After Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey, many officials have come together to rebuild. New Jersey League of Municipalities President and East Windsor Township Mayor Janice Mironov told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that most towns have cleaned up and are now focusing on rebuilding. She said lowering property taxes in the state is still a priority for mayors.
While Mironov said the majority of municipalities have been cleaned up since Sandy and are moving on with life as normal, there are some shore areas that were hit particularly hard and have a lot of rebuilding to do. They also took a hit on the ratable base because of destroyed homes and businesses.
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“With respect to the loss of ratable bases, I think that’s an issue that officials at the state and local levels will need to take a hard look at and identify means to try to assist those towns. I know there are some programs available that will provide some support from the federal government. So we’ll have to see what that is,” Mironov said. “But you know at the end of the day, there’s no question that property taxes throughout New Jersey remain the number one concern of our residents and of our businesses.”
According to Mironov, high property taxes are a factor in many people leaving New Jersey and make it more challenging to attract new businesses. “It’s absolutely critical that property taxes be at the very top of that agenda,” she said.
She said the number one item on mayors’ wish list for officials in Trenton to work on would be significantly lowering property taxes for residents and businesses. “We as local officials have to send a tax bill out. In most cases we’re the very smallest part of the tax bill as opposed to the schools and the county and yet we have to put our names on it, send it out, collect it and then pass it on,” Mironov said. “I think property taxes are the most serious issue.”
Mironov suggested that officials set priorities in New Jersey to determine what money gets allocated and what doesn’t.
While many municipalities have been engaged in shared services for many years, Mironov said that alone won’t solve the problem of high property taxes. “There needs to be some massive reorganizations by the state with respect to how things are funded,” she said. “There need to be proper revenues provided to the municipalities.”
Mironov said she has worked to get energy tax receipts returned to municipalities since they are municipal monies. Bills passed the Senate and Assembly with bipartisan support to return that money, according to Mironov, but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the measure.
“We’re hopeful that maybe the second year will be more successful. I think there’s a general recognition by much of the leadership on both sides of the aisle that returning those energy receipts to towns is the right thing to do, that the money belongs to towns. And also it would be an immediate way to provide local property tax relief,” Mironov said. “So we’re going to continue to push hard on the issue and we hope we’ll have some good success this year.”