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TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senate President Steve Sweeney that would help insulate property taxpayers from efforts by local officials to make end runs around the state’s 2 percent cap today passed the full Senate.

“’User fees’ are just a cleverly conceived way to hide from folks that their taxes are going up yet again. The property tax cap was put in place to prevent these kinds of things from happening. It is not there so that local officials can find new and creative ways to get around it,” said Sweeney (D-Gloucester, Cumberland, Salem).

TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senate President Steve Sweeney that would help insulate property taxpayers from efforts by local officials to make end runs around the state’s 2 percent cap cleared the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee today.

“For some services, the term ‘user fee’ is just a clever way to avoid actually calling it what it is: property tax. Property taxes are high enough without local officials trying to come up with clever and new ways to raise them even more. The cap was put in place because New Jerseyans have had it with ever increasing property taxes. It shouldn’t be seen as simply something to get around,” said Sweeney (D-Gloucester, Cumberland, Salem).

TRENTON – Senate President Steve Sweeney announced today that he will be introducing legislation that will help insulate property tax payers from efforts by local officials to make end runs around the state’s 2 percent cap by moving certain spending items, like trash collection, out of the property tax levy and into a “user fee.” On Tuesday, certain municipalities in New Jersey will consider referenda asking tax payers to approve raising taxes above the 2 percent levy cap.

Under the proposed legislation, services shifted from a property tax base to a “user fee” base would continue to be counted as part of the current 2 percent property tax cap for municipalities.

“A ‘user fee’ for a municipally provided service is just another way of saying ‘tax,’ and these attempts to get around the property tax cap are disingenuous and detrimental to homeowners,” said Sweeney (D-Gloucester, Cumberland, Salem). “Municipal governments must do more to control property taxes. Paying lip service to their residents needs for cost containment, then turning around and hitting them with a separate bill, is still just taking more money out of the same pocket.”