Monmouth County Freeholder Serena DiMaso, Keansburg Deputy Mayor Jimmy Cocuzza, Congressman Frank Pallone and Senate President Steve Sweeney talk before Sweeney’s Town Hall Meeting in Keansburg. Pallone was not impressed. Click for larger view.
Senate President Steve Sweeney told MMM today that he expects a key provision of New Jersey’s 2% property tax cap that is set to expire on April 1 to be extended.
The interest arbitration provision of the property tax reforms passed with bi-partisan support three years ago caps arbitration awards in government labor disputes to 2%. Since they’ve been implemented the average arbitration award resulted in salary increases for local government employees to 1.86%–the lowest in 20 years. The provision will expire on April 1 unless extended by legislation.
“It’s my bill,” Sweeney said, “I’ll pass it next week.” Ask if the arbitration cap would become permanent or extended with another sunset provision, Sweeney said, “That’s what we’re working on now. I’d just assume we done with it, but we’ll get the best we can.”
Sweeney said that while negotiating the original property tax reforms that he favored a 0% cap. “That would force municipalities to, if not consolidate, to share, to share services.”
Sweeney spoke to MMM after his sparsely attended Town Hall Meeting at the Bayshore Senior Day Center in Keansburg this afternoon.
Posted: March 20th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: NJ State Legislature, Property Tax Tool Kit, Property Taxes, Stephen Sweeney | Tags: Bayshore Senior Day Center, interest arbitration, Interest Arbitration Cap, Interest Arbitration Task Force, Keansburg, Senate President Steve Sweeney, Steve Sweeney | 2 Comments »
Rich Pezzullo and Declan O’Scanlon
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, this morning endorsed Freehold businessman for the GOP nomination to take on Senator Cory Booker this fall.
“Rich Pezzullo has a unique combination of skills that are rare in the Senate,” Assemblyman O’Scanlon said, “He has firsthand knowledge of the effects of over-regulation on different types of businesses, the confidence and bearing from 20 years as an Army officer and a command of the issues that is desperately needed in Washington. We need to send Rich Pezzullo to the Senate where the fight for fiscal restraint, accountability and much needed regulatory relief for New Jersey calls for his energy, vision and commitment.”
O’Scanlon noted that Pezzullo’s experience as an information technology business owner gave him a unique perspective on the needs of business owners. “Rich Pezzullo doesn’t need a lobbyist to give him his talking points about Federal intrusion into private life. He works at the front lines of consumer businesses, medical practices and charities and sees firsthand the damage being done to our economy and our society by excess government.”
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Posted: March 20th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2014 U.S. Senate race | Tags: 2014 U.S. Senate race, Cory Booker, Declan O'Scanlon, Rich Pezzullo | 6 Comments »
By Greg Kelly
Friday, March 21
• Bobby Bandiera at Count Basie Theatre (Red Bank) – MORE INFO
• Used Book Sale (Colts Neck) – MORE INFO
• The Odd Couple at Spring Lake Community Theatre – MORE INFO
• Middletown’s Got Talent! – MORE INFO
• Monmouth County Teen Arts Festival at BCC (Lincroft) – MORE INFO
• My Fair Lady at Algonquin Arts Theatre (Manasquan) – MORE INFO
• Free Tax Preparation Help (Wall Twp, Shrewsbury, Manalapan) – MORE INFO
Highlands St. Patrick’s Parade
• Open House Wine Tasting/Making (Eatontown) – MORE INFO
• Free Tax Preparation Help (Long Branch) – MORE INFO
• Date of a Lifetime at NJ Repertory Theater (Long Branch) – MORE INFO
• Sylvia at First Ave Playhouse (Atlantic Highlands) – MORE INFO
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Posted: March 19th, 2014 | Author: admin | Filed under: Greg Kelly, Greg's List, Things to do in Monmouth County | Tags: Greg Kelly, Greg's List, Things to do in Monmouth County, Things to do in Monmouth County this weekend | Comments Off on Greg’s List: Things to do in Monmouth County this weekend
Brian Goldberg
Brian Goldberg, a businessman and political newcomer, won the endorsement of the Ocean County Republican Committee for U. S. Senate at the party convention in Toms River this evening.
Goldberg won a first ballot victory with 108 votes. Rich Pezzullo, a businessman from Freehold received 25 votes. Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin and former FBI Agent Robert Turkavage each received 5 votes.
