A year after creating the state’s new “Anchor” property-tax relief program, Gov. Phil Murphy and legislative leaders appear to be on the verge of increasing the benefits for senior homeowners and renters.
Ongoing budget talks between Murphy and fellow Democrats who control the Legislature have led to a tentative framework agreement that calls for boosting “Anchor” property-tax relief benefits for seniors by $250 in the coming year, according to administration and legislative sources familiar with the negotiations.
The apparent agreement on increasing state-funded property-tax relief for homeowners and renters ages 65 and older, while not yet finalized, comes in the final stretch of negotiations taking place in the run-up to the start of a new fiscal year on July 1.
It also comes just months before all 120 seats in the state Legislature, which is currently controlled by Democrats, will be on the ballot in November.
Meanwhile, Democratic legislative leaders have also appeared to secure a commitment from Murphy during budget negotiations to lay the groundwork for creating an altogether new program that would also seek to make New Jersey more affordable for senior homeowners and renters.
Nearly 540,000 older residents and people with disabilities received ‘Anchor’ benefits earlier this year, according to state Treasury data.
But the proposed “StayNJ” relief program that’s been championed in recent weeks by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) and Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) would not provide any benefits until 2026 under the current tentative framework agreement, the sources said.
Under “Anchor” — whose formal title is Affordable New Jersey Communities for Homeowners and Renters — New Jersey earlier this year paid homeowners benefits worth up to $1,500, depending on annual income, and tenants received benefits totaling $450, if they earned $150,000 or less annually.
$2 billion line item
Murphy, Coughlin and Scutari announced the establishment of the “Anchor” program around this time last year as they worked toward an agreement on the budget for the 2023 fiscal year, which ends June 30. The first year of benefits was funded through a $2 billion line item.
“Anchor” replaced the state’s long-standing Homestead relief program, which also provided state-funded benefits, but only to homeowners, and at smaller amounts than those provided under “Anchor.”
Last month, Assembly Speaker Coughlin introduced legislation that called for establishing another new program with a goal of cutting property-tax bills in half for many New Jersey seniors.
Nearly 540,000 older residents and people with disabilities received “Anchor” benefits earlier this year via check or direct deposit, according to data collected by the state Department of Treasury. The largest share of those residents, nearly 470,000, received homeowner benefits, while nearly 70,000 received tenant benefits, according to Treasury.
Earlier this year, Murphy earmarked another $2 billion for a second year of “Anchor” in an overall $53 billion proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
And after the administration scaled back fiscal-year 2024 revenue projections by more than $1 billion in May, the line item for “Anchor” benefits remained in Murphy’s proposed budget unchanged.
Lofty goal
Last month, Coughlin proposed doing even more for seniors when he introduced legislation that called for establishing another new program with a lofty goal of cutting property-tax bills in half for many New Jersey seniors, starting in 2025.
As a result of the latest budget talks — which come after state tax collections in May fell more than $640 million short of last year’s monthly totals — the tentative framework agreement will delay the delivery of any new relief benefits by a year, to 2026, the sources said.
The deal also reduces the pool of seniors who would be eligible to receive the promised benefits by instituting a limit on annual income and also capping the size of the maximum benefit. But income-eligible renters would be able to benefit from the proposed new program, the sources said, after initially being left out of Coughlin’s version, which Murphy initially opposed.
While no senior homeowners or renters would receive benefits right away, funding needed to pay for the proposed “StayNJ” program would begin to be put aside right away, according to the agreement.
Despite the apparent breakthrough on senior property-tax relief, an annual spending bill has yet to be introduced in either house of the Legislature. If a new fiscal-year budget is not in place by July 1, state government would shut down until a spending bill is enacted.
–Senior Editorial Producer Julie Daurio contributed to this story.
