TRENTON — With Gov. Chris Christie and top lawmakers in the final throes of budget negotiations, Republicans today tried to push the envelope on Christie's plan to curb annual property tax increases. Assembly Republicans held a press conference to push for action on a proposed constitutional amendment banning local governments from hiking property tax collections by more than 2.5...
Gov. Chris Christie holds town hall meeting on property tax reform at the Alexander F. Jankowski Community Center in Perth Amboy. Members of the audience fill the isle to ask questions.TRENTON — With Gov. Chris Christie and top lawmakers in the final throes of budget negotiations, Republicans today tried to push the envelope on Christie's plan to curb annual property tax increases.
Assembly Republicans held a press conference to push for action on a proposed constitutional amendment banning local governments from hiking property tax collections by more than 2.5 percent annually without voter approval. They said the GOP governor's plan would need to pass legislative committees by July 6 and get final legislative approval by the end of that month to go to voters on Nov. 2.
The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services says in a memo that "final legislative action should occur ... by July 26."
"The people of New Jersey will be denied the opportunity to vote" if the process does not move quickly, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Morris) said. "We don't want that to happen."
Democrats control both houses of the Legislature and decide what measures are voted on and when. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) has said her house will hold hearings on Christie's proposed reforms after the budget is signed into law. The deadline for a spending plan is July 1, and legislators are trying to hammer out a compromise with the governor on his proposed $29.3 billion budget.
“The Assembly will examine the governor's plan when it can get the full attention it deserves -- not during the crucial days of the finalization of a Republican budget that taxes working families," Oliver's spokesman, Tom Hester Jr., said today. "Unfortunately, we’ve seen with the governor’s faulty executive orders that rushing policy is often not a good thing. We will do this right.”
A bill sponsored by Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester) would impose a 2.5 percent cap legislatively -- replacing the current 4 percent limit -- instead of through a constitutional amendment. DeCroce today said Republicans would reject that proposal.
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