Ten percent of future tax abatement revenues to go to schools

JERSEY CITY – Mayor Steven M. Fulop announced Wednesday that he signed an executive order that will dedicate 10 percent of the revenue from future property tax abatements to the Jersey City public schools, with the revenue being shared through an unrestricted transfer of funds at the end of each calendar year.
“For the past four years, we worked on correcting the fiscal mismanagement and structural deficit that we inherited from past administrations, and were able to deliver four consecutive years of no tax increases and three consecutive credit upgrades,” said Mayor Fulop. “With the city’s fiscal house on solid footing, we believe now is the right time set the standard that tax abated properties contribute to the Board of Education to relieve the burden on all of our city taxpayers.”
“The success of Jersey City can be seen in the growth of our school population, with families staying in Jersey City and educating their children in our public schools,” added Mayor Fulop.
The administration analyzed a formula from Rutgers University that estimates the number of children expected per each tax abated high rise building, while also taking into account past examples in practice.
Using the high end of that projection, 25 percent of the units would send children to the school system, which is a very high estimate. Using a formula that determines the amount of each abated project’s impact on city services, and factoring in 25 percent of the units using the schools, the city rounded upwards to 10 percent for the revenue to be shared with the public schools.
The executive order also includes revenue on tax abated commercial hotel properties, even though those buildings do not contribute to the school population or add to its operating costs.