Watch Christie’s Announcement at 1PM

Governor Chris Christie will be making an announcement this afternoon at 1pm, according to a statement from his office.

Insiders expect that the governor will announce a school funding deal for the next fiscal year negotiated between himself, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Interactive Map: Charting the Ups and Downs of Dems’ School-Aid Plan

You can toggle between districts by type — elementary, regional HS and K-12 — by clicking in the Visible layers box (K-12 are shown by default). To find a district, zoom in and move the map, or use the search box (with the magnifying glass). Hover over or click on a district for information. A day… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Beck: School Funding Should Be Fair and Transparent

Senator Jennifer Beck

By Senator Jennifer Beck

The biggest issue facing our state is property taxes.  And the biggest impact on that issue is school taxes.

Over the next several weeks, a new plan for school funding will be debated in Trenton.

There aren’t a lot of details being provided on this plan or its methodology, but estimates suggest that it could end up costing Monmouth County schools over $100 million in state school aid.

This plan, if estimates are true, isn’t a fair or equitable solution to our school funding crisis.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

O’Scanlon forces Assembly vote on property tax cap effectiveness

Democrats punt on property tax reform

Trenton, NJ- Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, Jr. invoked a parliamentary rule on the floor of the Assembly on Thursday to force a vote on his bill that would remove the sunset provision on the arbitration cap of police and fireman salaries.

The arbitration cap was institution as part of the 2010 landmark property tax reform legislation that capped New Jersey property tax growth at 2% per year. The initial cap expired in 2014 and was renewed in 2014 with a sunset provision for the end of this year.  O’Scanlon’s bill, A-2123,would make the 2% arbitration cap permanent.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Middletown Township Reduces Spending and Property Taxes In 2017 Budget

Middletown Township Committee

The Middletown Township Committee will introduce a budget on Monday night that reduces Township spending by $161,459 and reduces the municipal tax rate by 3.49%

“We’ve taken a fine tooth comb to this budget in order to develop a spending plan that reduces costs without sacrificing core essential services,” said Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger, Ph.D. “We consistently seek ways to further minimize costs, maximize revenues and stretch a dollar.”

For the average homeowner, municipal taxes will decrease $5.31 this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Shared Patrol Model: The sweet spot for reducing property taxes and saving police officers jobs

By Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

The concept of municipal consolidation/shared services is referred to by some as the panacea for high property taxes.  Others claim that consolidation/shared services is a pipe dream and not worth pursuing because no single service will solve our property tax problem.  Both sides of this argument are wrong.  No one act or reform will slash our taxes – short of major increases in other taxes.  To argue that we shouldn’t pursue such reforms because they won’t save “enough” is to argue against doing anything to cut costs.  On the contrary, the answer is we must do EVERYTHING.

Merging of municipalities is a heavy lift. People have nostalgic attachments to their town names and pride in their community identity. And if things don’t go as well as planned, there’s no going back.  That leaves shared services  as the sweet spot – much easier to attain than wholesale municipal mergers and can generate 60 to 80% of the savings.

We must then hone in on the areas where we can get the greatest amount of savings.  Things like public works and administration sound like good targets but those areas have already, frequently, been cut to the bone.  One area in many municipalities that is ripe for restructuring: police.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Support Grows For Controversial Property Tax Assessment Program As Shrewsbury Opts Back In

A bi-partisan effort to explain the controversial pilot program for assessing Monmouth County properties, the Assessment Demonstration Program, is generating support for the program as one of the eight municipalities that opted out of the program has reenlisted and other towns are choosing to stay with the program that is reducing the amount of property tax appeals filed.

The biggest problem the program has faced is confusion between the alleged improprieties and conflicts of interests in the implementation of the program exposed by an Asbury Park Press series which instigated an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the benefits and weaknesses of the program itself.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Bramnick: N.J. can’t afford to restore aid to towns to cut property taxes

ABOARD THE CHAMBER TRAIN — Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union) said Thursday he’d like to restore aid to New Jersey’s municipalities to lower property taxes, but the state simply can’t afford it. Lawmakers have introduced a bill ( A302) to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in energy tax receipts and Consolidated Municipal Property Tax… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Freeholders Reduce County Spending By $18.2 million

The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders will introduce their new budget to the public on Feb. 25 at the Monmouth County Library Eastern Branch in Shrewsbury and at 7 p.m. on March 24 at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters on Symmes Drive in Manalapan.  Both meetings start at 7 p.m.

The $469.85 million budget is $18.2 million less than last year’s, reduces the county tax levy to the 2010 level and reduces spending to the 2007 amount.  County property taxes are reduced by $4.9 million.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Arnone Calls For Tax Cut, Boost of Local Jobs

Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone

Freehold– Freehold Director Thomas A. Arnone called on his colleagues to reverse $4.9 million County property tax increase, 1.5%, imposed last year,  now that Monmouth County is no longer subsidizing the nursing homes that had cost Monmouth taxpayers almost $50 million over the last ten years.

Speaking at the annual reorganization of the County government on Wednesday afternoon, Arnone, who was elected as Director for 2016 by his fellow freeholders, announced that the auction of the nursing homes was completed this week and generated $32.4 million, $12.4 million more than expected.  Arnone said that as a result of no longer having to carry the nursing homes, that taxes should be reduced back to the level that the board had held steady from 2008 through 2014.  The Director told MoreMonmouthMusings that he would urge the Board to use the $32.4 million proceeds of the sale to reduce the County’s AAA rated debt.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet