Credit: (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

New Jersey residents are just beginning to receive the first payments under the state’s new Anchor property-tax relief program, but attention is already shifting to finding ways to improve the program in year two.

In all, more than 1.7 million residents applied for state-funded Anchor relief payments, according to Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration, and thousands began receiving payments via direct deposit last week.

Starting this week, Anchor payments are also going out to thousands more who requested their payments in a check form, administration officials said.

Boasting benefits as large as $1,500 for many eligible homeowners, Anchor was established last year as a replacement for the state’s long-standing Homestead Benefit. Murphy has already proposed maintaining a $2 billion allocation for Anchor as part of his overall $53.1 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Adding homeowners and renters to Anchor

With Anchor now set to continue into a second year, enrolling even more eligible homeowners and renters is the goal, Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio told members of the Assembly Budget Committee during a public hearing Monday.

“We are hoping to build off the year one success and reach even more eligible homeowners and renters next year,” she said.

As Monday’s hearing progressed, several lawmakers praised Muoio’s department for working closely with their own legislative staff to drive up overall participation in the program in the first year.

“The Anchor program — I thank you — it’s been a great success,” said Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Passaic).

“You have really extended yourself, and your staff, in order to help with this program,” Committee Chair Eliana Pintor Marin (D-Essex) said.

Still, some lawmakers noted the total number of applications received prior to a Feb. 28 deadline fell short of the total number of homeowners and renters initially estimated to be eligible for Anchor benefits — a pool of some 2 million residents.

“I can’t express how much this is really impacting a lot of people’s lives,” said Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Mercer), before later adding, “We still have a lot more to do.”

“How can we make this easier for people to apply is the bottom line,” Reynolds-Jackson said.

Anchor’s formal title is the “Affordable New Jersey Communities for Homeowners and Renters” program.

Assigning Anchor benefit levels

Under rules that were written into the state’s fiscal year 2023 budget, homeowners who earned up to $150,000 annually in 2019 were made eligible to receive Anchor benefits totaling $1,500 this year.

Homeowners who earned more than $150,000 and up to $250,000 annually in 2019 were made eligible to receive Anchor benefits totaling $1,000.

Meanwhile, renters who earned up to $150,000 annually in 2019 were also made eligible to receive Anchor benefits totaling $450.

But to get those benefits, eligible homeowners and renters had to submit applications before Feb. 28. And unlike Homestead benefits, which were paid out as a direct credit on a quarterly property-tax bill, Anchor comes as a separate payment.

‘We wouldn’t need these big, cumbersome programs that cost a lot to administer and also are sometimes difficult to navigate for residents if we would just initially try and cut taxes and address that problem.’ — Assemblyman Gary Scharfenberger

While some 200,000 Anchor applications are currently under review, Treasury officials told lawmakers during Monday’s hearing the rate of participation among homeowners was very strong. But the officials said they had a harder time reaching eligible renters, a group that had been locked out of state-funded relief efforts for over a decade.

“The biggest challenge probably this year was getting the renter population (to apply),” Muoio said. “I think we touched just about all of the homeowners.”

Beefing up the call center

Murphy has already proposed expanding the call center for the Anchor program as part of efforts to improve customer service, according to budget documents.

But Muoio suggested the job should be easier in year two now that word about the program — and its hefty payments — are getting out and a base of those eligible to receive payments has also been established.

“I think going forward it’s going to be a lot easier,” she said.

Still, some lawmakers asked whether it would make more sense to streamline the application process or find some way to make enrollment automatic.

Also up for discussion Monday was whether the state could save time and resources by finding a way to lower property-tax bills rather than using state dollars to administer a program to help ease those bills. Local property-tax bills averaged a record-high $9,490 in New Jersey last year, according to data released earlier this year by the Department of Community Affairs.

“We wouldn’t need these big, cumbersome programs that cost a lot to administer and also are sometimes difficult to navigate for residents if we would just initially try and cut taxes and address that problem,” said Assemblyman Gary Scharfenberger (R-Monmouth).

“Would you agree that that’s the way to do it … to cut taxes rather than create these programs?” Scharfenberger asked.

But Muoio responded by saying the Anchor program “is having the effect of” reducing the property-tax burden for many New Jersey residents.