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Associated Press ‘2 plans for N.J. property tax relief; no consensus’
njspotlight.com ‘Defeated School Budgets Spared the Axe, After All’
The Record, Star Ledger ‘N.J. officials cut $140M in additional funds from school budgets’
Associated Press ‘2 plans for N.J. property tax relief; no consensus’
njspotlight.com ‘Defeated School Budgets Spared the Axe, After All’
The Record, Star Ledger ‘N.J. officials cut $140M in additional funds from school budgets’
Associated Press ‘2 plans for N.J. property tax relief; no consensus’
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Last updated: Friday June 18, 2010, 7:40 AM
TRENTON — Democrats and Republicans are vowing to combat New Jersey's highest-in-nation property taxes in very different ways, but each side has one thing in common: Neither idea is likely to get legislative approval anytime soon.
Democrats want to raise taxes on the wealthy and Republicans want to enact a tax cap, but neither idea has enough support to move through the Legislature.
On Monday, the Assembly will vote on whether to override Gov. Chris Christie's veto of a tax on millionaires. Democrats want to use the taxes generated by the tax to restore property tax rebates for seniors and the disabled.
The tax would raise an estimated $637 million by adding an income tax surcharge of nearly 2 percent on about 16,000 residents who make more than $1 million annually. The money would be used to restore property tax rebates for 600,000 senior citizens and disabled residents.
Seven Republicans would have to join the 47 Democrats in the Assembly for the override before the Senate could even vote on it, and Assembly GOP leaders on Thursday made it clear that was unlikely to happen.
"There's absolutely no support for a millionaires tax in my caucus," Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce said. "Nobody in our caucus voted in favor for it last time, and nobody will be changing their mind."
Meanwhile, DeCroce and other GOP leaders were calling on Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver to post the governor's 2.5 percent property tax cap proposal, which must pass through an Assembly committee in less than three weeks to make it in time to get on the November ballot. That also seems unlikely.
A spokesman for Oliver said she will not be rushed on the issue and is focusing on getting the budget passed on time.
"The Assembly will examine the governor's plan when it can get the full attention it deserves — not during the crucial days of the finalization of a Republican budget that taxes working families," said Assembly Democratic spokesman Tom Hester Jr.
The proposal by Republican Gov. Chris Christie seeks to amend the state constitution to limit property-tax increases to no more than 2.5 percent a year. Anything over that amount would need voter approval.
New Jersey already has a property tax cap. In 2007, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine managed to get a 4 percent cap through the Legislature, but exceptions included increases in pension payments and health care costs. Many towns found ways to exceed the cap.
Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, D-Turnersville, has introduced a bill to lower the 4 percent cap to 2.5 percent, but it would still allow for the same exceptions.
Moriarty points out that despite those exceptions, the average rate of tax increases in New Jersey has been lowered to 3.3 percent annually. His bill needs legislative approval only.
DeCroce, R-Whippany, called Moriarty's bill "weak" and said Republicans would not support it if the governor's hard 2.5 percent cap wasn't passed.
Moriarty said the hard 2.5 cap was "harsh, restrictive, not flexible and will cripple our towns."
Despite those disagreements, leaders from both parties have said they are optimistic that they will pass a budget in time.
Oliver and Sen. President Stephen Sweeney have said they are looking to avoid a shutdown, and on Thursday, DeCroce said he thought there is a "good chance" a budget could be passed in time.
Lawmakers are constitutionally required to pass a balanced budget by midnight on June 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
TRENTON — Democrats and Republicans are vowing to combat New Jersey's highest-in-nation property taxes in very different ways, but each side has one thing in common: Neither idea is likely to get legislative approval anytime soon.
Democrats want to raise taxes on the wealthy and Republicans want to enact a tax cap, but neither idea has enough support to move through the Legislature.
On Monday, the Assembly will vote on whether to override Gov. Chris Christie's veto of a tax on millionaires. Democrats want to use the taxes generated by the tax to restore property tax rebates for seniors and the disabled.
