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How does the media see the Legislature's plan to tackle property tax reform? How do others see it? Look to the end for related articles... Read these articles as beginning primer
June 7, 2006
New York Times
Legislators' Summer Plans Include Tackling Property Taxes
By RICHARD G. JONES
TRENTON, June 6 — When word spread that the State Legislature's two leaders had a plan for about two dozen of their colleagues to work this summer on ways to rein in the state's rising property taxes, it seemed that the state's most pressing political issue had taken center stage.
But when Senate President Richard J. Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. unveiled their plans on Tuesday for a special legislative session followed by the appointment of four joint committees to tackle the property tax issue, it seemed to mark the beginning of a season of hard choices that could make taxpayers and lawmakers rethink the wisdom of broaching the volatile subject.
Lawmakers now find themselves spending at least part of their summer here, perhaps weighing new taxes to replace lost property tax revenue. And at the end of the process, residents might find themselves having to go to the polls to decide whether to hold a constitutional convention on the issue.
"Good," said Assemblyman William E. Baroni Jr., a Republican from
And that is saying something. Mr. Baroni usually goes to the Duke Diet and
The plan unveiled by Mr. Codey and Mr. Roberts is ambitious in that the two men, both Democrats, said that they hope by the end of the year New Jersey residents can begin to feel relief from what are commonly regarded as the highest property taxes in the nation.
Mr. Roberts compared the spiraling property taxes — they have gone up by 25 to 30 percent in the last five years — to water torture, and Mr. Codey said that it was time to reverse the trend.
"It's time that we not only hold the line, but push them back," Mr. Codey said.
The plan by the two legislative leaders calls for the discussion on taxes to begin with Gov. Jon S. Corzine addressing a joint session of the Legislature next month after the budget is passed.
After the address, four bipartisan committees made up of four Democrats and two Republicans from both chambers will closely examine four crucial areas that have been pushing up property tax rates: spending on schools, sharing of such public services as police and fire departments, state employee benefits and pensions, and the possibility of a constitutional convention on taxes.
"I like the idea that there is initiative to address these issues," Governor Corzine said after voting in the Democratic primary in Hoboken, N.J., in the morning, adding that he had not yet seen details of the plan. "It needs some challenging to make sure that it is effective; it's not just going through the motions."
Soon after details of the summer-long effort were made public, Republicans wasted no time in challenging the proposal. Although they pledged to cooperate with Democrats, they complained that even if everything went according to plan and a constitutional convention on taxes was held, it would not provide relief for another three years.
It will take that long, Republicans contended, under the plan, with the convention not put before the voters until 2007. If that happened and it was approved, a convention would be held the following year, and any new laws would not be enacted until 2009.
"People want and need tax relief now, not in 2009," said Tom Wilson, chairman of the state Republican Party, who chided Democrats for their plan to increase taxes under Mr. Corzine's proposed budget. "If Democrats really believed the script they read today, they'd pass a budget with no tax increases."
State Senator Leonard Lance of
"I would like equal representation, but time will tell if that will happen," Mr. Lance said.
Legislative Democrats praised the proposals but wondered aloud how their constituents might respond to something that might ultimately require tough choices about how to recoup revenue lost by lowering property taxes.
By one estimate, if New Jersey's average per capita property tax bill, about $1,872, were brought in line with the national average, about $971, then the state would lose about $6 billion in revenue. That money would have to be generated from another source, most likely new sales or income taxes.
Assemblyman John F. McKeon, a Democrat from
"The electorate is sometimes underestimated when there's a public discussion about this problem," said Mr. McKeon, who is also the mayor of
David P. Rebovich, managing director of the Rider University Institute for New Jersey Politics, wondered if Democrats might be too optimistic about the public's comprehension of the forces at play.
"On an intellectual level most New Jerseyans understand that, but I don't think that on an emotional level they do," Mr. Rebovich said. "People might say, 'Oh, goodness, you've reduced my property taxes by one third, but I find my income tax going up by almost the same amount.' "
David W. Chen, in Hoboken, N.J., contributed reporting for this article.
______________________________________________________
The Record
N.J. tax reform could get kick-start
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
No option – no matter how politically unpopular or constitutionally challenging – will be out of bounds during an unprecedented legislative session this summer to tackle rising property taxes and growing state expenses, top lawmakers said Tuesday.
If that means rewriting the state's income tax code, raising sales taxes or forcing hundreds of local governments to share services, so be it, legislators said. The biggest reasons behind rising costs – school funding, public employee benefits and multiple levels of government services – will be examined to find ways of lowering local tax bills, which now average nearly $6,000.
And if this special legislative session doesn't work, Senate President Richard Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts said, they will ask voters to consider a constitutional convention that would take the issue out of their hands. For years, lawmakers have offered rhetoric and sound bites while budgets grew and property owners were forced to pay up, Codey said.
"Today that's going to change," he said, promising that reform legislation would be in place by the end of the year.
Critics, however, remain skeptical that the Legislature's sudden zeal for tax reform will amount to anything more than hot air and more study commissions. After all, they point out,
Cy Thannikary, chairman of Citizens for Property Tax Reform, praised lawmakers for beginning the process, but said the last special session in 1972 failed and this one may just as easily collapse.
"It's a step in the right direction after 35 years of no action," but taxpayers should not expect much, Thannikary said.
Bill Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, said a convention is still the best option. Legislators simply have not been able to get the job done, he said.
"I am not that optimistic primarily based on my experiences," Dressel said.
Roberts had long favored a constitutional convention and its guaranteed proposals for change. But he said the plan he and Codey announced Tuesday has real deadlines and will produce results.
"A special session needs to be a real session, not a rhetorical session," Roberts said. "It is a plan designed to have concrete results."
For the first time in state history, combined committees from both the Senate and Assembly would investigate specific issues, then offer proposals to each house for a vote, Codey and Roberts said.
Under their plan, the four committees would study school funding, public employee benefits, government consolidation and constitutional issues. Those committees would include three members from the Assembly and three from the Senate, with two Democrats and one Republican from each house.
The committees would offer proposals – legislation or constitutional changes – by Sept. 30 for the Senate and Assembly to then consider. Codey and Roberts promised votes on any proposal would follow swiftly.
The school funding review would examine the way the state pays to educate students in the poorest districts ordered by the state Supreme Court. Under a series of landmark court edicts collectively known as the Abbott rulings, the state is obligated to pay more than $4 billion to support districts where students lagged behind those in wealthier districts.
Governor Corzine would open the special session with a speech outlining his goals for the Legislature.
"We're working cooperatively with the Legislature, and I'm glad they're willing to step up to a special session and go to work. I think that's a positive step,'' Corzine said.
State lawmakers have increasingly come under intense pressure to cut property taxes. The cost of public education accounts for nearly two-thirds of each tax bill.
Overall, Corzine's $30.9 billion state budget proposal for fiscal 2007 features $10.5 billion for public education.
State officials contend that about 70 percent of the state budget goes back to local towns and schools in the form of direct aid and other programs to keep property taxes in check.
Besides subsidizing local governments, state taxpayers have been paying to send money back to themselves in the form of property tax rebates, a politically popular program lawmakers have turned to over the years to appease angry voters. But those rebates have barely kept pace with growing property tax bills.
Republican lawmakers said they would gladly work with their Democratic colleagues, but said a convention should happen sooner rather than later. Under the Codey and Roberts plan, the earliest that voters would be asked to approve a convention would be November 2007.
"I personally favor a property tax convention sooner than is anticipated," said Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon, the GOP leader in the Senate. "I don't think that convention should be put off."
E-mail: mcalpin@northjersey.com
____________________________________
Star Ledger
Feeling the pressure on property taxes
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
The call by legislative leaders for a special summer session to begin examining the state's tax structure brings to mind a quote from Gandhi.
"I must follow the people, for I am their leader," is the way he put it.
There's more than a little bit of that going on in
Now, after consecutive years of 7 percent property tax increases, the resounding rejection in April of school budgets and a slew of e-mails and calls to legislative offices, lawmakers have realized platitudes aren't going to work anymore.
To measure just how fast this do-something-about-property-taxes movement is going, remember this: When Gov. Jon Corzine mentioned in March that he wanted to tackle the state's tax structure in July, just as soon as the budget was passed,
But in the ensuing months, they've gotten the message that voters want more than concerned looks and murmurs of sympathy.
