Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The place has mostly collapsed. It will be gone before they can decide on a plan. They will point fingers, then sell the land to be redeveloped.

Nothing to do with the taxman coming inside your place. Simply, your taxes when you bought in 2019 were just getting reset based on the reval that was completed in 2018. And, since then, taxes have gone up just shy of 43%. So, your increase from 15K to over 21K is exactly as it should be.

You are right to be upset, but completely off on the rationale. You are just uninformed.

>You can check what the new taxes are on the JC website, and see how much your landlord was raised. Then you've just got to figure out that amount divided by the number of tenants, and assume that's the amount you'll be raised, if not a little more to cover the rising cost of everything else (insurance, new trash/water fees, incidentals)

This might not be a realistic approach. You are certainly underestimating the impact of new increases in trash and sewer fees by using the words "a little more." Some people are reporting getting major increases in their trash and water bills. And, insurance companies are about to start introducing major increases in their rates, as evidenced by recent filings with the state insurance regulators. Yeah, taxes are front and center in the conversation, but homeowners are getting walloped this year and the next.

This is quite literally the mentality that got us to this situation. As long as others were footing the bill, and the impact of ridiculous spending was not noticed (or, perhaps more accurately, ignored) by residents, the BOE kept pushing the boundaries of their budgets.

PS16 zone parent here... I am definitely NOT voting for the Education Matters slate. We need to vote all the union lackeys out of the BOE so we can get some much needed fiscal restraint and accountability. Also, you seem to be under the mistaken idea that current PS spending is less than private school. That is most certainly not the case. The BOE is spending ~33K per student. That's an outrageous amount of money, and far more than any other private school in town.

Without actual numbers, it is hard to tell you if the increase is too much, or justified. But, for sure, taxes have gone up substantially for all homeowners (reval was 2018 and, just 4 years later, the taxes are up just shy of 45%) and the cost of home insurance is up substantially (just read about GEICO and several other insurers filing notices with state regulators announcing substantial increases amounting to over 25%) and then there is the many other increases being charged to homeowners, like increase sewer and water costs.

Anyone renting a house in town should expect substantial rent increases. There is no way a small landlord can absorb those costs and not pass on at least some/most of it to the tenant.

This is the Universe's way of teaching you an important lesson: don't patronize the Trashford.

There's no need to try and explain what u/redrudck was trying to say. It was crystal clear. Here is the thing, though... the way of the coward is always safe, because cowards just walk away and actively avoid any and all risk. I can't imagine being so chicken shit as to witness an injustice (even if it doesn't rise to the level of a crime) and choosing to just turn your back and walking away.

Maybe grow a spine, and resolve, and learn that to fully participate in a just and civilized society also means being actively involved in keeping it so. That doesn't mean you have to be *personally* involved, but it does mean taking action. If you don't feel safe interjecting yourself into a situation, then find someone that does and/or contact law enforcement. Don't just walk away. That's just being a coward.

The only surprising part about this story is that it has taken this long for the local mentally unstable unhoused population to start getting aggressive and for it to become commonplace enough that people are posting about it. A couple of years prepandemic we did a trip all over the PNW, and were floored to see how much Seattle and Portland have decayed. The homeless situation is BAD over there, in large part fueled by drug addiction, and a lot of those people would be panhandling while high or tweaking and they were REALLY aggressive and some would spit at people and such. It really soured my prior impressions of both cities, which I had really enjoyed years before.

Newport Mall has gotten sketchier in weird, almost imperceptible ways. In 2019, I had the stupid idea of stopping by the bathroom in the food court area to wash my hands and I was greeted by what can best be described as a public shower service. The homeless hang out by the entrance to the bathroom and use it to take sink baths and the entire thing was appallingly dirty and messy, I had my son with me (who was just a few months at the time) and, not gonna lie, I was skeeved out and felt mildly unsafe. The whole thing felt off. I haven't been back to those bathrooms since then, and have only stepped inside the mall on a handful of occasions since then and each time it feels sketchier, despite the improving store selection.

They are removing that boondoggle they call a 9/11 memorial.

Or, tell me you are a piece of shit human without telling me you are a piece of shit human.

By your logic, if I see a woman getting raped, I should just "let it alone" because "it don't concern" me. If I see a kid getting abused, same... just walk away.

You, and I, and several others have been stating this for years, pretty much unheeded or ignored by most, it seems.

>Does this mean that they basically didn't smooth the increase out over 4 quarters, so it is like ~3X higher than normal?

Basically, this is correct. Q3 and Q4 were high because they are "trueing up" for the year. The budget that was approved in October is the 2022 budget, so the increase in taxes is retroactive to the beginning of the year and became *instantly* due in Q4.

>SOMETHIN aint right

Get with the times! the expression to use is "the math ain't mathing"

>The very over-simplified version is that the schools are […] super expensive to run (as a result of the state cutting back its funding)

This is a bold faced lie, plain and simple. I hope OP realizes that and is not swayed by this misinform.

The school budget has nothing to do with the state cuts. The BOE sets the budget. Whether the state contributes 10%, 40%, or 90%, the budget remains the same. The only thing that changes is how much the residents have to contribute towards the schools budget via taxation. But, what the JC BOE spends per pupil is nothing short of outrageous and abusive. We are now spending 33K per student.

This is SUCH AN IMPORTANT point. All those people railing against abatements and holding them up as the culprit and root cause of the ever increasing taxes don't seem to understand that the city is getting a SWEET deal with those abatements. As they start to expire, we will find ourselves in a fiscal hole and taxes will have to increase dramatically to make up the shortfall.

>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?

​

>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.

Borrow a drone and go on a tour of the neighborhoods for ideas and inspiration. Alternatively, do it the old fashioned way by using Google Maps, Satellite View.

>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.

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.

This is misinformation.

No, they don't. Stop spreading misinformation.

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.

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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)

Dude, re-reading my post is eerie and sad. Eerie because I was right on the money as far as the tax prediction of reaching 2.1 (already there!) and I truly believe that 2.2+ is where we will be by 2025. Of course, I couldn't h ave predicted that the BOE would turn around and increase the budget on top of the state cuts. It was a crazy move, but maybe a calculated gamble. The sad part is that any logic and reason should yield the same take, and yet so many refuse to listen or believe.