By: David Campbell
The second of a two-part symposium on state property-tax reform will be held Friday morning at Princeton University’s Robertson Hall.
Princeton’s Office of Community and State Affairs, the university’s Policy Research Institute for the Region, Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and The Regional Planning Partnership are sponsoring the event.
It is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Dodds Auditorium at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
The keynote speaker will be Katherine Barrett, author of "The Way We Tax: A 50 State Report."
A panel of legislators will propose ways to achieve policy options agreed to by consensus at the first symposium in November.
Presenters include Brendan "Tom" Byrne Jr., president of Byrne Asset Management; Professor Henry Coleman, director of the Center for Government Services and a Bloustein School faculty member; and Robert Franks, former U.S. congressman from New Jersey and current president of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey.
The November meeting featured several former state treasurers and other policy experts involved with past efforts at reform.
They identified the scope of the problem and agreed to several policy options for further discussion, which form the basis for the meeting Friday.
Options to be discussed include regional tax sharing, differential property tax rates for new development tied to the State Development and Redevelopment Plan, and various strategies on cutting and rationalizing government spending at the state and local levels.
The program is free and open to the public, but attendees are asked to register by e-mailing Pam Hersh, director of community and state affairs with the university, at [email protected], or faxing her at (609) 258-9000.