Yesterday, Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) and Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden ) announced their summer plans, which include an address in July to the Legislature by the governor and committee sessions through September on ways to reduce the property tax. Bipartisan panels will look at school funding, state employee pensions, local government consolidations and whether the state constitution should be amended to accomplish the goals.
And they've suggested that new laws easing property taxes could be in place by the end of the year. Codey and Roberts are two veteran politicians who know enough not to be cavalier about such promises. Simply put, they can't afford to fail if they hope to have a future in politics -- and both are count ing on that.
For the first time since 1976, when the Legislature passed the income tax,
Where the taxpayers want to go is clear. The question is whether their leaders can follow.
Gannett newspapers 6-7-06
Property tax relief plan unveiled
By
Overburdened
Republicans said OK. But they want also to cut state spending to relieve the highest property tax in the nation: the average household pays $5,000 to $7,000 a year so that cities and towns can plow snow, run schools, pay for police, maintain softball diamonds and license dogs.
And the rate has grown of late by 7 percent per year.
Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine welcomed the plan but warned, "What we need to do is make sure that reality and substance follow."
For the summer session, lawmakers will be summoned to
"Everything is on the table," said Codey. "And some of those things are not going to make people happy." Said the former governor, "By the end of the year,
The lawmakers said they would create four joint Senate-Assembly committees -- four Democrats and two Republicans on each -- to look at four issues:
How taxpayers fund school districts.
How the state pays for employee benefits.
How schools and towns can share services.
Whether to have a citizens' constitutional convention after 2006 on property taxes to explore adding onto sales or incomes taxes and hoping that reduces property taxes. No convention, though, was assured.
"These are not going to be dog-and-pony shows," Roberts promised.
Corzine said, "I am totally supportive of the concept. . . . It might actually need to be a little broader."
Codey and Roberts agreed consolidating school systems is a steep uphill challenge. "These are turf battles," Codey said. "We are going to have to force them to do the right thing."
"We don't see it as the Legislature coming after us. School districts have been very interested in shared services," said Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.
State Sen. and U.S. Senate candidate Tom Kean, R-Westfield, said, "If the Democratic majority were truly interested in reducing people's property taxes, they would start with the governor's $1.8 billion in new taxes that Gov. Corzine is proposing in June, this month. In the end, we need to make sure that spending is reduced."
Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance,
The Assembly minority leader, Alex DeCroce, R-Parsippany-Troy Hills, said, "I believe it is a good start . . . People need relief. Now."
Said Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, R-Middletown,
"Too little too late," said a statement from Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Boonton. Sen. Robert Singer, R-Lakewood, feared the idea was "another false promise."
Reach Tom Baldwin at tbaldwiat gannett.com
Published: June 07. 2006 3:10AM
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The Press of Atlantic City
Tax plans get summer focus
Special session of Legislature set to debate property-tax relief
By PETE McALEER Statehouse Bureau, (609) 292-4935
(Published: June 7, 2006)
The special session — announced Tuesday by state Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., D-Camden, Gloucester, at a joint news conference — is the first for the Legislature since 1976, when lawmakers convened to create the state income tax.
The session will kick off with a speech by Gov. Jon S. Corzine in mid-July. Legislative leaders will appoint four six-member committees, with each house of the Legislature represented by two Democrats and a Republican. Each committee will have until Sept. 30 to propose legislation for lawmakers to enact by year's end.
By the end of the summer,
Lawmakers from both parties generally called the idea a positive start. So did Corzine.
We've been having conversations about the agenda; it might actually need to be a little broader, in my view, but I generally think we're onto the right policy,” Corzine said. “I'm glad they're willing to step up to a special session and go to work. I think that's a positive step in the right direction, and what we need to do is make sure that reality and substance follow.”
Property taxes in
The majority of the money goes to school funding.
Lowering property taxes has dominated the rhetoric in
Tuesday's announcement allows for a compromise. The Legislature will start with a special session, but one of the four committees will set up plans to place a citizen's convention on the November 2007 ballot.
