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bodhipooh t1_itqbjel wrote

Reply to comment by keepseeing444 in How does your town’s property tax allocation compare to the state average? by Downtown-Prompt-6499

You are 100% correct that our budget is outrageous, particularly in light of the sub par results. But, you are also confusing/conflating the matter of the BOE budget (which is what gives us the outrageous 33K per student spending) and the local school tax levy, which is a different matter. Our local school tax levy is way too low and SHOULD be higher. It is precisely because it was so artificially low for so long that the BOE got away with crazy budgets. As long as we weren't paying for it, no one cared about their out of control spending. Now that the state has put an end to the gravy train, we are suddenly realizing what a monster we created through apathy and lack of fiscal restraint. Our local school tax levy can be twice as high as it is today, just to reach the same level as the rest of the state, and our total school budget could still be the same. The more likely outcome is that the BOE would feel the pressure to make cuts and become efficient as more and more people get upset and demand better. In a way, a higher school tax levy could be precisely the solution to our ills. People waking up to the rampant fiscal abuse will demand change. Regardless, 33K per student is insane, but it is also true that the per pupil spending won't go up if our local school tax levy goes up, which is what needs to happen.

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Mindless-Budget9019 t1_itqyy5d wrote

Read the room. There was no gravy train. The state didn’t provide Jersey city money for free. The money the state contributed to the school budget came from the income taxes Jersey city residents paid.

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bodhipooh t1_itr2i9b wrote

>There was no gravy train.

LOL... wut? No other district was getting its school budget paid for to the same level/degree. Compared to the rest of the state, we were getting a sweet deal, only covering one sixth of our local school budget. That is precisely why the state had to implement the cuts after the reval rate was revealed. Once it became clear we were only paying 17% of our school budget while boasting of a ridiculously low tax rate, all other municipalities started demanding that we cover a larger portion of our school budget. It was inevitable, really.

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Mindless-Budget9019 t1_itr4m5w wrote

How much did Jersey City residents pay in state taxes as the second largest city in the state and what are we getting for our state taxes? At this point living in Jersey city is no longer cheaper than living in New York.

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objectimpermanence t1_itrd5il wrote

It’s not the total dollar amount that matters, it’s the dollars per capita.

Households in the suburban NJ generally have higher incomes than urban households, which means they pay higher taxes per capita and receive less in return in the form of school tax subsidies relative to their urban counterparts.

Which means that taxpayers in JC may collectively pay more in total tax dollars than, say, Paramus taxpayers, but that does not mean that the tax burden is “fair” on an individual level.

I’m not taking a side in this debate, just trying to explain the math.

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bodhipooh t1_itr8prp wrote

>At this point living in Jersey city is no longer cheaper than living in New York.

So, that's really your issue? You came here thinking/hoping it was cheaper than NYC and it isn't?

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>How much did Jersey City residents pay in state taxes as the second largest city in the state and what are we getting for our state taxes?

I guess you don't know, or realize, that Jersey City is also one of the poorest municipalities in the State of NJ. One in six residents is considered to live in poverty (15.7%) and we are among the 50 poorest towns in NJ. Whatever it is we have contributed to the state in income taxes, it pales in comparison to what we get back compared to most other towns.

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