NJLM's
Legislative
Priorities for
2009
Walking
the Walk,
Together
In 2006, following decades of inaction, Governor Corzine asked the members of the State Senate and General Assembly to start walking the road to property tax relief and reform.
Local elected and appointed officials welcomed that new start.
We realize that the road will be long and hard. But we hope that,
together, we can continue to surely and steadily move towards our goal. That is what our constituents expect. And that is what our constituents deserve. We can’t take time to pause along the way.
But that is only one of many long, hard roads that lie before the elected leaders and policy makers of our Garden State. Our natural resources and agricultural assets need to be better protected. Our transportation, energy and environmental infrastructures need to be modernized and maintained. Our public ethics must be polished and our economy must be reinvigorated.
Our children need education and recreation. Our families need affordable housing and safe neighborhoods. And our seniors need respect and security. The list goes on from there.
Now more than ever, New Jersey needs to exercise the same creativity, the same commitment, the same compassion, the same prudence, the same justice, the same courage and the same temperance that, in the past, have placed our State in the forefront of the world’s economy and on the vanguard of American public policy.
The problems that we face cannot, for the most part, be easily divided into State issues and local concerns. Public servants at all levels of government must cooperate, in order to achieve progress on any of these long, hard walks. Let’s not waste our precious time and our potent energies on deciding who is to blame for the difficulties that face our State. Instead, we should focus on sustainable solutions.
2009 must be the year when we will all move forward together
COMMUNITY BUILDING LAND USE & AFFORDABLE HOUSING
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Strengthen participatory democracy by safeguarding the institutions, through which people can, cooperatively, shape the future of their own communities.
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Defend the local planning and zoning review process from attack by those who value private profit more than the public’s interest.
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Urge support for initiatives which would encourage those who reap the greatest benefits from new development to, more equitably, share the costs of the infrastructural improvements, which that development necessitates.
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Continue our review of potentially unnecessary and duplicative bureaucratic requirements which inhibit the construction and renovation of sufficient safe and affordable housing for the families of our less-affluent fellow citizens
PUBLIC SAFETY, PUBLIC HEALTH &
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
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Promote policies that will permit communities to achieve and sustain compliance with appropriately high public safety, public health and environmental standards.
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Advocate a spirit of cooperation among state and local governments, which emphasizes the solution of problems, rather than the assessment of blame.
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Foster Legislative and citizen awareness of, and respect for, our public safety, public health and environmental priorities; and, thereby, increase our communal quality of life, while decreasing the costs, which will accrue in the long run if remediation efforts become necessary.
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Support policies that will permit communities to utilize flexible
solutions to site remediation problems.
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Champion efforts to maintain, for future generations, the natural diversity which draws millions of visitors to our State, and to bequeath to our children a healthier and cleaner environment.
TAXATION, FINANCE & TRANSPORTATION
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Continue to evaluate the levy cap, enhanced rebates, school district governance and funding reforms and the other outcomes of the
Special Legislative Session for Property Tax to determine their real impact on New Jersey’s regressive and anachronistic over-reliance on property taxes to fund essential public services and programs.
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Determine the need for further reforms, which might need to be effected by a special citizens’ property tax reform convention.
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Support, at minimum, statutory levels of property tax relief funding, which must be adjusted to account for inflation, so as not to further exacerbate the burden borne by New Jersey’s families and small businesses.
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Oppose further Administration and Legislative Budget proposals that would shift costs from the State to local governments, because such proposals will, inevitably, contribute to the property tax crisis.
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Champion policies that will permit local governments to jointly negotiate and enter into contracts so as to provide for our citizens the best possible supplies and services at the lowest possible rates.
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Support fair and reasonable public pension and benefit reforms that appropriately reward current and retired public servants for their service without inappropriately burdening their fellow citizens.
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Continue to advocate for statutory and regulatory changes to
address soaring healthcare costs that cause a significant burden on local property taxes.
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Advocate for a sustainable and fair solution to our transportation
infrastructure funding crisis
INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
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Promote and participate in discussions among public servants representing their fellow citizens at the local, state and federal level, in order to best meet the challenges and respond to the opportunities emerging from developments in our nation’s and State’s capital.
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Tackle existing mandates by supporting legislative review and repeal or relaxation of unnecessary, unfunded requirements imposed on municipalities in the past, and remaining in effect, today.
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Review, with the intent to repeal, long-standing statutory impediments to greater
intergovernmental cooperation.
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Promote the continuing dialogue between and among neighboring municipalities, counties and school districts in order to find creative and cooperative solutions to existing and emerging problems.
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Continue to dialogue with the Administration to promote reforming the statutory strictures governing civil service.
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