Governor & Senate President Reach Cap Compromise July 3
Latest News
- Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee to Take Testimony on Legislation Affording Executive County Superintendents Authority to Approve Collective Bargaining Agreements
- Senate Ed to Conduct Hearing on Trenton Schools Fiscal Problems
- After Long Day of Testimony on RTTT App Few Answers Revealed
- State Applies for $268M EduJobs Money
- AG to Investigate Wireless Generation’s Role in RTTT App
- Governor Launches New Campaign Focused On Pensions, Ethics, Education & Economic Development
- President's Annual Back to School Speech Scheduled for September 14
- New Jersey Part of State Coalitions Awarded RTTT $ to Improve Assessment
- Dems Leadership Plan Hearings on RTTT Error
- Governor Delays Release of School Spending Review
- NJ Civil Rights Division Says Bullying Suit Can Continue
- N.J. State Board Vows Continuation of RTTT Reforms and Receives HSPA/AHSA Remediation Plan from Department September 1
- 8 of 9 RTTT Winning Round Two States Host Contentious Gubernatorial Races
- Ok Curriculum Director's Age Bias Allowed to Continue
- Wanted: Nominees for NJPSA Board of Directors
- NJDOE’s Attempt to Garner RTTT Leftovers Unsuccessful
- Hendricks Named Interim Commissioner
- Ed Funding is Top Priority for Parents, Says Poll
- New Jersey 3 Points Short of Getting RTTT $
- Governor Nominates Jack Fornaro to State Board of Education August 23
Advocacy & Government Relations Navigation
Legislative Action Centers
- NJPSA Legislative Action Center
Click here to enter our Legislative Action Center to send information to your elected officials.- NAESP Federal Legislative Action Center
Take action today on issues affecting our children by using the NAESP’s Federal Legislative Action Center’s issues and legislation, elected officials and media guide features.- NASSP Principal’s Legislative Action Center
Communicate directly with elected leaders, monitor legislation, track Congressional voting and contact the media at the NASSP PLAC.
Your browser does not have Flash Player 8. Download Flash Player 8 to view NJPSA’s advertisements.
Deal Calls for 2 Percent Cap With Exceptions
July 6, 2010
Gov. Chris Christie and senate Democrats have reached an agreement on a property tax cap bill, but Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver has reportedly not yet signed on. The Speaker left the Statehouse shortly before it was announced and said through a spokesman that she was not "part of any closed door deal." Democratic sources say Oliver wanted to vet the deal with her caucus before agreeing.
The agreement, announced by the governor in a press conference July 3, calls for a 2 percent cap on property tax increases, but carves out exceptions for healthcare costs, pension costs, rising school enrollment, debt service and capital expenditures and emergency allocations.
The compromise to 2 percent — down from Christie’s 2.5 percent and Sweeney’s 2.9 percent — allows for more exceptions than the governor had wanted and fewer than the Senate president had sought.
The proposal came after a week of high drama in Trenton that saw the passage and signing of Christie’s $29.4 billion budget.
Under the proposed cap, local governments would only be allowed to raise property taxes 2 percent a year, giving them a key pass for rising pension and health care costs, debt payments, rising school enrollment and states of emergency.
Schools and towns would have to ask voters for approval to raise taxes above the limit, with a simple majority needed for approval.
The plan will head July 6 to the Legislature, which has already passed a bill to cap property taxes to 2.9 percent. Instead of drafting new legislation, Christie will write details of the deal into a conditional veto of that bill. Lawmakers would then have to pass that bill again. If enacted, the change would be in effect for next year’s municipal budgets.
Christie had fought with the Democratic legislative leadership over what form property tax reform would take, pushing an amendment to the state constitution to cap increases at 2.5 percent. He called the Democrats’ 2.9 percent alternative with several exceptions a "Swiss cheese" cap. In a speech July 1 to a joint session of the Legislature, Christie proposed a compromise 2.5 percent cap by law with a few exceptions. That sparked talks, with telephone conversations lasting until midnight July 2.
The talks continued July 3 at the Statehouse. But by midday, when Senate officials said they had a compromise in place, Oliver left the Statehouse.
"The speaker has not been part of any closed door deal," her spokesman, Tom Hester Jr., said in a statement. "As the speaker has said repeatedly, we will thoroughly vet any proposal."
The bill won’t become law without the Assembly. Oliver has scheduled committee hearings on property tax caps for July 7.
Both Republicans and Democrats involved in the deal claimed victory. Christie said he made concessions to come to an agreement that did not violate his "core principles," while Democrats said the compromise was remarkably close to what they were pushing all along.
Christie called on lawmakers to begin working on a series of proposals he calls his "tool kit," which would provide more power to local governments over union negotiations.
Sweeney said the Senate would pass some form of tool kit by the fall.