Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce

DeCROCE: TIME TO STOP THE 'INCREDIBLE SHRINKING REFORM EFFORT' BEFORE NOTHING IS LEFT

PROPERTY TAX REFORM EFFORT APPEARS TO BE SUFFERING DEATH FROM A THOUSAND CUTS

Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce today said he fears that if somebody doesn't stop the Democrats from whittling away at the various property tax reform proposals there will soon be nothing left of this summer's property tax reform effort.January 19, 2007
Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce/973-984-0922
Assembly Republican Office/609-292-5339

DeCROCE: TIME TO STOP THE 'INCREDIBLE SHRINKING REFORM EFFORT' BEFORE NOTHING IS LEFT

PROPERTY TAX REFORM EFFORT APPEARS TO BE SUFFERING DEATH FROM A THOUSAND CUTS

Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce today said he fears that if somebody doesn't stop the Democrats from whittling away at the various property tax reform proposals there will soon be nothing left of this summer's property tax reform effort.

"It seems like every day something new is removed from this reform package," said DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. "If the savings from these reforms were supposed to be the backbone of a plan to provide sustainable property tax relief, I am concerned that this proposed property tax relief may vanish."

DeCroce noted that the problem began in November when many of the key reforms proposed by the Joint Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform were eliminated from the bill that was introduced in the Legislature. Next Governor Corzine further gutted that bill saying he wanted those issues left to his negotiations with the state worker unions.

Last week it was reported that the proposal to eliminate dual office holding had been taken off the table due to objections from Hudson County Democrat legislators. This week it was reported that those same Hudson County legislators have sought to severely limit the new state comptroller's authority by changing that bill to prohibit the comptroller's office from looking into spending in municipalities or school districts.

This morning a group of South Jersey Democrat legislators are taking credit for "killing" legislation that would have created a pilot county-wide school district program. Also, Senate President Codey is quoted in today's papers as saying he is still not sure what form the proposed 4-percent local government caps will take -- a cap on spending or on property taxes.

"An observer need only look at all the reforms that have been take off the table to realize that the proposed savings from this summer’s reform effort will be minimal," DeCroce said. "The question now becomes: 'How do the Democrats propose to finance their property tax cut?'"

DeCroce noted that Democrats had originally suggested part of the funding for their property tax relief proposal would come from the savings achieved through many of the reforms that no longer exist.

"Assembly Republicans believe that funding is available for as much as a 30 percent property tax cut, if the Democrats are willing to cut wasteful spending," DeCroce said. "But the gutting of these cost-saving measures, combined with their refusal to consider our spending cuts, casts doubt on their ability to deliver real property tax relief."

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