Tax Cap

TRENTON - New Jersey property-tax increases will be capped at 2 percent, Gov. Christie announced Saturday after he and legislative leaders spent the day working out a bipartisan compromise. It was not known if the agreement would win the crucial support of Assembly Democrats, however, after Speaker Sheila Oliver (D., Essex) did not join the announcement. Christie said that on Tuesday he would conditionally veto a bill sponsored by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester)

Gov. Christie signed into law a bill limiting tax levy increases at the municipal, school, and county levels to 2 percent annually on Tuesday, one day after the measure received final approval in the Legislature. The bill represents a compromise between a constitutional amendment to cap property taxes that Christie had initially sought and a weaker cap proposed by Senate President Stephen Sweeney. "This is the beginning of real property-tax relief for New Jersey," Christie said after signing the legislation.

TRENTON - To impose a 2 percent cap on property-tax increases without addressing what drives up government spending is "the tail wagging the dog," Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt told an Assembly panel on Wednesday. Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley concurred, warning lawmakers, "The order we're doing this in is not the best way. " The Assembly Budget Committee heard testimony from representatives of towns, schools, and public employees who repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of the 2 percent cap agreement reached Saturday by Gov. Christie and legislative leaders.

Chester County lawyer and frequent Democratic candidate Samuel Stretton has a few questions he wants answered about Chester County's 1997 budget and its record tax increase. He specifically wants to know why Chester County Court Judge Howard Riley lifted a 25-mill cap imposed by state law for general-fund spending with little or no evidence from the county that it was necessary to exceed the cap. Yesterday, Riley ruled that Stretton will get his day in court on Jan. 10. "I want a serious review," Stretton said.

TRENTON - When Gov. Christie first proposed his plan to limit property-tax increases to 2.5 percent a year, some Democratic lawmakers objected to a provision that would have allowed voters in individual towns to override the cap. The thinking among the critics was that wealthier towns would approve overrides much more often than less affluent ones, leading to a greater divide between the haves and the have-nots. The experience in Massachusetts, which has had a property-tax cap since 1981, appears to support those concerns.

The two assemblymen who represent South Jersey's Fourth Legislative District agree that local property-tax increases should be capped at 2.5 percent. But what's the best way? Freshman Republican Assemblyman Domenick DiCicco is siding with Gov. Christie, who wants to enact the cap by seeking voter approval to amend the state constitution. DiCicco introduced a resolution last month that would make it a ballot question. The governor's office said this week that more than 200 mayors had come out in support of the cap, which is being pitched in community settings by Christie and others, including DiCicco.

Spending by the township is expected to rise by more than 10 percent next year, but property taxes will go down. That's because a 0.5 percent earned-income tax that supervisors adopted in the spring provided a new source of revenue. The proposed budget totals $3,071,000, up from about $2,700,000 this year. The property-tax rate would be reduced from 19 mills to 14. The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $10,000 would pay $192, down from $242 this year. At a work session Tuesday, the supervisors were quick to announce that the preliminary budget was the first in a long time that did not exceed the legal tax limit of 14 mills for second-class townships.

Gov. Christie wants to throttle the steady rise of property taxes in New Jersey - already the highest in the nation - by following Massachusetts' lead. That state's property-tax cap, known as Proposition 2 1/2, has helped keep property taxes in check since it took effect in 1981. But experts warn that Massachusetts' experience also holds critical lessons for any state considering a similar approach. "New Jersey can't say, 'Look, it works in Massachusetts, and it will work here.

