State reps push for special
session on property taxes
By Joyce Blay
Staff Writer
State Sen. Robert W. Singer and Assemblymen Joseph R. Malone and Ronald S. Dancer of the 30th Legislative District are backing legislation that calls for a special session of the Legislature this summer to discuss property tax reform.
The 30th district covers parts of Ocean, Monmouth, Burlington and Mercer counties.
"Property taxes are a regressive tax that affect young and old," said Singer, who is also a member of the Lakewood Township Committee. "Most homeowners have a mortgage, so they get hit twice — once by a rising escrow account at the bank and again by rising property taxes."
Singer said 70 percent of property taxes paid go to fund public school education in New Jersey. He also described a situation that has become more pressing as voters have defeated school district budget after school district budget at polls across New Jersey this year. As a result, said Singer, the need to redress what he and other legislators have described in the bill as an inherently inequitable system has grown more urgent and has fueled the momentum of both versions of the bill he and his fellow legislators have sponsored in the Assembly and Senate.
The resolution, SCR-89 in the Senate and ACR-161 in the Assembly, is currently in the Judiciary Committee in the Senate while the Legislature is on budget recess. According to Singer, he is not yet listed as having signed on to the measure since a quorum is required for him to do so, but it is a situation he expects to be corrected when the Senate reconvenes on May 8.
The primary sponsor of the Senate version is Democrat John H. Adler of Cherry Hill, who was optimistic that the Legislature would find a way to reform the use of property taxes as a funding mechanism for education.
"There appears to be significant interest in both the Assembly and the Senate in having it appear on the ballot this November," said Adler. "Although there are more Democrats supporting the measure than Republicans, there is a mix of both, which is important since this is not a partisan issue."
The purpose of the resolution, as stated in both versions of the bill, is to correct what is described as an enormous burden placed on the residents of the state and which is applied in an inequitable and nonuniform manner.
Singer said he had several other bills already making their way through the legislative process, but that this one represented the best hope of success. However, the urgency to respond to a growing chorus of voter dissatisfaction has made Singer willing to consider any alternative to the status quo.
"We’ll take anybody’s bill," he said. "We’re open to any suggestion that makes sense."
In a related statement, the executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) commended the growing support among state senators andassembly representatives for a special legislative session to address property taxes.
"High property taxes impede the ability of many school districts to provide a quality education; they stifle the state’s economy, making home ownership difficult for many; and they disproportionately burden the elderly, the young and low-income families," said Edwina M. Lee, NJSBA executive director. "The quickest and most effective way for the Legislature to address the issue is to convene in a special session dedicated solely to devising ways to implement property tax reform."
Within the past two weeks, all legislators from the 9th and the 30th legislative districts have thrown their support behind SCR-89 and ACR-161, calling on the Senate co-presidents and the Assembly Speaker to convene special sessions to address a solution to the state’s property tax issue. The six lawmakers from those two districts are senators Singer and Leonard Connors, and assemblymen Malone, Dancer, Christopher Connors and Jeffrey Moran.
The primary sponsors of the resolutions — senators Nia Gill of Montclair and John Adler of Cherry Hill and Assemblyman John F. McKeon of South Orange — introduced the proposals at the urging of the NJSBA, according to a statement from the school boards association.