Goldberg will have the party line on the ballot in Ocean County for the June 3 primary.
Posted: March 19th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2014 U.S. Senate race | Tags: 2014 U.S. Senate race, Brian Goldberg, Murray Sabrin, Rich Pezzullo, Robert Turkavage | 2 Comments »
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Posted: March 19th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Chris Christie | Tags: Chris Christie, Chris Christie comic book | Comments Off on Christie comic book, written by East Rutherford man, for sale now
Assemblyman urges Bayshore residents to ask Senate President Sweeney join the bi-partisan effort
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, issued a statement today welcoming Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik’s support of Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA) for use in getting Sandy victims back into their homes, and called upon residents of his Bayshore district to question Senate President Sweeney the use of Affordable Housing Funds when Sweeney visits the district for his Town Hall meeting in Keansburg on Thursday afternoon.
“Recently, Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik suggested that RCAs could be used by towns to help their neighbors continue to rebuild in the devastating wake of Sandy,” O’Scanlon said, “My Republican colleagues and I have been calling for the use of RCAs for years and I am excited to hear that Mayor Hornik is on board. When the Democrat leadership in Trenton killed the RCA program it was bad, short sighted policy that many of us knew would come back to bite us. Its flaws are now magnified by the plight of Sandy victims as many towns struggle with the economic burdening of rebuilding.
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Posted: March 19th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 13th Legislative District, Housing | Tags: COAH, Declan O'Scanlon, Jon Hornik, Keansburg, Marlboro, Mt Laurel, RCA, Regional Contribution Agreements, Steve Sweeney | 4 Comments »
Task force study on arbitration reform confirms law works – and is essential
Following up on his comments last week that allowing the interest arbitration law to expire on April 1st would have disastrous consequences on towns and property taxpayers, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon will introduce legislation on Thursday that would make the law permanent.
From January 2011, when the law took effect, to September 2013, average raises in contracts, whether through arbitration or negotiations, were 1.86 percent — the lowest in at least 20 years. O’Scanlon was a member of the task force charged with studying the effects of the law since its inception and said there is no doubt the cap has been the single most significant tool responsible for the stabilization of municipal budgets.
“The data contained in the task force report is irrefutable that the interest arbitration law works and is an essential element in helping towns control costs,” said O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth. “The cap on arbitration awards was a critical part of our 2010 reforms and was the most important tool ever enacted to bring under control the never-ending, upward pressure on property taxes and the gradual strangling of local government services. One simply cannot logically argue that we can maintain a cap on property taxes without providing this tool for municipal officials to control their largest expense categories.
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Posted: March 19th, 2014 | Author: admin | Filed under: Declan O'Scanlon, Press Release, Property Tax Tool Kit, Property Taxes | Tags: Declan O'Scanlon, interest arbitration, Interest Arbitration Cap, Interest Arbitration Task Force, NJ State Legislation, Press Release | 1 Comment »
By Scott St. Clair
How special that The Star-Ledger has all the time in the world to grill Sen. Cory Booker on his NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket picks and hold him accountable for his “gut thing” upset prediction of Stephen F. Austin over VCU. After all, didn’t New Jersey voters elect him to waste his time and their money this way?
Booker thinks his job consists of sending out marginally obscene Twitter messages, regaling Senate colleagues with how he drove to Hawaii and now gracing us with his round ball wisdom.
Maybe he’s bucking to win Warren Buffett’s $1 billion prize for the perfect March Madness bracket? Hope he wins – and then retires.
On issues facing the nation, he’s MIA. War or peace, Ukraine, excessive federal spending, the National Debt, the mass exodus of people from New Jersey because the place is too damned burdened with taxes to be affordable – where is he?
And how about answering questions that stem from the state comptroller’s scathing report on rampant corruption under his nose and on his watch while he was mayor of Newark? When will The Star-Ledger find time to grill him on that?
On them all he’s nowhere, that’s where. Care to ask him?
Scott St. Clair is the Communications Director for Murray Sabrin for U.S. Senate 2014
Posted: March 19th, 2014 | Author: admin | Filed under: 2014 Elections, 2014 U.S. Senate race, Opinion | Tags: 2014 U.S. Senate race, Cory Booker, Murray Sabrin, Scott St. Clair | 2 Comments »
