Prieto says he and Christie have found ‘common ground’ on renewal of key property tax law
TRENTON ‐ After a two-and-a-half-month stalemate, Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) and Gov. Chris Christie have reached “common ground” on renewing a crucial law that mayors say has taken a significant bite out of property tax growth…
Extend Key Property Tax Reform – Earn the Respect We Claim to Seek.
By Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon
When Gov. Christie came to office in 2010, he took action to address the biggest problem New Jerseyans have faced for decades – property taxes. Working with the Legislature, historic tax reforms were signed into law. These included a two percent limit on property tax levies, increased health and pension contributions by public employees and a two percent cap on awards arbitrators can grant when towns and their unions can’t agree on a contract.
These cost control tools are working. Recent property tax data shows the average property tax bill grew by 1.7 percent in 2013 and by the lowest consistent rate in decades since the reforms were passed. While our ultimate goal is to actually cut property taxes, slowing their growth is an essential first step.
The clock is now counting down to the destruction of the delicate framework that has successfully controlled our property taxes. An essential component of that framework – the arbitration award cap which enables local officials to control their largest costs – expired on April 1 of this year. The first contracts exempt from the cap will expire in June. That will be a disaster for property taxpayers throughout New Jersey. Without an honest and effective arbitration award cap, the property tax cap will fail.
The state’s interest arbitration cap law is one of the primary reasons we have turned the tide on the escalation of property taxes. According to the Public Employment Relations Commission, from January 2011 (when the arbitration law took effect) to September 2013, average raises in local contracts, whether through arbitration or negotiations, were 1.86 percent — the lowest in at least 20 years.
Posted: May 4th, 2014 | Author: admin | Filed under: Declan O'Scanlon, NJ State Legislature, Property Tax Tool Kit, Property Taxes | Tags: Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, Interest Arbitration Cap, Property Tax Cap, Property Tax Tool Kit, Property Taxes | 4 Comments »Christie and Prieto negotiating over renewal of key NJ property tax law
TRENTON — State Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto is negotiating with Gov. Chris Christie on renewing of a law that limits raises to some police and firefighters to help curtail property tax increases. “I am in conversations with the governor and…
Christie calls on Prieto to renew key NJ property tax law
TRENTON — After spending months combating scandal, Gov. Chris Christie today returned to a familiar setting and an old target: standing in front of dozens of supporters to pressure the state Assembly to pass a key bill. Backed by dozens of county…
Christie to hammer NJ Assembly on expiration of property tax law
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie plans to go after Assembly Democrats this morning for their refusal to renew a law that reduced compensation for many police and firefighters. Christie has an 11a.m. press conference scheduled at Trenton’s war memorial…
O’Scanlon Calls On Towns To File For Arbitration Before April 1
With one business day to go prior to the expiration of the Interest Arbitration Award Cap that has saved New Jersey property tax payers millions of dollars over the last 3 years, and with no sign that Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto is going to call the General Assembly back into session to vote on concurring with Governor Chris Chrisite’s conditional veto of legislation to extend the cap, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, the Republican Assembly Budget Officer, is calling on every New Jersey municipality with an expired police or firefighters contract to file for arbitration on Monday so their new contract will fall within the 2% parameter of the existing cap.
“It is quite frankly heart breaking to me that the leadership of my house, all of who are my friends, are leading New Jersey property tax payers off a cliff,” O’Scanlon said, “I fully expected to hear by the end of the day today that we would be brought back to Trenton on Monday to vote to affirm the Governor’s conditional veto of the arbitration award cap legislation which was overwhelmingly passed on a bipartisan measure by the apparently much more responsible New Jersey State Senate.
“Since the clock is counting down to the expiration of the previous law and the Assembly leadership seems to care more about pandering to special interest than the property tax payers of New Jersey I now feel compelled to take action assuming we’ll face the worst case scenario. In order to most comprehensively guard themselves against potential frivolous, but costly none the less, litigation any municipality that has an expired contract, but that has not yet filed for arbitration, should do so immediately – before the April 1 expiration of the previous law.
“It is extremely unfortunate that the Assembly Democrat leadership would act to threaten the welfare of New Jersey property tax payers, but that is apparently the reality.”
Pass this post on to your municipal officials.
