Connors, Rumpf & Gove: State Should Reimburse Towns for Cost of Disabled Veterans’ Property Tax Exemption

Consistent with the policy of “state mandate – state pay,” the 9th District Delegation is calling for the passage of their legislation to require the State to annually reimburse each municipality for the cost of complying with the State mandate of exempting disabled veterans from paying property taxes.

The legislation, S-163 and A-736, introduced by Senator Christopher J. Connors, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf, and Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove would also require the state to provide funding to municipalities to cover the administrative costs associated with the veterans’ property tax relief program.

The Delegation issued the following statement:

“Municipalities should be reimbursed by Trenton for the costs associated with the disabled veterans’ property tax exemption, as it is a state mandate.  This would be consistent with the policy of ‘state mandate – state pay.’  Moreover, it would enable municipalities to provide property tax relief, which remains the top issue of taxpayers who are finding New Jersey increasingly unaffordable.

“More than 900 veterans living in our Legislative District receive this property tax relief benefit.  However, since this is an unfunded state mandate, the cost of the exemption, which amounts to millions of dollars, is passed on to all other taxpayers in their respective municipalities.

“Given the considerable number of veterans residing in our area, this policy of non-reimbursement disparately impacts our Legislative District, just as the state’s broken school funding formula and toll increases.

“No one would argue that disabled veterans and their families are more than deserving of this benefit in view of the tremendous sacrifices by these individuals in service to their country.  It’s important to note that our constituent municipalities do an incredible job of assisting qualified veterans applying for the property tax exemption and other programs.  Therefore, the state should be obligated to cover the costs associated with property tax exemption.”

Members of the 9th Legislative District serve, respectively, on the Senate and Assembly Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committees.