FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Joseph M. DiBella, Mayor

1-732-938-4500

May 30, 2006

Need for Property Tax Reform

Every day I get a call at home or an email from a resident, frustrated with the issue of property taxes and what to do. I do my best to describe the problems we face as a municipality and talk about the extreme measures we have taken as a township to cut spending and slow development, two drivers behind local taxes. Yet the fact of the matter is that the township’s government receives a very small portion of the local tax dollar collected and the real prospect for turning the tide on the property tax issue lies with elected officials in Trenton. However, year after year, we are forced to deal with the realities that the Governor and the legislature will not deal with the real issues at hand and so we are left to make ends meet here at home.

Of every local $1.00 collected in taxes, at the current rate, about $0.11 cents goes to the Township to run the municipal government. The remaining $0.89 cents goes elsewhere. Specifically, $0.50 goes to the local board of education, $0.18 goes to the Freehold Regional High School board of education, $0.15 goes to the County of Monmouth, $0.04 goes to the local Fire Districts and $0.02 goes to the open space fund to acquire land and farms for preservation purposes. Simply put, the township gets 11% of the local tax dollar to operate a government that must deliver and distribute services to the largest community in the County with a population of some 52,000+ residents. This imbalance is a part of the issue but there is more.

As a community, we have cut spending, reduced the size of our workforce, cut overtime, cut back on what we pay to professionals that represent the town, we made moves to provide huge savings in health benefits, we have audited nearly every township department, we installed new technology to increase productivity and drive down costs and have finally begun to slow the rate of residential growth. In fact, based on 2004 data, Howell Township has one of the lowest spending rates per resident in the area. The municipal cost per resident is $653. When compared to neighboring towns, Howell is one of the lowest. For example, in Wall the rate is $929. In Brick the rate is $739, Colts Neck is $698, Freehold is $893 and Lakewood is $747. Yet all of this is still not enough because the real issue is how local property taxes are funded and the enormous waste and spending hikes coming from Trenton.

This is coupled with a broken State pension system that is punishing our budgets and our economy and a bureaucracy in Trenton that stands by and looks the other way.

This year Howell will get an estimated $30 million in school state aid to the local board of education while Newark will get $690,000,000 (source: NJ State Department of Education). That’s 23 times the state aid we get and they have only 6 times the number of students. Said another way, they will get $16,000 in state aid per child while we get $4,200 per child. In fact, while Newark gets $16,000 per child in State aid the Howell Board of Education spends in total about $9,800 per child (source: NJ State Department of Education).

The inequities in the system are crippling communities like ours where we have a need to provide services to our residents. This is compounded by the fact that working families and especially senior citizens are struggling to make ends meet. What is the solution? Forcing the Governor and the Legislature to deal with the issue head on all while taking on the special interests and coming up with a new plan that can cut spending, push for consolidation and eliminate funding inequities that send all the money to a small few communities while places like Howell merely get the bill. 

This is not an issue that will be fixed overnight. State legislators have debated special conventions, tasks forces and all sorts of ways to try and address the issue. The fact is until forced to do it by an outraged electorate, they will simply pass the buck. I call on each of you to email or write the Senate and Assembly Democrats and Republicans (visit: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us) demanding they deal with the issue of property taxes and a system that more fairly and equitably deals with funding. Most importantly, demand that the State deal with their appetite for increased spending, unfunded mandates and new taxes that are hurting working families and seniors.

Over the next several weeks the township will finalize our 2006 municipal budget and so I’ll share more with you shortly regarding our own spending cuts and priorities. In the event you have any questions with this or any issue, or if I can be of assistance to you on any other matter, please call anytime or email me at MayorDiBella@twp.howell.nj.us.