Bill > S2539

Introduced Session

This bill would require an application for a long term property tax exemption to include a cost-benefit analysis and for the mayor or other chief executive officer of the municipality to produce an independent cost-benefit analysis to be submitted along with the application to the municipal governing body before it can decide on the exemption. The bill would also require a municipal governing body to include in its resolution approving or disapproving of a project for which a long term tax exemption is sought specific findings about the net impact of the project on the finances of the directly affected local governments, namely the municipality, county, school district, and other taxing districts within which the project is located. The cost-benefit analyses and financial impact findings required for grants of long term property tax exemptions would have to be posted on the Internet website of the granting municipality. If the municipality does not have a website, this information would have to be provided for public inspection on the Internet website of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA). Municipalities that grant new long term property tax exemptions would have to provide pertinent information about each approved project to DCA, which would post that information, along with existing long term property tax exemption information retrieved from plain language budget summaries submitted to DCA, in a database, sorted by municipality, on its Internet website. This bill would ensure that municipalities consider and evaluate whether an investment in a redevelopment project through the grant of a long term property tax exemption will generate satisfactory revenue returns to the municipality, as well as the financial impacts on counties, school districts, and other local governments. The bill would also allow the public to do the same by making the required cost-benefit analyses and financial impact findings, as well as complete long term property tax exemption information for each municipality, easily accessible on the Internet.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Michael Doherty (R)*,  Tom Kean (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee (on 09/26/2016)