The Best Practices Inventory Questionnaire is an excel worksheet which will be submitted electronically to the Division. The questionnaire must be certified by your Chief Financial Officer and discussed at a public meeting. Click here for the Excel worksheet.
The following are the highlights:
Questionnaire is due by September 1st for Calendar Year or Transitional Fiscal year municipalities. Fiscal Year municipalities must return their questionnaire by April 2, 2012.
The completed questionnaire must be an agenda item for discussion at a municipal governing body meeting and the municipal clerk must subsequently file a certification confirming that the questionnaire was discussed publicly. The discussion can occur before or after the actual submission of the questionnaire.
In addition to “yes” or “no” answers, the form allows the option of answering each question as “not applicable” or that compliance will be “prospective”. “Not applicable” is only an appropriate answer if a municipality concludes that the requirement is impossible to meeting given the municipality’s circumstances and requires an explanation. The “prospective” answer should only be used to indicate that compliance with a practice will be forthcoming in the upcoming year based on good faith efforts and direction from appropriate officials to implement the practice.
Municipalities can appeal to the Director their scoring at the conclusion of the process
This year’s criteria for withholding property tax relief funding will use a sliding scale up to the full amount of the final aid payment:
# of Questions scored yes, prospective, or “not applicable”
Amount of Aid Disbursed
Impact on final 5% aid payment/impact on total aid
