Oroho: Added NJ Revenues Must Fund Tax Relief

New Jersey State Senator Steven Oroho (R- Sussex) today submitted an amendment on the floor of the Senate which dedicates any additional aid given to municipalities from the state's energy tax receipts collections to be dedicated solely to reducing the municipal tax levy, ensuring direct property tax relief.

Oroho is proposing to amend S-1900, which increases funding to municipalities from the Energy Tax Receipts Property Tax Relief Fund, to guarantee that the monies are not used to increase municipal budgets.

"Without my amendment, the legislation disbursing more energy tax receipts funding to municipalities will simply subsidize spending increases at the local level rather than reduce the tax levy," said Oroho. "The state has tried giving additional state aid to municipalities without any strings attached, and property tax levies have still gone up every single year. Unless we can guarantee that these extra funds are dedicated to property tax relief rather than subsidizing additional local spending, we will continue to see tax hikes year in and year out."

Oroho noted that under prior administrations, New Jersey saw historically high annual property tax increases while also distributing higher levels of state aid. "The correlation between more aid and lower property taxes hasn't been proven in recent memory," he said. "If money alone were the solution, property taxes would have plummeted between 2002 and 2010 instead of rising 60%."