TRENTON – Legislation Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney sponsored to create a task force to monitor the effects of the recently enacted two-percent property tax levy cap and recommend potential changes to ensure it works today passed the Senate.
“With the property tax cap now in place, our job must be to ensure it works,” said Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem). “The mistake would be to just let the cap stay the same as the world around it changes. This task force is essential to giving lawmakers the information we will need to ensure the cap stays relevant over time.”
The six-member task force would engage in a three-year study of the property tax cap. The panel would thoroughly review its impacts on the overall property tax burden and municipal finances – including the structure and functions of local governments as well as labor agreements that are signed.
“The cap can’t work in a vacuum,” said Sweeney. “We will want to see towns working together and reforming their own practices.”
The measure (S-2201) also is sponsored by Senator Thomas H. Kean, Jr. (R-Union/Essex/Morris/Somerset).
The bill passed 40-0, and now heads to the Assembly for further consideration.