-sized device which contains and releases not more than three-quarters of an ounce of chemical substance not ordinarily capable of lethal use or of inflicting serious bodily injury, but rather, is intended to produce temporary physical discomfort or disability through being vaporized or otherwise dispensed in the air. Any person in possession of any device in violation of this subsection shall be deemed and adjudged to be a disorderly person, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100.00.

Posted on: 2020/3/1 20:45
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Re: Will Jersey City and Hoboken ever lose Abbott District Status?
#19
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Correct. I responded to the last message you posted. That is how message boards work.

And that is all I was responding to in a very long thread, with hundreds of messages over 4-5 year period. I don't recall all that you, I or anyone else has written since the beginning. That is unreasonable.

What you wrote, emphatically so, was incorrect. Flat out in correct. No explanation is needed. Res ipsa loquitor Move on already.

Posted on: 2020/1/22 19:28
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Re: Will Jersey City and Hoboken ever lose Abbott District Status?
#20
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It would have been a lot easier if you admit what you originally wrote, that is PILOT owners would pay less on property taxes than the payment in lieu. That is what I responded to. It is on you to correct what you have written.

Instead of admitting such, your followup posts instead escalate matters with your pomposity and arrogance. Your assumptions about what I know or do not know are wrong.
You do not even know who you are responding to. I can assure you that I am most knowledgeable about the subject both personally as someone who owned a PILOT property and professionally.

With such, your postings do not really foster productive dialogue. To wit, my time is better spent with other activities.

Posted on: 2020/1/22 12:21
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Re: Will Jersey City and Hoboken ever lose Abbott District Status?
#21
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You wrote:

"Now, compounding the problem, and this is the part that so many detractors fail to grasp, is that abated properties are not paying less in PILOT than if they were paying regular taxes. Read that again. Abated properties could be paying MORE in PILOTs than if they were paying regular taxes! "

"Amount collected in PILOTs: $136,939,997
Assessed Value: $2,708,599,122
Taxes if Billed in Full: $208,589,218"

The 1st paragraph is wrong. The second paragraph is correct. Take a deep breath. Do you understand the problem?

Now, back to the original thread title. If all PILOTS were to expire overnight, yes indeed there would be less (tax) revenue for the municipal government** and more for the school district. However, all other things remain equal, Jersey City would still remain an Abbott school district.

Collectively, there is not enough revenue among the municipality and the school district. The district has a big budget deficit. That redistribution of tax revenue would only go towards plugging the district deficit, while creating a deficit in the municipal budget (short term)

I'll let you do the math, i sure am not going to do so on my phone - but the MUNICIPAL property tax rate would increase dramatically on the 100% PILOT overnight expiry. That will create great economic harm to many JC residents. There is a very good reason why JC was designated as an Abbott district.

Also it would be counterproductive to NJS, despite all their school aid doled out to the district, the City does generate a lot of tax revenue for the State, much like NYC overwhelmingly does for NYS. How much that is above my pay grade, but I bet it is very significant. The folks in Trenton should realize that. That shock in residents and commercial property taxes would hurt the local economy. Leas economic activity means less revenue for the State.

Overtime, as PILOTs do expire and RE development activity drops off, then I could see JC losing its Abbott status. That is less shocking - fiscally, economically, and the thought itself.

Losing such status - it is not quite there, yet. **In part, with emphasis on "in part" due to what you meant to write originally - a big drop in revenue for the municipality.

Posted on: 2020/1/22 0:02
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Re: Will Jersey City and Hoboken ever lose Abbott District Status?
#22
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Quote:

bodhipooh wrote:
Quote:

Ralph_Abutts wrote:
Incorrect. The city will receive more revenue once the abatement expires; that is by definition.


As JCGuys already pointed out, you are 100% incorrect in your understanding. That's not surprising, since abatements have become the go to scapegoat for all financial ills faced by the city, and people are quick to believe all the misinformation that is out there.

