May 17, 2012

Re:  Funding Restoration Bill Postponed

Dear Mayor:

In our May 14 letter, we advised you that S-1900, which would phase-in the restoration of $331 million in municipal property tax relief funding, had been scheduled for Committee consideration today, in Trenton.

On Tuesday, May 15, the Treasury Department announced that April tax collections were below expectations and down from a year ago, leaving State revenues $230.3 million behind the Treasurer’s February estimates. In light of this news and in anticipation of next week’s Office of Legislative Services (OLS) update on State revenues and a formal presentation by the State Treasurer, Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Senator Paul Sarlo has postponed consideration of S-1900.

The fate of this funding will be decided in State budget negotiations this month. We urge you to contact your State Legislators in support of this vital initiative. Ask them to join as cosponsors of S-1900 or A-2921.

S-1900 and its companion, A-2921, would phase-in, over five years, the restoration of $331 million in municipal property tax relief funding. First year funding would exceed $66 million.

This legislation ensures that each municipality in the State will be restored to the 2007 (SFY 2008) Energy Tax Receipts and Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief Aid level, over 5 years. And the poison pill will protect that level of funding for each municipality, while continuing to require aggregate Energy Tax Receipts inflation adjustments.

We thank the sponsors. We support S-1900 and A-2921.

Please visit of Restoration Resource Center on the internet at http://www.njslom.org/energy-tax-resource-center.html

And if you have any questions, contact Jon Moran at 609-695-3481, ext. 121 or jmoran@njslom.com.

Very truly yours,

William G. Dressel, Jr.
Executive Director