The bill, S589, that Senator Jennifer Beck and Senate President Steve Sweeney have sponsored to address New Jersey’s “Fake Farms” will not close any fake farms and will not increase property tax revenues. It will create new bureaucracy on the state, county and municipal levels of government. It will increase the costs of municipalities evaluating what is a farm and what is not a farm.
New Jersey’s farmland assessment law dates back to 1964. It provides that properties of 5 acres that generate revenue and payments of $500 from crops or livestock be assessed as farms for property tax purposes. Properties over 5 acres must produce $5 per acre to qualify under the proposed law. $.50 per acre for wetlands. Dogs are excluded as livestock, President Obama’s childhood dietary habits notwithstanding.
S589, let’s call it “Karcher’s Law,” would increase the minimum level of revenue a “farm” must produce to $1000.
Beck used former Senator Ellen Karcher’s use of the farmland assessment law as a major issue in her 2007 campaign to replace Karcher in the Senate. Karcher classifies 6 acres of her 9 acre Marlboro home as a Christmas tree farm, saving $14,000 in property taxes.
I can see the campaign literature now. “We ended fake farms by doubling the required production of these so called farms.” Gullible homeowners will nod and be grateful that their property taxes increased only 3% while the lawyers, lobbyists, rock stars and politicians who avoid tens of thousands in property taxes send in their campaign contributions.
Products that cost $500 in 1964 would cost $3,711.05 today. 500 of today’s dollars would have bought you $67.37 of merchandise in 1964.
Clearly, increasing the required revenue generated from a “farm” from $500 to $1000 will not end the abuse. Increasing the required revenue to the inflation adjusted $3,711.05 will not end it either.
There is a provision in the proposed law that creates a State Farmland Evaluation Advisory Committee comprised of the Director of the Division of Taxation, the Dean of Rutgers College of Agriculture and the Secretary of Agriculture. The committee will conduct periodic reviews of the minimum farm revenue and payment requirements. Maybe Sweeney and Beck are counting on the bureaucrats to come up with an equitable solution to the problem. Not likely, but we can’t say for sure as neither Senator returned a call asking for an explanation of the bill.
There is another provision of the proposed bill that eliminates the “roll back tax” for fake farms that are declassified. Under the current farmland assessment law, properties that are declassified as farms are subject to retroactive property taxes at a fair market valuation for a number of years. The proposed law would only tax declassified farms at fair market value going forward, so long as the property owner continues their fake farming. Maybe this is the real intended teeth of the proposed bill. We’ll ask Beck or Sweeney if either of them calls back.
S589 was passed by the Senate Environment and Energy Committee on Thursday and sent to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.
Hopefully the Senate Budget and Appropriation Committee, of which Beck is a member, will amend the bill so that it really does eliminate the practice of middle class homeowners subsidizing hobby farms of wealthy and connected landowners.
Someone should tell Barnes, and Politickernj’s Darryl Isherwood, that Democratic NY Governor Andrew Cuomo is employing the exact same fund raising technique to promote his agenda in New York that Christie is using in New Jersey.
All of this ranting about PACs and 501(c)4’s circumventing the pay to pay laws is silly. The campaign finance system is working exactly the way it was designed to work. It decreases transparency and gives politicians something to shout at each other about while the public tunes out to pay attention to something more entertaining. That’s what the system was designed to do!
Note to Isherwood: The New York Times broke the story about Cuomo’s use of a 501(c)4.
Frank LaRocca today announced a complete slate to lead the Monmouth County Democratic Party, reflecting the diversity of the county and a will to win on the part of local leaders.
“I’m honored to have the support of such a broad-based coalition and those who know what it takes to win elections in Monmouth County,” LaRocca said. “This is an outstanding team.”
As the Marlboro Democratic Party Chairman, LaRocca has won 8 out of 9 elections, making Marlboro a model for how to build a Democratic Party organization from the ground floor. When he took over, there was an all Republican Council and a Republican Mayor. Now, as a second term councilman in Marlboro, he is providing innovative, effective leadership in to his community.
The following is the LaRocca Leadership Team:
REBECCA AARONSON
Vice-Chair
Manalapan
In addition to serving as Mayor and Committeewoman in Manalapan, Aaronson was Chairman Victor Scudiery long-time vice-chair of the Monmouth County Democrats.
Rebecca volunteers as a Spanish interpreter at Parker Family Health Center in Red Bank. She has been honored by the Latino American Association of Monmouth County for her public service. She’s a graduate of Brookdale College. She and her husband Richard have raised two sons.
In 2005, Aaronson ran a strong race for Monmouth County Freeholder, nearly toppling an entrenched incumbent.
GERALD TARANTOLO
Corresponding Secretary
Eatontown
Mayor Tarantolo is currently serving his 14th year as Mayor of Eatontown and was last re-elected in November 2010 for a fourth four-year term. He also served on the Eatontown Council for 14 years and as a member of the community’s Board of Education.
Mayor Tarantolo was actively involved in the Save Fort Monmouth Committee, served as co-chairman of the Fort Monmouth Reuse Committee, the Governor’s Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization and Planning Authority and now on the Governor’s Fort Monmouth Economic Redevelopment Authority (FMERA).
He is the 2007 recipient of the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce Spinnaker Award for Public Service and the 2010 SCAN Humanitarian Award.
