Dear Mayor:

The Senate President and Acting Governor has now spoken on the SMART bill, which would have shifted a percentage of school property taxes to the income tax. He does not support it. In his State of the State speech, he spoke on the Citizens' Convention bill. He said, "We must consider ... and act upon the report by Carl Van Horn and Michael Cole on the Property Tax Convention." (Emphasis added.) In that same speech, he also said, "The public deserves better than false promises and unrealistic expectations." And Senator Codey has always been a man of his word.

So we are confident that the naysayers are wrong. There will be a Senate vote on A-5269 and ACR-25, if the bills are approved by the Assembly. They may not pass in the Senate, but they will be acted upon. And that is a whole lot more than can be said about any other plan for property tax reform.

This confirms what we've been saying for the past five years. Anyone who seriously wants to see significant and lasting property tax reform has got to support the convention approach.

Property taxes are unfair and inequitable. They are not based on the ability to pay and fall heaviest on those living on fixed incomes. In our State, those with the least shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden. Households with incomes in the lowest 20 % pay 9.2% of their earnings in property taxes, while the wealthiest 20 % pay 3.6% of their income through this assessment.

New Jersey is over-reliant on this regressive revenue source. The property tax accounts for about 45% of total State and local tax revenue in our State. The National average is just slightly above 30%.

The Legislature has always had the power to address the property tax crisis. The Legislature has had ample opportunity to address the property tax crisis. The Legislature has NOT addressed the property tax crisis. Despite decades of inaction, incredibly, there are those who still believe that the Legislature, and the Legislature alone, should have the right to accomplish significant and lasting property tax reform. We would welcome that. But don't let anybody tell you that that is the surest route to true reform. And don't let anybody tell you that movement towards a property tax convention precludes the possibility of Legislative progress.

Legislative action on a special property tax convention bill will do nothing to prevent the unanticipated, unprecedented and highly unlikely prospect that the Legislature just might decide, at long last, to lance this festering sore on the body politic. All action on a convention bill will do is set a time limit.

The Legislature will have until Election Day 2005 to convince the people of New Jersey that they do not need a special convention to get true property tax reform. If they can do that, there will be no special convention. If they cannot, then there has to be one.

That's our fiscal illness. A-5269 and ACR-25 could be the cure. As our "primary care physicians," the Governor and State Legislature don't seem to have one. So we've asked them for a referral to a new group of "specialists." Those we have in mind would be the delegates to a citizens' convention for property tax reform. With property tax pressures almost certain to intensify this year, the people of New Jersey must be given a hope for future relief. They expect the Senate and General Assembly, as well as Governor Codey, to act on a property tax convention bill, in time to get the question on this November's ballot. They need nothing more than that. They deserve nothing less.

Please contact your own State Senator and your representatives in the General Assembly and urge them to support A-5269 and ACR-25.

Also, please make certain that your municipality is represented at our Property Tax Summit in Lawrenceville, this Friday, May 6. You can still register on-line at www.njslom.com, or call Ms. Dawn Mirabelli at 609-695-3481, ext. 11.