Reimbursement program's fate is uncertain in budget battle
Ruth Wohlforth of the Oceanview section of Upper Township in Cape May County at her home of nearly 40 years. Wohlforth is having difficulty making ends meet and faces losing her home after state subsidy programs have been cut.TRENTON — Ruthann Wohlforth scrapes by on $8,500 a year, living modestly in the 70-year-old home her father built in Ocean View, keeping meticulous notes on every last dollar she spends.
By far the biggest burden is her property tax bill, a $4,000 charge that eats up almost half her income.
"I just can’t keep up anymore," said Wohlforth, 70. "I spend so much time worrying about this it’s hard to free my mind to do other things."
Already on the tightest of budgets, Wohlforth says she has been losing sleep wondering if she’ll be forced to give up her house and her independence this year. The math is simple: Her Social Security income has been stagnant since 2008, but taxes on her home have risen hundreds of dollars over the same period.
The only thing keeping her afloat, a state program that reimburses part of her property taxes, remains locked in uncertainty as lawmakers in Trenton scramble to finish a budget by the June 30 deadline.
There are more than 100,000 seniors enrolled in the program, called Senior Freeze. Not all of them are in dire straits like Wohlforth, but all have been forced to pay a bigger chunk of their property taxes after last year’s budget cuts.
"I can’t imagine people in more desperate straits than very low-income seniors," said Douglas Johnston, legislative director for AARP-NJ. "We have to focus what little relief there is on the people who really need it."
The AARP wants New Jersey to restore full financing to the program, which freezes property tax rates for people over 65 who earn less than $80,000 a year. Someone who enrolled in 2008, for example, would pay the 2008 tax rate in subsequent years, no matter how much their taxes went up.
At least, that’s what Senior Freeze is supposed to do. After last year’s budget cuts, the program has not been covering new applicants, and reimbursements have been fixed at 2009 property tax rates — essentially making the elderly responsible for any tax increases after 2009.
Gov. Chris Christie’s budget proposal this year would keep those restrictions in place, although he has indicated he would accept full financing — at a cost of at least $210 million — if legislators made it part of a "fiscally responsible" budget.
That puts the ball in the Democrats’ court. State Sen. Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex) and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester) are sponsoring measures that would prop Senior Freeze back up to full strength, allowing new members to enter and reimbursements to climb back up.
But that would require Democrats to scrounge up $70 million more than Christie has proposed at a time when many competing interests are clamoring for cash.
"What I don’t have a sense of yet is whether other members will think this is a priority, but it is a priority for me," Greenstein said. Moriarty said it’s an issue likely to gain support in the Assembly, but that no discussions have taken place yet.
If their resolution makes it through, life might become easier for Alexander Ingham, 72, of Morganville, who retired for the second time last year just as the value of his home shot up.
"All of a sudden they hit me with a property tax bill that’s 30 percent higher than what I had been paying," he said. "If I had qualified for that property tax freeze I would have been able to keep my taxes at the previous level."
Wohlforth, for her part, says she needs the reimbursements to keep up with her rising cost of living. Even a few hundred dollars could spell the difference between becoming a ward of the state or remaining in her father’s home.
"I promised him I would take care of it," she said. "Right now I’m not doing such a good job."