Some N.J. lawmakers want to make it easier to raise property taxes

TRENTON -- New Jersey Democratic lawmakers say municipalities have been forced to pass on opportunities to receive federal matching dollars for things like buying new firetrucks because of the state's 2 percent property tax cap.

That's why the Assembly on Thursday passed a bill (A1655) that would give municipalities an exemption to skirt the tax cap to "provide matching funds" for a municipality to receive federal and state funds or grants.

The bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) told 101.5FM the bill was born out of concerns from municipal officials who told him they have missed out on opportunities to purchase new firetrucks because they couldn't come up with local matches to federal dollars.

The conversation on tax cap work arounds come only months after the state's infamously high property tax bills topped $8,500 per home in 2016, a 2.35 percent increase over the previous year, according to Department of Community Affairs figures released in January.

Read more: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/is_a_new_firetruck_worth_going_around_the_property.html