Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Trenton, NJ

LEAGUE OF MUNICIPALITIES REACTION TO SPEAKER’S CALL FOR EFFICIENCY BASED DISTRIBUTION OF
MUNICIPAL PROPERTY TAX RELIEF FUNDING

In response to Speaker Roberts’ call for the “efficiency based” distribution of municipal property tax relief funding, League of Municipalities’ Executive Director Bill Dressel says:

“The Speaker has recognized that there are major problems with:

            The magnitude of the proposed municipal property tax relief funding cuts;
            The timing of the municipal property tax relief funding cuts; and
            The arbitrary population ‘formula’ used to apportion those cuts.

“We agree with the need for greater fairness and equity. And the speaker’s proposal does look to address the unfairness and inequity of the ‘formula.’

“We have numerous concerns, however, that the desired ‘efficiency measures’ can be computed in time to allow municipalities to rationally plan and budget this year. So the timing issue continues to plague municipal budget makers.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with the Speaker and with DCA on the fairest way to deal with municipal property tax relief funding in future years.

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For further information contact: William G. Dressel, Jr., Executive Director at (609)695-3481
 extension 122 or cell (609) 915-9072.