That provided some consolation to New Jersey League of Municipalities Director Bill Dressel, who gave the plan his “qualified endorsement.” The league has pushed the citizen's convention as the best way to lower local taxes.
I think the taxpayers are the stakeholders in the process and should be involved,” Dressel said. “But I'm willing to go along with this for now.”
Roberts, one of the Legislature's most vocal supporters of a citizen's convention, said a productive special session could enhance a citizen's convention down the road while providing immediate relief as well.
These committees will have public hearings to solicit public input, but make no mistake about it, these are not going to be dog and pony shows with grandstanding all over the state. These are going to be real working committees, rolling up their sleeves to get the job done,” Roberts said.
The special legislative session is unprecedented in
Local lawmakers are already angling for spots on the four committees.
State Sen. Nicholas Asselta, R-Cape May,
I think it should be the No. 1 focus of this entire solution,” Asselta said. “Before you can identify how much public education costs you have to first consolidate as efficiently as possible.”
Assemblyman Frank Blee, R-Atlantic, said tackling school funding would be the key.
First and foremost, I think you have to rewrite the school funding formula,” Blee said. “I believe the system has become so disjointed that you literally have to start from scratch.”
Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May,
What absolutely has to be over is professionals accumulating pensions in multiple municipalities because of multiple part-time jobs. Pensions were not made for part-time, highly paid professionals to move from town to town and ramp up and increase their pension to astronomical levels,” Van Drew said.
Gormley has already introduced legislation to raise the retirement age to 60 and volunteered to serve on the pension committee.
I just want it to be a real committee,” Gormley said. “I don't want lengthy speeches from senators and assemblymen about how they care. Let's get to the numbers and let's just do it. People have to say what they're for and stick their necks out. And then we should just stay there until it gets done.”
Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, R-Morris, Passaic, called the summer session a start but said it would do nothing to help residents from the tax increases proposed in Corzine's first budget. He said he supported the plan “given the alternative, which is continued inaction.”
I commend both leaders for finally agreeing on a course of action,” DeCroce said. “But we shouldn't give up so easily on trying to deliver meaningful relief now.”
To e-mail Pete McAleer at The Press:
The Philadelphia
Frost is over: Legislators agree on tax session
Senate and Assembly leaders, long stalemated, said both houses would meet this summer to focus on relief for property owners.
By Kaitlin Gurney
Inquirer Trenton
TRENTON
The agreement for a session starting in mid-July broke years of gridlock between Senate President Richard J. Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, who have championed different approaches for tackling the state's property-tax problem.
Roberts said taxpayers did not care whether lawmakers hosted the citizens' constitutional convention he advocated or the special legislative session Codey favored. They just want "real results."
"New Jersey homeowners don't get a vacation from high property taxes, so the Legislature shouldn't get one, either," said Roberts (D., Camden
New Jersey
Gov. Corzine, who hailed the announcement as a "positive step," will begin the joint session with a property-tax speech. Four committees - focused on school funding, pensions, shared government services, and tax equity - will have until Sept. 30 to develop legislative proposals, which Roberts and Codey said they hoped would become law this year.
"We're open to everything. Everything will be on the table. And some things are not going to make people happy," said Codey (D., Essex), hinting that a new system that lowers property taxes could trigger higher income or sales taxes.
The session leaves the door open to a constitutional convention, Roberts said - especially if lawmakers recommend a fundamental shift in the state's tax burden, which would require changing the constitution.
A proposal for a constitutional convention could be placed on the November 2007 ballot, the leaders said. If it is approved, citizen delegates would be elected and charged with developing a more equitable way of dividing the state's tax burden. Their suggestions would be placed on the next year's November ballot.
Corzine and many other lawmakers said they'd like the special session to focus more closely on a constitutional convention, which would be the state's first in nearly 40 years.
"The one thing I think we need still to work on is whether we accelerate a citizens' convention," Corzine said yesterday.
Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance (R., Hunterdon) took issue with the time line set forth by Codey and Roberts. Waiting until early 2009 for real relief, he said, is "simply too long."
Still, some of the most vocal advocates for a constitutional convention cheered yesterday's announcement.