The Bush administration is considering a tax on workers' health benefits to finance medical coverage for the more than 30 million uninsured Americans, Louis W. Sullivan, health and human services secretary, says. The approach, which Sullivan refers to as a "tax cap," would subject employer-paid health benefits above a certain dollar amount to tax as personal income. "We are looking at a number of strategies, such as a 'tax cap' on employer-provided health care to provide funds for those who don't have (insurance)

With the rest of the state watching, voters in Medford Township swarmed the polls Tuesday and approved a significant tax increase that community leaders said was needed to prevent the town from sinking into a default. The measure passed with about 57 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns - a stunning turnaround in a Republican-leaning town that last year defeated a similar tax-increase proposal by a 5-1 ratio. Despite an antitax mood, the Burlington County town was among the three municipalities in New Jersey - out of 566 - that opted to ask voters this year for permission to exceed the state's 2 percent cap on the municipal portion of their property-tax bills.

Haddon Heights education officials will ask voters to approve a spending plan Tuesday that would raise taxes to spare jobs in the schools and save numerous sports programs and student activities. The Camden County district and five in Gloucester County are among only 73 statewide that declined New Jersey's recent, first-time offer to move their elections to November. More than 85 percent of the state's elected boards went for the change, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association.

The days of on-demand trash pickup are over for residents of Millburn, the Essex County community best known for the Mall at Short Hills, where Cartier diamonds meet Dior fashions. Homeowners in the town of 18,700 people 20 miles west of Manhattan were accustomed to summoning a public-works truck at no charge to collect whatever they neglected to set out on garbage day. On Jan. 1, a cheaper private hauler will replace municipal employees collecting trash in the township, whose $170,000 annual median household income is more than triple the national average.

Lori Grifa will step down next month as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, concluding a nearly two-year tenure that involved guiding towns on a new 2 percent cap on property-tax increases and overseeing changes in affordable-housing policies. Grifa said Monday that she would return to the law firm Wolff & Samson, where David Samson, the former state attorney general for whom she was chief of staff in 2002 and 2003, is a founding member. Taking her place is state Deputy Labor Commissioner Richard Constable, who served as a prosecutor with Gov. Christie when he was U.S. attorney and handled public corruption cases.

Lori Grifa will step down next month as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, concluding a nearly two-year tenure that involved guiding towns on a new 2 percent cap on property-tax increases and overseeing changes in affordable-housing policies. Grifa said Monday that she would return to the law firm Wolff & Samson, where David Samson, the former state attorney general for whom she was chief of staff in 2002 and 2003, is a founding member. Taking her place is state Deputy Labor Commissioner Richard Constable, who served as a prosecutor with Gov. Christie when he was U.S. attorney and handled public corruption cases.

The signs say "Less Cops=More Crime" and "Fire the Politicians. " They're scattered on front lawns and at intersections across Mount Holly. And some have been vandalized as tensions rise. The township is one of five Burlington County municipalities seeking voters' permission Wednesday to exceed a 2 percent cap on property tax increases. Mount Holly residents will decide whether they want a $207 tax increase, on average, or the loss of more than one-third of the police force and other cutbacks.

TRENTON - Some New Jersey lawmakers have called for the cancellation of state contracts with contributors to Reform Jersey Now, a political organization tied to Gov. Christie that released its list of donors this week after months of criticism that it lacked transparency. Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex) and Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D., Union) accused the organization of skirting the state's pay-to-play law, which bars firms that receive more than $17,500 in state contracts from contributing more than $300 to statewide candidates.

TRENTON - Criminal enterprises will flourish in one of America's poorest and most dangerous cities - and reach into neighboring towns - if plans to lay off half the police force take effect, a Camden police union leader told lawmakers Monday. "All hell will break loose," Fraternal Order of Police lodge president John Williamson testified at a hearing of the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee. Up to 180 officers could lose their jobs if the city cannot negotiate concessions in contracts to help plug a $28 million budget deficit.

From the perspective of Trenton observer Bill Dressel, everybody's gone to sleep at the Statehouse since the July passage of a 2 percent tax cap. But among local officials? "It's bedlam," said Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities. While the Democratic-controlled Legislature has taken minimal action on the so-called tool kit of proposals designed to help local governments keep property-tax increases under the new limit, lawmakers are facing pressure - from the governor's office to township halls - to get moving.