Most of the more than 1.5 million New Jersey residents who applied for “Anchor” property-tax relief benefits have received payments as large as $1,500 in recent weeks to help ease the burden of record-high local levies.
But for thousands of additional applicants, the wait continues.
According to the latest figures from the state Department of Treasury, roughly 70,000 applications for Anchor benefits submitted by a Feb. 28 deadline are still undergoing a verification and data-matching process.
The benefits owed to most of these applicants should be distributed by Treasury’s Division of Taxation within a matter of weeks, assuming everything checks out, according to agency spokeswoman Melinda Caliendo.
“The Division anticipates many of these applications to be paid by the end of May,” she said in a statement.
For those still waiting, Treasury has set up a status inquiry page Anchor applicants can use to verify their application has been received and is still being processed. There is also an Anchor hotline, which can be reached at 1-888-238-1233, that can be used by those who applied, but don’t see it listed as being received when checking the status inquiry page.
Anchor was established last year after Gov. Phil Murphy and lawmakers decided to replace the state’s long-standing Homestead relief program. The formal title for Anchor is “Affordable New Jersey Communities for Homeowners and Renters.”
Last year, the average property tax bill levied in New Jersey increased by more than $200 to a record-high total of $9,490, according to data released earlier this year by the Department of Community Affairs.
Among other differences, Anchor allows more residents to qualify for benefits by increasing income ceilings, than the program it replaced. It also provides a benefit to many tenants, a group that pays property taxes indirectly through rent payments that had been locked out of the Homestead program for roughly a decade after revenue losses triggered by the 2007-2009 Great Recession brought on cutbacks.
Approximately 1.55 million New Jersey residents have received Anchor benefits that began to be distributed in late March, according to Treasury’s figures. Unlike the Homestead program, which provided eligible recipients with direct credits on property-tax bills, Anchor benefits were paid out via check and direct deposit.
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.
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.
Renters who earned up to $150,000 annually in 2019 were also made eligible to receive Anchor benefits totaling $450.
Initial estimates
The Murphy administration originally estimated more than 2 million New Jersey households would be eligible to receive Anchor benefits, including more than 1 million homeowners and more than 900,000 renters.
As of earlier this month, a total of 1.11 million New Jersey homeowners had applied for and received Anchor benefits, according to Treasury’s latest figures. The total for renters as of earlier this month was 441,000, Treasury said, which is well below the administration’s initial estimates.
Last month, state Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio acknowledged during a budget hearing in Trenton the challenges the administration faced with getting participation from all of the renters that were initially estimated to be eligible for Anchor benefits.
But the treasurer also said she is expecting to see more renters apply for and receive Anchor benefits during a second year for Anchor that Murphy now is proposing, as word about the program continues to spread.
“I think going forward it’s going to be a lot easier,” she told lawmakers during the hearing.
Murphy’s budget proposal for the new fiscal year that begins July 1 sets aside $2 billion to continue funding the Anchor program. It remains to be seen whether the final appropriation for Anchor benefits will be reduced based on this year’s level of participation.
Last year, the average property-tax bill levied in New Jersey increased by more than $200, to a record-high total of $9,490, according to data released earlier this year by the Department of Community Affairs.
In his overall $53.1 billion budget plan, Murphy has not proposed increasing the size of any of the benefits that would be received by eligible households or changing any of the income requirements for homeowners or renters. Language included in the proposed budget also calls for the 2020 tax year to be used for both the program’s income and residency provisions.
Before Homestead’s income and residency provisions were changed in response to revenue losses triggered by the Great Recession, more than 1 million households were eligible to receive benefits as large as $2,000, according to Treasury records. At the time, the average New Jersey property-tax bill was roughly $7,000.