Posted: March 28th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: NJ State Legislature, Property Tax Tool Kit, Property Taxes | Tags: Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, Declan O'Scanlon, Interest Arbitration Cap, Property Tax Cap, Property Taxes | 2 Comments »Still Hope For Property Tax Cap
The ball is in the Assembly’s court
Both the State Senate and General Assembly passed the bill that would blow a hole in municipal budgets for the next four years, the “extension” of the 2% Interest Arbitration Cap for police and firefighters base salaries that did not really cap those salaries. Had the bill become law, there would have been a massive cut in municipal services throughout New Jersey or property taxes would have started rising again at levels we experienced during the Corzine/Codey/McGreevey administrations.
But Governor Chris Christie conditionally vetoed the bill and the Senate quickly concurred with the changes he made to the bill which kept the cap intact through December 2017 by a vote of 33-1. Christie’s office announced the conditional veto and the Senate’s concurrence in the same press release.
One has to wonder why the Senate went through the exercise of passing the “bad bill” in the first place, by a vote of 28-7, only to abandon the changes it made to the existing Interest Arbitration Cap and, for the most part, extend the existing law for another four years, so quickly. Without the Senate’s concurrence to Christie’s conditional veto, the cap on arbitration awards would expire on April 1st. Either the “bad bill” or the expiration of the cap would have been a victory for the Trenton Democrats benefactors in the police and firefighters unions.
The unions may still have their victory. Before the Assembly could take a vote on concurring with Christie’s conditional veto, Speaker Vincent Prieto abruptly adjourned the session. No Assembly session has been scheduled, yet, to take up the concurrence prior to April 1.
Below is a video of Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon’s floor speak before the chamber voted on the “bad bill.” As usual, O’Scanlon makes is case and fights for New Jersey taxpayers very well.
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Posted: March 28th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Declan O'Scanlon, NJ State Legislature, Property Tax Tool Kit, Property Taxes | Tags: Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, Declan O'Scanlon, Governor Chris Christie, interest arbitration, Interest Arbitration Cap, NJ State Legislature, Property Tax Tool Kit, Property Taxes | 2 Comments »NJ Senator Mike Doherty Pulls A Pelosi
Sponsors a critical bill before he reads it
Legislature in poised to pass a “cap” that doesn’t control costs
State Senator Mike Doherty (R-Warren) told MMM that he hadn’t read a bill of which is he is a primary sponsor, the day after it cleared the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee.
We’re not talking about an insignificant bill like designating “I’m from New Jersey” as the State Song, or the establishment of special license plates for honorably discharged veterans, two other bills that Doherty sponsored.
We’re talking about the extension of the 2% cap on arbitration awards for police and firefighters unions, the provision of the 2010 reform legislation that slowed the growth in New Jersey’s property taxes and made the 2% cap on those taxes work.
Doherty joined Senate President Sweeney in sponsoring legislation that exempts contracts that have already been subject to the cap from being subject to it again when they are up for renewal and raises the cap to 3% on contracts that have not yet been subject to renegotiation.
Doherty said, “I don’t see what the big deal is, the original bill had one bite at the apple, this bill extends that. Is it a perfect bill? No, but this is the way Trenton works. A bill that passes is better than no bill.”
Not really, Senator. A bill that passes the same as no bill, except it deceives the public into thinking the legislature is continuing fiscal reforms when they are actually engineering massive chaos in municipal governments.
Doherty said he hadn’t read the bill when we questioned him on specifics. He said he was relying on analysis of the bill from Republican legislative staffers and referred questions to Republican Senators Steven Oroho and Sam Thompson, members of the committee that unanimously cleared the bill.
The leadership of the police and firefighters unions not only read the bill, they helped write it, according to what they are telling their members.
Posted: March 27th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: NJ State Legislature, Property Tax Tool Kit, Property Taxes | Tags: Interest Arbitration Cap, Nancy Pelosi, NJ State Legislature, Property Tax Tool Kit, Property Taxes, Seante President Steve Sweeney, Senator Mike Doherty | 1 Comment »Property taxes: Christie won’t sign Democrat bill to extend key law, Republican lawmaker says
TRENTON — A fight over renewing a law crucial to holding back an increase in property taxes is nowhere near resolved, a Republican lawmaker who has led the fight for retaining it said today. Although the Democrat-led Legislature last week began advancing…