The way abatements are structured, the city gets to keep 95% of the PILOT amount being paid. The schools, and the county, got shafted out of their portions. Now, compounding the problem, and this is the part that so many detractors fail to grasp, is that abated properties are not paying less in PILOT than if they were paying regular taxes. Read that again. Abated properties could be paying MORE in PILOTs than if they were paying regular taxes! How is that possible? Well, up until the reval was completed and the new tax rate was calculated to be 1.48%, it was universally assumed/thought/estimated that the JC average tax rate was ~2.2%. All abatements up until the reval was completed were compared against that number. For example, when CanCo Lofts was first selling units years ago, one of their selling point was that they were abated and only had to pay PILOTs equivalent to 1.57%. If you believed that the tax rate was the one published to be close to 2.2%, your abated rate looked very enticing at about 30% below the "official rate". There are a TON of properties in DTJC paying similar abatement PILOTs. And, here is the kicker: so many people believe that abated properties are somehow robbing everyone else by paying less, but since the post-reval rate came out so low, it turns out that a bunch of abated properties are paying higher rates than if they were paying the regular tax rate.

I know of only one property in DTJC paying a ridiculously low abatement, and even THAT example shows how the city stands to lose as abatements expire. The property is The Oakman, which pays a 0.9% abatement PILOT. When you calculate the city's share (95%) of that amount, you end up with 0.855%, which is MORE than the city will get when the abatement expires and the properties start paying the regular rate, as the city only gets to pocket ~50% of the total tax levy, and half of the standard 1.48% is only .74%. In other words, the city stands to collect 13% less when those condos start paying the regular rate!

But, please, continue to spew FUD and misinformation. There is a large audience out there willing to consume all the lies and falsehoods being tossed around, because it is easier (apparently) to hate on your fellow citizens than to demand accountability and fiscal restraint from the local government and the school board.


You still write a lot of nonsense.

Here is what you do. Go to the city's website, finance section. Click on a link for the "User Friendly Budget" in that budget, there is a sheet that lists all PILOTS - what they currently pay and what they would/will be paying if it is not an abatement. Compare the two lists. You will see that you are wrong.

It is really as simple as that. There is no mystery. It's a simple fact.

Alternatively you can simply look up the definition of "abatement". It will be time better spent than typing out ignorant comments.

Posted on: 2020/1/21 12:24
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Re: Will Jersey City and Hoboken ever lose Abbott District Status?
#23
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Incorrect. The city will receive more revenue once the abatement expires; that is by definition.

Posted on: 2020/1/20 23:43
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Re: Neighbor illegaly paved over front yard for parking
#24
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Construction and zoning departments. Stoo by in person. Their offices are adjacent to each other.

Posted on: 2019/7/12 10:35
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Re: HC’s 2019 budget means taxes are going up in most of the 12 towns
#25
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The county tax bill is a function of what they have budgeted to spend. The valuation is used to determine how to divide up that overall amount to tax.

Posted on: 2019/6/14 19:20
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Re: Commuter gondola plan gets off ground....
#26
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I hope the gondolas can handle the high wind gusts. Cycling over the bridge at times was a white knuckle affair.

Posted on: 2019/4/23 17:22
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Re: ‘Massive’ $120M budget shortfall is subject of special Jersey City BOE meeting
#27
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Quote:

That's a dead-end link.

Posted on: 2019/4/2 15:28
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Re: ‘Massive’ $120M budget shortfall is subject of special Jersey City BOE meeting
#28
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Quote:

It would be interesting to see some more stats about amount of admin, non-teaching staff numbers as a ratio to students, and as a ration to teachers, and average salaries. Surely this data could be cobbled together from some source. It would be interesting to compare across districts in NJ, and against districts in other states. I am pretty sure the results will be predictable, but having cold, hard numbers would be nice.


You can find that information here:
https://rc.doe.state.nj.us/
However, the NJS Dept of Ed stopped reporting school financials, post 2011.

You can still get school district financial stats, albeit from year 2011 and earlier at this link:
https://www.nj.gov/education/reportcard/index.html

Posted on: 2019/4/1 15:26
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Re: ‘Massive’ $120M budget shortfall is subject of special Jersey City BOE meeting
#29
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To increase the budget by more than 2% requires an affirmative public referendum.

Posted on: 2019/3/31 10:58
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Re: Springsteen’s son could land firefighter gig in Jersey City
#30
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Quote:

caj11 wrote:
There used to be, and I think it's lame that the city didn't even enforce when the law was in effect and lame that they don't have such a requirement now.


It's not lame, because doing so would limit the talent pool of qualified candidates.

As for fire fighters, specifically, don't most live at the fire house when they are working/on duty.

Per state law, all municipal employees are required to live in NJS.

As for the JC Fire Dept, I do not know what their specific employment scoring criteria is. However, Jersey City is a civil service municipality. So you score more employment screening points for living in the city than don't. Likewise more points for living in Hudson county than not.






Posted on: 2019/3/28 16:44
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