At this point, this topic is like beating a dead horse... Our local school tax levy is extremely low compared to the rest of the state. This is why the state (rightfully) implemented massive cuts in their contribution to our local BOE budget. Based on the figures shown in the OP image, if we doubled the local school levy overnight, and kept the city and county levies the same, the school percentage would basically match the state average. Let that sink in... That's how much room there is on the tax equation to even things out and why all the other towns in NJ took a step back after our reval results were revealed and demanded that we start to cover a larger portion of our school budget.

Now, of course, for a raft of reasons, that will not happen. We are not being asked (and, no one is expecting JC) to have a local school tax levy in line with the state average. But, we *are* expected to cover at least half our local school budget. We are still far from that, which is why homeowners should continue to expect ever increasing school taxes for the next several years.

​

NB: for anyone that reads what I wrote above and thinks it is wrong, here is how the numbers work: assume those percentages are dollars, so the schools account for $37, county is $28, and city is $35. Now double the school tax levy (so it becomes $74) while city and county remain the same, and you end up with a total tax levy of $137. The new percentages would look like this:

School: 54% (74/137)

County: 20% (28/137)

City: 26% (35/137)