"They seem serious and committed, and, quite frankly, now they're on the hook to deal with property taxes," said Bill Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. "But I've been around 32 years, and I am not yet convinced that all these issues will be addressed in their entirety at a special session. A constitutional convention needs to be the backup plan."
Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce called the "long-overdue agreement" between the Legislature's top Democrats an "encouraging sign."
He recommended the Legislature kill the one-penny sales-tax increase recommended in Corzine's budget proposal, offering a "lifeline" for taxpayers finding New Jersey
"Given the alternative, which is continued inaction, I commend both leaders for finally agreeing on a course of action," DeCroce (R., Morris) said, "but we shouldn't give up so easily on trying to deliver meaningful relief now."
Roberts and Codey said the state budget, which must be approved by July 1, was a separate matter. This month's budget negotiations are focused on limiting the size of state government; the special session will analyze local government spending, they said.
"Unless we create greater efficiency and reduce spending at the local levels, we will only be chasing our tails," Codey said. "For too long property owners have been getting blitzed with taxes advancing further and further. It's time we not only hold the line, but push them back."
Contact staff writer Kaitlin Gurney at 609-989-7373 or kgurney@phillynews.com.
____________________________
New York Times 6-7-06
Camden : Corzine Rejects School
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gov. Jon S. Corzine has used his broad power over the Camden Board of Education to strike down a contract for the school district superintendent, after reports raised questions about bonuses she had already received. The school board approved a three-year contract for Superintendent Annette D. Knox last week that would have paid her a salary of $193,000 for the 2006-7 school year and more than $208,000 by 2008-9. She also could have received a bonus of up to 10 percent of her base salary for meeting five performance goals. The governor rejected the contract on Monday, and the school board has scheduled a closed meeting tomorrow to discuss what to do next. Bart Leff, a spokesman for Ms. Knox, said she was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Courier Post 6-7-06
Fired principal says he expected decline
By SARAH GREENBLATT
Courier-Post Staff
Preliminary results for the 2005-06 testing season show a sharp drop in math proficiency at the
Math proficiency rates at
The new data show that 74.6 percent of Brimm 11th-graders mastered math on the High School Proficiency Assessment this year, down from 91.4 percent in 2004-05.
"It's all in line with what I thought was going to happen," said former Brimm Principal Joseph Carruth, who lost his job five weeks after alleging that a superior directed him to alter math scores on the 2004-05 test.
Assistant Superintendent Luis Pagan has denied Carruth's allegations, and district officials contend the principal was fired for unspecified problems with his performance.
Language arts scores at Brimm -- which Carruth said he was not asked to alter -- have remained steady.
While Carruth refused to comply with instructions for altering student scores, he said, central administrators had possession of the completed exams for a week before they were scored.
Carruth noted that the math scores on this year's test -- which was monitored by the state Department of Education -- are on par with other years, while the proficiency rates tallied last year were unusually high.
"I feel that anyone who looks at these numbers knows something happened last year that was unusual," said Carruth, who plans to file a whistle-blower's lawsuit next week.
Former Camden County Prosecutor Edward Borden, hired by the district to investigate Carruth's allegations and the improper release of a Terra Nova test at Sumner School, said he will be interested in reviewing the scores once they are official.
"If we see a discrepancy between last year's (result) and years on either side of it, that's certainly something we have to look at," Borden said.
But Board of Education President Philip Freeman called Carruth's comments "ridiculous."
"How does that verify that there was cheating? We're talking about a different set of students," Freeman said.
Carruth described being pressured to cheat during a mock trial Tuesday outside the district offices, drawing cheers from critics of Superintendent Annette Knox.
"If I can bring some light to what's (happening) to the kids in this city, I have to let my light shine," he said after the event, run by the Latino Leadership Council and school-choice advocates.
Ivan Foster, of the Afro Leadership Council, and a Brimm parent, expressed disgust.
"I can't believe he's my principal," Foster said. "I'm ashamed."
Brimm junior Alicia Johnson said she trusts Carruth.
"He has integrity," Johnson said. "Why would he lead us in the wrong direction?"
Staff writer Larry Hanover contributed to this report. Reach Sarah Greenblatt at (856) 486-2457 or at sgreenb@courierpostonline.com
Published: June 07. 2006 3:10AM