The tax would raise an estimated $637 million by adding an income tax surcharge of nearly 2 percent on about 16,000 residents who make more than $1 million annually. The money would be used to restore property tax rebates for 600,000 senior citizens and disabled residents.
Seven Republicans would have to join the 47 Democrats in the Assembly for the override before the Senate could even vote on it, and Assembly GOP leaders on Thursday made it clear that was unlikely to happen.
"There's absolutely no support for a millionaires tax in my caucus," Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce said. "Nobody in our caucus voted in favor for it last time, and nobody will be changing their mind."
Meanwhile, DeCroce and other GOP leaders were calling on Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver to post the governor's 2.5 percent property tax cap proposal, which must pass through an Assembly committee in less than three weeks to make it in time to get on the November ballot. That also seems unlikely.
A spokesman for Oliver said she will not be rushed on the issue and is focusing on getting the budget passed on time.
"The Assembly will examine the governor's plan when it can get the full attention it deserves — not during the crucial days of the finalization of a Republican budget that taxes working families," said Assembly Democratic spokesman Tom Hester Jr.
The proposal by Republican Gov. Chris Christie seeks to amend the state constitution to limit property-tax increases to no more than 2.5 percent a year. Anything over that amount would need voter approval.
New Jersey already has a property tax cap. In 2007, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine managed to get a 4 percent cap through the Legislature, but exceptions included increases in pension payments and health care costs. Many towns found ways to exceed the cap.
Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, D-Turnersville, has introduced a bill to lower the 4 percent cap to 2.5 percent, but it would still allow for the same exceptions.
Moriarty points out that despite those exceptions, the average rate of tax increases in New Jersey has been lowered to 3.3 percent annually. His bill needs legislative approval only.
DeCroce, R-Whippany, called Moriarty's bill "weak" and said Republicans would not support it if the governor's hard 2.5 percent cap wasn't passed.
Moriarty said the hard 2.5 cap was "harsh, restrictive, not flexible and will cripple our towns."
Despite those disagreements, leaders from both parties have said they are optimistic that they will pass a budget in time.
Oliver and Sen. President Stephen Sweeney have said they are looking to avoid a shutdown, and on Thursday, DeCroce said he thought there is a "good chance" a budget could be passed in time.
Lawmakers are constitutionally required to pass a balanced budget by midnight on June 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
njspotlight.com ‘Defeated School Budgets Spared the Axe, After All’
Newly released district-by-district data shows limited cuts to 315 budgets rejected by voters in April.
By John Mooney, June 18 in Education |Post a Comment | 1 Comment
Defeated Budgets - 2010-2011
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Taxes were too high, spending was too high, and the defiant governor implored local municipal councils to give taxpayers a relief when they take a scalpel to those defeated budgets.
Two months later, it looks like it was closer to a butter knife in most cases, with relatively small cuts delivered, and in 30 of the 315 budgets, no cuts at all, according to new data released by the state Department of Education yesterday.
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In the first public release of such data, the department provided a host of numbers to the financial impact of the unprecedented school votes this spring.
For instance, the biggest single cut was $7.6 million from Lakewood schools after that budget was rejected, representing close to 10 percent of the district’s proposed budget. In 19 districts, budgets were cut more than 5 percent.
But the vast majority of cuts were less than 3 percent of the proposed amounts, and half were below 2 percent. The average cut was 2.1 percent, with some of them miniscule. Bloomingdale’s council reduced the budget by just $10,000, Fredon less than $7,000.
And there were the 30 with no cuts at all, from large districts like Lenape Regional and Carteret to small ones such as Interlaken and Chesilhurst.
Still, overall, it saved $140.2 million in those towns, and reduced the overall school levy increase statewide—including approved budgets—from 4.8 percent before the vote to a preliminary figure of 3.7 percent now.
"Speaking to the $140 million, it’s a good start," said Mike Drewniak, Christie’s spokesman. “But on the other hand, it needs to go much further.”
He called the paucity of cuts in many districts "essentially a back-of-the-hand to those who voted against these budgets. We think it’s wrong, why do we even go through the exercise?"
