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AP summary look at the Special Session committees efforts to date and next items on their agenda.
Aug 20, 9:03 AM EDT
Property tax reform bid to shift into overdrive
By TOM HESTER Jr.
Associated Press Writer
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Starting Tuesday and lasting through Halloween, legislators will debate property tax reform nearly every weekday.
"Months of discussion and planning have brought us to the point where we can now move forward with substantive debates and investigations that will lead to real reform," said Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex.
The panel debating whether to change how the state funds schools is slated to meet every Tuesday.
The committee mulling ways to entice
The committee considering whether the state constitution needs to be amended to cut into property taxes will meet every Thursday starting Sept. 7.
The panel expected to recommend ways to reform the state's public employee benefits is scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday. A full schedule for the rest of its meetings hasn't been announced.
The four committees have until Nov. 15 to devise reform recommendations, with the goal being to enact reforms by the end of the year.
The committees, Codey said, "will leave no stone unturned."
Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he wants to cut projected property tax growth by about 20 percent by 2010.
The average
In recent years, property taxes have increased about 7 percent annually.
The state uses property taxes to fund most county and municipal government and school operations.
Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., D-Camden, said the schedule for the coming weeks provides "a firm framework for examining the state's property tax problem and for advancing reforms to the Legislature."
"All of the building blocks are in place to move the joint committee process forward toward the ultimate goal of producing high-caliber property tax reforms for our citizens," Roberts said.
All meetings presently scheduled are at the Statehouse complex in
"I encourage everyone, the general public in particular, to get involved in these debates and come forth with their suggestions," Codey said. "No idea is too big or too small for consideration."
During Tuesday's hearing, the school funding committee plans to hear testimony from Molly A. Hunter of
On Wednesday, the pension reform panel plans to hear a presentation on legal issues that would be involved in changing pension benefits. It plans to hear from the state pension division director on Thursday.