Bill Expands Property Tax Assessment Reform Program into Atlantic County
(TRENTON) – Property tax reform legislation Assemblyman Vincent Mazzeo and Assemblyman Sgt. Robert Andrzejczak sponsored to streamline property assessments and save taxpayers millions of dollars was advanced Monday by an Assembly panel.
The bill (A-2495) expands the county-based real property tax assessment pilot program available only in Gloucester County to Atlantic County.
“Atlantic County taxpayers can no longer afford to be paying tens of millions in property tax appeals every year — a burden that’s putting a continual strain on residents and businesses alike. It’s not sustainable and we have to act,” said Mazzeo (D-Atlantic). “With the current state of our economy, I believe we need to stop talking about shared services and actually implement shared services.”
The pilot program has produced a saving of $4.3 million dollars since 2010 for Gloucester taxpayers by streamlining the reevaluation process and creating a countywide tax assessor’s office to take away the unnecessary burden on individual municipalities.
Mazzeo and Andrzejczak noted Atlantic County is a good candidate to be a pilot county for county-based real property assessment because the unique status of Atlantic City as the only municipality in the state where casino gaming is permitted has resulted in a sizable portion of the county ratable base with special valuation problems.
“By expanding the program, we can save Atlantic County taxpayers millions per year and continue evaluating this program,” said Andrzejczak (D-Atlantic/Cape May/Cumberland). “When New Jersey has the nation’s highest property taxes in the nation, we cannot sit back and allow the same old system to continue without reform. Every town should get an identical and fair process. We need new and innovative ideas like this one to begin saving money and helping taxpayers.”
The bill was released by the Assembly State and Local Government Committee.