He pressed the governor’s pending proposal to instead have a 2.5 percent cap on all spending and taxes, and only have votes when they exceeded that cap.
The New Jersey School Boards Association brought the opposite perspective, saying there was no deeper that councils could cut.
"In spite of the defeated budgets, they could only go so far" said Frank Belluscio, the association’s director. "There is a certain amount needed in the operation of schools, and when you have cuts in state aid like we have, you are forced to instead go back to the taxpayers."
But he was in agreement on one point: the questionable merits of the school votes in the first place.
"For this result, I’m not sure this was worth the effort from the taxpayers," he said.
The totals could still change some, as more than a dozen districts have final figures pending before the state commissioner of education. Most of them are cases where cuts could not be agreed upon or certified, leaving the decision to the state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler.
Six are outright appeals to Schundler that the council’s cuts were too deep: Brielle, Millstone, Pitman, Robbinsville, South Hackensack and Weymouth.
In those cases, Schundler is charged with evaluating whether the districts can still provide an adequate education as determined in the state’s school funding formula.
The Record, Star Ledger ‘N.J. officials cut $140M in additional funds from school budgets’
Published: Thursday, June 17, 2010, 9:45 PM Updated: Friday, June 18, 2010, 5:20 AM
Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau
TRENTON — After New Jersey voters rejected a record number of school budgets this spring, local officials ordered more than $140 million in additional cuts, the state announced today.
Statewide, the reductions brought the school tax levy increase to 3.65 percent from the proposed 4.77 percent, officials said. But the overall cuts made by towns where school budgets were defeated totaled just 1.9 percent of the more than $7 billion those districts proposed to voters.
In 29 districts, the budgets were left intact, according to data released by the state Department of Education.
Schools were sent scrambling this spring after Gov. Chris Christie slashed state aid by $820 million — meaning hundreds of districts lost most or all of their state aid. Voters then shot down more than 58 percent of the school budgets, the highest failure rate ever.
Christie has said he was "outraged" that in the aftermath, "so many municipal bodies did nothing or near nothing in response to a clear repudiation of the school board’s budget by the voters."
His spokesman, Michael Drewniak, today said the governor also recognizes towns that "made a mark."
"Overall, it’s a good start," Drewniak said. "There were plenty of school districts which essentially disavowed their voters, and we think that sends the wrong message."
Steve Wollmer, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association teachers union, said the municipal cuts "are significant on their own, and they’re even more significant when combined with what the governor has cut."
"They’re going to produce layoffs and program cuts that are unfortunately going to do serious damage to the schools," Wollmer said.
Residents vote on the portion of the budget paid through local property taxes, not on the parts paid for by state and federal aid, which varies widely by district.
When 315 budgets went down to defeat April 20, they fell into the laps of municipal officials, who decided how much deeper to cut — sometimes with the help of paid auditors and consultants. Towns that slashed more faced a balancing act, said Trudy Doyle, executive superintendent in Somerset County, where 15 of 17 budgets failed.
"They knew many (school boards) had already significantly reduced programs and personnel, but I think people are very sensitive to the issue of raising property taxes," Doyle said.
Woodbridge cut just over $1 million to put the portion of the budget paid by property taxes at $153 million — a reduction of about two-thirds of a percent.
"It was tough, because we were being lobbied on a daily basis by parents who were pro-education who said the schools had suffered enough and shouldn’t be cut any further," said Jim Major, Woodbridge council president. "You really need to balance the needs of the seniors, who are on fixed incomes and with limited resources, and also make sure that the cuts don’t negatively impact the school districts."
The numbers are not final because a handful of districts have failed to agree on cuts, while others are applying to the state education commissioner for relief.
The new numbers mirror those of the past five years, when overall cuts ordered by towns where school budgets were defeated never exceeded 2 percent of the amount paid through local property taxes, according to state data. The pattern held no matter how many budgets were rejected.
Staff writers Jeanette Rundquist and Lisa Fleisher contributed to this report.
