One-time budget support
Is the budget leaning on fund balance, reserve withdrawals, or carryover that must be checked for recurrence?
NJDOE User-Friendly Budgets, 2025-26 latest year. Money changes are converted to 2025 dollars where labeled real or inflation-adjusted. How this budget data works
How to prove this story
A budget brief should leave the reader with a claim that can be checked. This generated checklist keeps the evidence basis, fair comparison, and counter-reading beside the topic before the longer tables.
| Claim job | Evidence that must travel with it | Fair comparison | Block this overread | Open next |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recurring-revenue test | Name the budgeted fund-balance, reserve-withdrawal, or carryover source row, amount, operating-budget share, and largest source row. | Read both dollar amount and operating share, then compare local peers, recap balance rows, and latest proposal movement. | A material planned source row is not audited cash stress, proof of a structural deficit, or recurring operating revenue. | Statewide lead · district first reads |
| Source-row basis | Identify whether the support is budgeted fund balance, capital reserve, maintenance reserve, emergency reserve, or preschool carryover. | Same source-row type across districts, plus close-year balance/reserve context where populated. | Do not add nested rows into recurring operating revenue or treat reserve use as a complete cash-flow statement. | One-time cluster · district fund-balance/reserve source history |
Material source-row support by operating scale
These districts budget fund-balance, reserve-withdrawal, or carryover source rows at the materiality screen used by district front briefs: at least $100,000 and at least 5% of proposed operating-budget scale.
| District | One-time support | Operating share | Largest source row | Open next |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loch Arbour School District | $843,662 | 80% | Budgeted fund balance$843,662; 1 source row | Open proof |
| Longport | $623,746 | 43% | Budgeted fund balance$623,746; 1 source row | Open proof |
| Long Beach Island | $6.3M | 42% | Capital reserve withdrawals$6.0M; 3 source rows | Open proof |
| West Wildwood | $511,409 | 33% | Budgeted fund balance$511,409; 1 source row | Open proof |
| Woodlynne Boro | $7.1M | 31% | Capital reserve withdrawals$4.0M; 3 source rows | Open proof |
| Cape May City | $1.6M | 30% | Budgeted fund balance$1.5M; 2 source rows | Open proof |
| Essex Co Ed Serv Comm | $2.9M | 28% | Budgeted fund balance$2.9M; 1 source row | Open proof |
| Totowa Boro | $7.4M | 27% | Budgeted fund balance$7.4M; 1 source row | Open proof |
| Seaside Park Boro | $245,346 | 27% | Budgeted fund balance$125,346; 3 source rows | Open proof |
| Atlantic City | $77.9M | 27% | Capital reserve withdrawals$49.3M; 3 source rows | Open proof |
| National Park Boro | $1.9M | 26% | Budgeted fund balance$735,164; 4 source rows | Open proof |
| Allenhurst | $122,374 | 24% | Budgeted fund balance$122,374; 1 source row | Open proof |
| Old Tappan Boro | $6.6M | 24% | Capital reserve withdrawals$5.2M; 2 source rows | Open proof |
| Greenwich-Stow Creek Regional | $1.2M | 23% | Capital reserve withdrawals$660,000; 3 source rows | Open proof |
| Essex Co Voc-Tech | $14.5M | 22% | Budgeted fund balance$14.5M; 1 source row | Open proof |
| Woodbury City | $11.4M | 22% | Capital reserve withdrawals$9.8M; 3 source rows | Open proof |
| Magnolia Boro | $2.4M | 22% | Budgeted fund balance$1.9M; 3 source rows | Open proof |
| Elsinboro Twp | $812,012 | 21% | Budgeted fund balance$786,738; 2 source rows | Open proof |
A high share means the source-row support is large relative to the operating budget. It does not prove cash stress, structural deficit, or misuse of reserves.
Largest dollar cases
Large districts can carry the largest one-time source dollars without having the largest ratios. Read dollars and operating-budget share together.
