“You’ve been asked to commit political suicide,’’ by Trenton politicians who slapped a two percent cap on property tax hikes and failed to provide the management reforms that make it possible to live with that cap without cutting services and laying off public employees.
That was the assessment delivered to Ocean County’s mayors by William G. Dressel Jr., executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, who found lots to complain about in Trenton. He met with local mayors Friday morning in Toms River.
“You have to look at taxpayers and explain why taxes are going up or you’re laying off essential workers,’’ Dressel said.
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Brick Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said officials there will go where few others are willing to go, asking voters to approve exceeding the two percent tax cap by the equivalent of 9.9 cents on the tax rate in an April referendum, the same day voters decide on school spending.
If voters reject the higher spending, Acropolis said as many as 150 employees could face the ax. That number is higher than it otherwise might have been because state regulators set the referendum date so late, meaning workers who might be laid off will have been paid for several months.
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In Brick, the local chapter of the Transport Workers Union that represents township employees has already to help stem potential layoffs.
Toms River Administrator Paul Shives has already contacted Dressel about how officials there should approach cuts in the Toms River regional school budget, if voters reject it.
“We’re gonna be killed by tax appeals,’’ complained Manchester Mayor Michael Fressola, one of several complaining they are hamstrung by state regulators in finding ways to refund property taxes where appeals are successful. Property values have fallen during the recession, and are now between 14 and 26.9 percent less than tax assessments, depending on where people live in Manchester Township.
Officials are being told the state will not exempt the refunds from the property tax cap or allow them to borrow the money for the refunds. The only option is to pay cash refunds from surplus, some have been told by state regulators.
Dressel said management reforms that were supposed to make it easier to live with the two percent property tax cap were supposed to be enacted by the Legislature by the end of 2010. That didn’t happen.
“We got a watered down binding arbitration law,’’ he said.
Gov. Chris Christie told local officials “I’m not going to do what you have to do, make pension payments,’’ without accompanying reforms, Dressel said.
Dressel said he was “relieved’’ there were no more cuts in state aid to municipalities this year, but said $450 million was cut last year.
The state has raided the gross receipts tax on utilities to the tune of $890 million over the past decade, is threatening to cut aid to urban enterprise zones like Lakewood, all part of what he calls an “assault on municipalities.’’
“You can’t run for President if you raise taxes,’’ Acropolis said, referring to Christie’s frequently denied intentions to seek that office.
He and Fressola said there could be significant cuts in property taxes in their communities if school funding was shifted from the property tax and paid for by an increase in the state income tax.
Dressel said his organization “can’t get anybody’s attention,’’ with that idea among lawmakers in Trenton.