MICHAEL MANGAN
Recording Secretary
Manasquan
Councilman Mangan is serving his second term where he’s been a leader on the community’s Environmental Commission and Tourism Commission. A business executive, Michael is a graduate of George Washington University. He’s served as executive director of the Monmouth County Democrats under Chairman Scudiery.
VINCENT SOLOMENO
Sergeant at Arms
Hazlet
Vincent Solomeno has been fighting for Monmouth County Democrats since
he was fourteen. In 2000, The Asbury Park Press called him a
“political prodigy” when he beat the odds and elected two Democrats to
the Union Beach Borough Council. Since then, he has managed winning
races in Hazlet Township and helped elect Democrats across Monmouth
County.
Vincent received his B.S. in Political Science from the University of
Scranton. As a Harry S. Truman Scholar, he worked in the Washington,
D.C. office of Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. The recipient of a
2007 J. William Fulbright Fellowship to the Netherlands, he earned his
M.A. in European Studies from the University of Amsterdam for his
study of Islamic radicalization. He is a member of American Legion
Post No. 23, a former member of the Hazlet Township Planning Board,
past President of the Hazlet Democratic Club, and he presently serves
as President of the Bayshore Democratic Club.
SHARON LEE
Treasurer
Red Bank
Councilwoman Sharon Lee is a life-long resident of Monmouth County who has dedicated her public service to quality of life issues. In Red Bank, she chairs the Code Enforcement Committee and serves on the Police, Fire, Parks and Recreation Committees and is Council liaison to the Community Advisory Board. Sharon served for seven years on the Planning Board where her priority was always protecting the integrity of our neighborhoods. During her eight years on Council, Lee has served as Council President, Chair of Parks and Recreation and interim chair of the Finance Committee. She is also the former Chair of Department of Public Works and former Chair of the Education and Technology Committee.
The New York Times FiveThirtyEight blog has shifted its rating of the New Jersey U.S. Senate race between likely GOP nominee, State Senator Joe Kyrillos and incumbent Senator Bob Menendez from Safe Democrat to Likely Democrat.
In New Jersey, Robert Menendez, a Democrat, has middling approval ratings and is below 50 percent in the polls against the most likely Republican nominee, State Senator Joseph Kyrillos. Mr. Kyrillos would need to catch some breaks to win the race — his fund-raising has lagged Mr. Menendez’s so far, and he might need Mr. Romney to be more competitive in New Jersey than Republican presidential candidates have been in recent years. Still, there is a plausible path to an upset, and so we now classify the race as Likely Democrat rather than Safe Democrat.
Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini Endorse Cullari in CD-6 Primary
In an interview with Politickernj, the Monmouth County GOP nominee in the primary for the 6th Congressional District, Ernesto Cullari, said that Anna Little, the 2010 GOP nominee in the 6th district and his primary opponent this year, was focused on herself and not the task at hand, defeating Congressman Frank Pallone, during the 2010 general election,
“What I saw was a candidate unwilling to go after (incumbent U.S. Rep. Frank) Pallone – like the fact that he got his wife a job at the EPA where she works while most people suffer an economic downturn,” Cullari said. “Frank Pallone and a slew of other leaders have been looking out for just themselves. I’ll make that case. I’m not ashamed to make it.
“What I witnessed in Anna was someone deeply focused on herself instead of the task at hand – namely advancing the small government ideology,” he added. “She missed that opportunity.”
Cullari went on to define himself as the true Tea Party conservative in the primary,
10 days since MMM reported that Anna Little was a candidate for U.S. Senate and had terminated her candidacy for Congress as far as the Federal Election Commission is concerned, the former Highlands Mayor has yet to file a Statement of Organization.
Little terminated her Anna C. Little for Congress committee on April 2, 10 days after she was awarded the Middlesex GOP endorsement for the 6th Congressional District primary. She filed a Statement of Organziation for U.S. Senate on February 13. There is no active record on Little being a candidate for the House of Representative with the FEC, as of this writing.
Ernesto Cullari, the Monmouth GOP nominee in the CD-6 primary, filed his Statement of Organization on March 26.
Little’s treasurer, Brett Rappaport has yet to respond to an inquiry from the May 6 story. Little’s former treasurer, Jane Frotton, said she had nothing to do with the FEC reports, despite her signature. She also said to stop picking on Anna.
Governor Chris Christie nominated Monmouth County Republican Chairman Joe Oxley to the Superior Court this afternoon.
Oxley, who will complete his second term as Monmouth GOP Chair upon the election of his successor on June, 12, is a graduate of the University of Maryland and Delaware Law School. He was elected Monmouth County Sheriff in 1995 after defeating William Lanzaro in the GOP primary and served as Sheriff until 2007. He is a partner in the Scarinci Hollenbeck law firm and an adjunct professor at Monmouth University.
Oxley was elected Chairman by acclamation in June of 2008. After narrowly losing control of the Monmouth County Freeholder Board in the Obama election of 08, Oxley brought stability and three straight victorious elections to a previously divided party. He will leave his successor with a 5-0 Freeholder Board and an entirely Republican legislative delegation.
Oxley’s nomination has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing.
Former Senate President John Bennett and State Committeewoman Christine Hanlon are running to replace Oxley as Monmouth GOP Chair.
