On March 1, The Division of Local Government Services released Local Finance Notice 2021-05, addressing budget certification, Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief Aid (CMPTRA), Energy Tax Receipts (ETR), Watershed Moratorium Offset Aid, Garden State Trust Fund Aid, and the Payment Schedule. LFN 2021-05 builds off the February 23 FY 2022 proposed budget where municipalities will be receiving a flat amount from the previous FY 2021 budget.
Budget Certification
The SFY 2022 Aid Certification for municipalities will be made available via under the Department of Local Government Services, under the Information Resources. Municipal State heading on Friday March 5. The certifications are available on an Excel form where individual schedules can be generated by selecting a municipality. Local officials must get their certifications from the Departments website.
Although the proposed budget serves as a guide to SFY municipalities, final SFY certifications will be posted once the state budget is adopted accounting for any changes in the municipal aid numbers due to the legislative process and revised revenue estimate.
CMPTRA and ETR
All aid certifications reflect both FY 2021 and FY 2022 budget’s allocations for CMPTRA, ETR, and Business Personal Property responsibilities. Within these responsibilities comes the allocated aid for fire districts under the Supplemental Fire Service Program along with additional traditional of BPP amounts between a municipality and school.
Watershed Moratorium Offset Aid
The FY 2022 proposed budget appropriates $2.2 million, the same as FY 2021 budget.
Garden State Trust Aid
Governor Murphy’s proposed FY 2022 budget keeps the appropriation of $6.4 million from the FY 2021 budget.
Payment Schedule
The final aid payment will be released in July, prior to August 1 payment. Payments for municipalities are to be made through electronically through the Automated Clearing House payment system. Any changes in the municipality’s depository bank must be reported to the Division of Local Government Services as soon as possible so any necessary changes can be made to the payment computer system.
Contact: Andrew LaFevre, Legislative Analyst, alafevre@njlm.org , 609-695-3481 ext:116