Numerous property-tax reform plans proposed at Princeton forum.
By: David Campbell
Legislators and state policy experts at a forum Friday at Princeton University called for property-tax reform measures that ranged from the conservative to the radical, but all agreed: The system is broken and needs to be fixed.
Keynote speaker Katherine Barrett, project editor and management consultant with "Governing" magazine, urged reform based on facts, not rhetoric or emotion.
Otherwise, Ms. Barrett said, "The legislators in the future will have to reform your reforms." She added, "What it takes is good leadership. It takes someone very brave."
The forum, held at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, was the second of a two-part symposium on state property-tax reform. The first meeting in November featured several former state treasurers and policy experts involved with past reform efforts.
On Friday, Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) said a state constitutional convention for property-tax reform, which he has called for in pending legislation, is needed because the Legislature has failed to bring about needed reform itself.
"The only way to accomplish this is to take the job away from us, because we don’t have the political will or the courage to do it," Sen. Adler said. "It’s a serious problem, it’s gotten worse, and we’ve bravely ignored it each year."
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton Borough) said he favored holding a special session of the Legislature to bring about reform.
"We need to go into a room and not come out until we have a solution," Assemblyman Gusciora said.
Brendan "Tom" Byrne Jr., president of Byrne Asset Management, said there is no "silver-bullet solution," but outlined several needed changes agreed upon at the November meeting.
At the top of Mr. Byrne’s list was the need to cut government spending as well as belt-tightening by public-school districts.
Other reform measures included regional tax sharing; more readily available information on municipal budgets; and differential property tax rates for new development that reward smart growth and penalize sprawl.
"There’s no question, this is a high hurdle," Mr. Byrne said, but added, "People do understand the arguments for progressive tax reform."
Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington) said he has no objection to a property-tax convention, provided revenues as well as expenditures are on the table for discussion. But he said reform should come from the state Legislature.
Sen. Lance also lamented the lack of discipline in state and public-school spending.
"At some point, we need to instill a sense of discipline in spending and in bonding, and in my opinion neither exist today," Sen. Lance said.
Citing New Jersey’s over-reliance on property tax, approximately $15 billion in property tax is collected in the state annually, said Professor Henry Coleman, director of the Center for Government Services at Rutgers University.
This is about equal to the combined yield from the income, general sales and corporate-business taxes the three largest state government revenue sources. Property taxes in New Jersey account for more than 45 percent of all state and local taxes, above the national average of 31 percent, Prof. Coleman said.
"We do need something in the way of comprehensive fiscal reform," he said, but noted, "Reform happens at the point of a gun."
Sponsors of Friday’s event were 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.