| District | One-time support | Operating share | Largest source row | Funding context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jersey City | $160.2M | 18% | Budgeted fund balance$148.8M | 69% local / 15% stateproposed operating budget $898.9M |
| Newark City | $109.8M | 7% | Budgeted fund balance$90.7M | 9% local / 84% stateproposed operating budget $1.6B |
| Atlantic City | $77.9M | 27% | Capital reserve withdrawals$49.3M | 26% local / 47% stateproposed operating budget $290.0M |
| Paterson City | $50.3M | 7% | Budgeted fund balance$23.7M | 12% local / 83% stateproposed operating budget $750.4M |
| Edison Twp | $38.9M | 11% | Capital reserve withdrawals$22.0M | 64% local / 26% stateproposed operating budget $370.4M |
| Irvington Township | $33.7M | 15% | Budgeted fund balance$31.5M | 8% local / 78% stateproposed operating budget $228.8M |
| Passaic City | $30.4M | 9% | Budgeted fund balance$22.7M | 6% local / 86% stateproposed operating budget $320.3M |
| West New York Town | $30.3M | 16% | Budgeted fund balance$29.5M | 11% local / 74% stateproposed operating budget $189.9M |
| New Brunswick City | $30.0M | 11% | Budgeted fund balance$19.3M | 15% local / 77% stateproposed operating budget $276.2M |
| W Windsor-Plainsboro Reg | $29.2M | 12% | Budgeted fund balance$17.2M | 79% local / 6% stateproposed operating budget $250.6M |
| Camden City | $28.4M | 7% | Budgeted fund balance$13.0M | 4% local / 90% stateproposed operating budget $417.8M |
| Woodbridge Twp | $27.8M | 8% | Budgeted fund balance$27.8M | 58% local / 34% stateproposed operating budget $358.7M |
| Pennsauken Twp | $24.7M | 15% | Budgeted fund balance$18.1M | 27% local / 58% stateproposed operating budget $168.3M |
| Winslow Twp | $23.2M | 17% | Capital reserve withdrawals$14.6M | 42% local / 42% stateproposed operating budget $139.2M |
| Bridgeton City | $20.8M | 13% | Budgeted fund balance$14.0M | 3% local / 86% stateproposed operating budget $164.5M |
| Sayreville Boro | $19.9M | 13% | Capital reserve withdrawals$16.6M | 52% local / 34% stateproposed operating budget $147.7M |
| Lindenwold Boro | $19.5M | 19% | Capital reserve withdrawals$16.9M | 13% local / 69% stateproposed operating budget $101.4M |
| Union City | $19.3M | 7% | Budgeted fund balance$18.2M | 6% local / 88% stateproposed operating budget $281.4M |
The dollar list is useful for statewide scale. The share list is better for finding districts where the recurrence question may dominate the local budget read.
Which source row is carrying the signal?
The top source row tells what kind of recurrence check is needed: prior-year fund balance, capital reserve, maintenance reserve, emergency reserve, or preschool carryover.
| Top source row | Districts | Source-row total | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budgeted fund balance | 247 | $1.4B | Loch Arbour School District 80%Longport 43%West Wildwood 33% |
| Capital reserve withdrawals | 50 | $381.0M | Long Beach Island 42%Woodlynne Boro 31%Atlantic City 27% |
| Capital reserve, local share | 27 | $119.4M | Absecon City 20%Mine Hill Twp 18%Great Meadows Regional 17% |
| Preschool aid carryover | 3 | $1.3M | Frenchtown Boro 9%Netcong Boro 7%Tuckerton Boro 6% |
| Maintenance reserve withdrawal | 1 | $718,709 | Belvidere Town 6% |
This summary uses the largest named one-time source row in each material district. District reports carry the full source-row history and local peer checks.
Generated one-time support leads
These generated leads split ratio-heavy cases from largest-dollar cases so the story does not confuse small-district scale with statewide-dollar scale.
One-time source rows need a recurrence check
328 districts budget fund-balance, reserve, or carryover source rows at 5% or more of proposed operating-budget scale. Those rows can change the local budget story even when the ordinary local/state/federal mix looks stable.
- Long Beach IslandCapital reserve withdrawals: 0.42241519621236967$6.3M total; largest row Capital reserve withdrawals at $6.0M; 3 source rows
- Woodlynne BoroCapital reserve withdrawals: 0.31428974956246086$7.1M total; largest row Capital reserve withdrawals at $4.0M; 3 source rows
- Totowa BoroBudgeted fund balance: 0.27377683163913724$7.4M total; largest row Budgeted fund balance at $7.4M; 1 source row
- Atlantic CityCapital reserve withdrawals: 0.26877659369529056$77.9M total; largest row Capital reserve withdrawals at $49.3M; 3 source rows
These are planned UFB revenue-source rows. They are not audited cash stress, proof of a structural deficit, or recurring operating revenue.
Largest one-time source dollars are not always the largest ratios
Latest-year one-time source rows total $1.9B among districts that meet the materiality screen, but the largest-dollar rows can belong to very large systems.
- Jersey CityBudgeted fund balance: 160227381.0$160.2M total; largest row Budgeted fund balance at $148.8M; 2 source rows
- Newark CityBudgeted fund balance: 109834294.0$109.8M total; largest row Budgeted fund balance at $90.7M; 3 source rows
- Atlantic CityCapital reserve withdrawals: 77943288.0$77.9M total; largest row Capital reserve withdrawals at $49.3M; 3 source rows
- Paterson CityBudgeted fund balance: 50346707.0$50.3M total; largest row Budgeted fund balance at $23.7M; 3 source rows
Use both dollars and operating-budget share before calling the source-row support unusually large.
328 districts meet the materiality screen, totaling $1.9B in latest-year one-time source rows.