Mayor Lou Manzo pens the following Mayor’s Message on the state’s property tax reform.
LOU MANZO
MAYOR
I write, in this edition, about a very serious issue that concerns every resident in our state: Property tax reform and the process that is underway to finally address it in Trenton.
As your mayor, I am asking for your support to urge our representatives there to take the actions necessary to avoid the looming fiscal disaster. This is not a new conversation, in fact, we all know that property taxes are New Jersey’s biggest black eye. Governors and legislators from both parties have failed to act for years. But the time has come to stop kicking the can down the road and take decisive action. Soon, I will give you specific instructions on how your voice can be heard in Trenton to implore the needed action.
But first, here’s a current update: As we entered 2018, state lawmakers initiated the first step in the process by commissioning the Economic and Fiscal Policy Workgroup made up of legislative leadership members and non-legislative policy experts.
The workgroup was charged with a broad mission: “To identify ways to address soaring pension and benefit costs, hold down property taxes, make state and local government and school districts more efficient, assess the equity and efficiency of our state and local tax structure, leverage the value of state assets and mitigate the negative impact of the federal tax law that targeted high-costs states.”
Translation: Pull out all the stops and put every possible action step on the table.
The workgroup held seven meetings in the first half of the year that included presentations by these experts and robust discussions on the possible solutions. Every member was required to submit multiple recommendations (more than 200 in total), which were then aggregated into five categories.
The workgroup was then split into five corresponding subcommittees to review these recommendations over the next several months. Each of these subcommittees submitted a report with a final consensus of recommendations, which was compiled into one 38-page report known as “The Path to Progress Report,” delivered on Aug. 9. You can view it on the website www.PathToPogressNJ.org.
This is where you come in.
Take the time to look at this report and the dozens of potential actions that are recommended. Some of these actions may seem drastic, but this is the situation decades of avoidance has put before us. Most importantly, understand two things: First, unlike in the past, I believe the political will now exists in Trenton to make some of these hard choices; and second, those choices will come from the list of recommendations in this report.
So that’s your homework this week. Read the report.
In the next issue’s Mayor’s Message, I’ll instruct you how I want Harrison Township residents to weigh in. Have you ever complained about the high property taxes we pay in New Jersey to me or another elected official? Perhaps, you just grumble about it to yourself, on occasion? Either way, this will be your quick and easy opportunity to join the throng so Trenton will finally hear you.
