N.J. mayors stressed it was unfair to burden towns with requirement to keep taxes in check without providing the means to do it
The Assembly Budget Committee hears testimony from NJ mayors on a 2 percent cap on property taxes at the Statehouse. TRENTON — With Assembly Democrats belatedly climbing on board, Gov. Chris Christie Wednesday said he expects the Legislature to "very quickly" approve a compromise capping annual property tax increases at 2 percent — but that won’t finish the job.
The Republican governor said he will be "a human pressure machine" as the Democrat-controlled Legislature also takes up 33 bills known as the "tool kit" to help local governments cut costs and cope with the cap.
"The cap makes all the rest of it possible. It makes all the rest of it necessary," Christie told reporters on a visit to a dairy farm in Franklin Township. "We’re going to keep the pressure on. There’s no reason for me to let my foot off the gas now."
But with the Senate expected to pass the cap today and the Assembly to follow as soon as Monday, local officials worry the tool kit bills could be lost in the fog of summer and union resistance.
During a hearing of the Assembly Budget Committee Wednesday, five mayors said Christie and lawmakers were "putting the cart before the horse."
"I’ve sold my business, I’ve quit my job, I’ve joined the Peace Corps, and I’m telling my family tomorrow we’re going to try to figure out later how we’re going to keep paying the mortgage on the house," said Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley. "That’s kind of the way we all feel this process is going."
The mayors stressed it was unfair to burden towns with a requirement to keep taxes in check without providing the means to do it.
Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said his city had negotiated contracts with its workers with only a 1.4 percent raise over the course of five years, but that under current circumstances it would still not be able to meet the 2 percent cap because of other factors beyond his control.
The mayors also joined Assembly Democrats in asking for more exceptions to the cap, including towns’ reserves for uncollected taxes and future cuts in state aid.
Christie did not rule out more exceptions in the future, but stressed he had already signed a conditional veto formalizing the cap with four exemptions.
The governor said two of those — allowing pension and health care cost increases above 2 percent to remain outside the cap — will not relieve local governments of the responsibility to control those costs. He said the tool kit, which includes arbitration and contract reforms that could affect pension and health care payments, is essential for the plan to work.
But Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), a sponsor of the bill Christie conditionally vetoed, said the changes to health care and pensions betray Christie’s claims to a "hard" cap on property taxes.
"This is a soft cap, there’s no question," he said.
The committee hearing came just after the Assembly officially signed on to the 2 percent cap, becoming the final part of the three-piece puzzle needed to enact it. The deal was struck between Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) on Saturday, with Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) left out of the negotiations.
Wednesday, Assembly Democrats said they support the cap and will vote on a tool kit — though not necessarily Christie’s exact proposals — by fall, mirroring the schedule set by the Senate.
That shift upset firefighter union officials, who warned the cap would force layoffs and cost lives. New Jersey State Firemen’s Mutual Benevolent Association President Bill Lavin said Democratic members had assured him they would take their time — "literally 24 hours before I turned on the TV and saw a deal being struck between the governor and the Senate president."
By Matt Friedman and Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau
