1 Good Morning I am going to begin today discussing two bills that we’ve been watching that were recently signed into laws….

2 P.L.2015, c. 277 90 day tax deferment NJ residentAny branch of US Armed Forces Deployed for active service during time of war File application with Tax Collector Deferred amount must be paid within 90 day grace period following last date of deployment State will reimburse deferred amount plus 2% Tax Collector to refund State upon receipt A2935, which was introduced in the last Legislative Session got voted into law on 1/19/2016 as (P.L.2015, c.277). This new law states that every resident in the State of NJ, who is a member of the United States Armed Forces, and is deployed for active service during a time of war, would be entitled to a tax deferment. An application would be filed with the Tax Collector. Along with the application they would also have to provide a copy of their deployment papers so you would have proof of the dates to use for the deferment. The deferment would begin with the original due date and end 90 days after their deployment ends. If the taxes are not paid within those 90 days, on the 91st day interest would revert back to the original due date. The State will annually reimburse the municipality for the total amount deferred. The tax collector will be required to reimburse the State for the deferred amount plus interest, whenever it’s paid.

3 New Jersey Statutes, Title: 38, MILITIA--SOLDIERS, SAILORS AND MARINES     Chapter 23C: Policy      Section: 38:23C-18: Collection of taxes or assessments; interest and penalties            a. The provisions of this section shall apply when any taxes or assessments, whether general or special, other than taxes on income, whether falling due prior or during the period of military service in respect of personal property, money or credits or real property owned and occupied for dwelling, agricultural, or business purposes by a person in military service, or his dependents, at the commencement of his period of military service and still so occupied by his dependents or employees, are not paid.  b. No sale of such property shall be made to enforce the collection of such tax or assessment, or any proceeding or action for such purpose commenced, except upon leave of court granted upon application made therefor by the collector of taxes or other officer whose duty it is to enforce the collection of taxes or assessments. The court thereupon, unless in its opinion the ability of the person in military service to pay such taxes or assessments is not materially affected by reason of such service, may stay such proceedings or such sale, as provided in this act, for a period extending not more than 6 months after the termination of the period of military service of such person. c. When by law such property may be sold or forfeited to enforce the collection of such tax or assessment, such person in military service shall have the right to redeem or commence an action to redeem such property, at any time not later than 6 months after the termination of such service, but in no case later than 6 months after the date when this act ceases to be in force; but this shall not be taken to shorten any period, now or hereafter provided by the laws of the State, or any political subdivision thereof, for such redemption.  d. Whenever any tax or assessment shall not be paid when due, such tax or assessment due and unpaid shall bear interest until paid at the rate of from the date when such tax first became a lien, and no other penalty or interest shall be incurred by reason of such nonpayment, whether such penalty or interest shall have accrued prior or shall accrue subsequent to the commencement of the period of military service of such person. Any lien for such unpaid taxes or assessment shall also include such interest thereon.  L.1979, c. 317, s. 18, eff. Jan. 18, 1980.  You may not be aware of this existing statute which dates back to 1979 but the amount of interest that can be charged to military personnel has been on the books since then. Title 38 Chapter 23C states interest will be at a rate of 6% on unpaid taxes and assessments for soldiers, sailors, and marines from the date they’re due until the date they’re paid, and no other penalties may be applied. Stays of tax sales may be granted for up to 6 months from the end of the person’s military service and should the property be allowed to go to sale, the right to redeem can be anytime up to 6 months after the military service ends. Just an FYI 6% per annum

4 PL 2015, c.203 DECEMBER Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 State of Emergency issued by Governor Extension of Due Date for tax installment due within 30 days of event Only affects owners of property damaged by a natural disaster (Super Storm Sandy) Director of DLGS may extend date taxes due by municipality to county, school, other district Prohibits accelerated sale on affected properties if 4th qtr. extended. NOVEMBER Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 After Super Storm Sandy, Assembly Bill 3052 was introduced as a result of the inability of residents to pay property taxes at the height of a natural disaster and the inability of the municipality to be able to extend the due date for paying those taxes. A3052 states that in the case where a flood, hurricane, superstorm, tornado, or other natural disaster occurs less than 30 days before the next property tax installment is due, and a state of emergency is declared by the Governor, the municipality may adopt a resolution to provide that no interest be charged as long as the payment that’s due is made on or before the first day of the next month from the date upon which it became payable. If you recall, the day Sandy hit was October 29. November 1st is the date that 4th quarter property taxes are due. The new law would have allowed an extension for no interest to be charged as long as payment was received by December 1. Not everyone would get this treatment. Only owners of properties that sustained damage would be granted the extension. Within three days of adoption of the resolution by the governing body the Municipal Clerk would have to notify the Director of DLGS of the extension. The Director would then have the authority to extend the dates for payment of taxes by the municipality to the County, Schools or other districts. Keep in mind that whenever the 4th quarter is extended, the Collector would not be able to include the property in an accelerated tax sale. Not long after this bill became a law, Winter Storm Jonas hit on January Since this was less than 30 days prior to the first quarter property tax due date on February 1, an extension would have been allowable by resolution to March 1 for those properties affected by the Storm. OCTOBER Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

5 1 1 22 MARCH FEBRUARY JANUARY Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat 2 3 4 5 67 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 FEBRUARY Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 After Super Storm Sandy, Assembly Bill 3052 was introduced as a result of the inability of residents to pay property taxes at the height of a natural disaster and the inability of the municipality to be able to extend the due date for paying those taxes. A3052 states that in the case where a flood, hurricane, superstorm, tornado, or other natural disaster occurs less than 30 days before the next property tax installment is due, and a state of emergency is declared by the Governor, the municipality may adopt a resolution to provide that no interest be charged as long as the payment that’s due is made on or before the first day of the next month from the date upon which it became payable. If you recall, the day Sandy hit was October 29. November 1st is the date that 4th quarter property taxes are due. The new law would have allowed an extension for no interest to be charged as long as payment was received by December 1. Not everyone would get this treatment. Only owners of properties that sustained damage would be granted the extension. Within three days of adoption of the resolution by the governing body the Municipal Clerk would have to notify the Director of DLGS of the extension. The Director would then have the authority to extend the dates for payment of taxes by the municipality to the County, Schools or other districts. Whenever the 4th quarter is extended, the Collector would not be able to include the property in an accelerated tax sale. Not long after this bill became a law, Winter Storm Jonas hit on January Since this was less than 30 days prior to the first quarter property tax due date on February 1, an extension would have been allowable by resolution to March 1 for those properties affected by the Storm. JANUARY Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

6 Homestead Property Tax Reimbursement Bills A382, A407, A686, A870, A983, A1202, A2714, S210, S691,S1024, S1082, S1084, S1278 Non-eligible surviving spouse gets pro rated amount Surviving spouse : 62 Relocation within municipality Direct payment Distribute benefits by October 31 Retired Disabled PFRS members There are a whirlwind of bills offering changes to how the Homestead Benefit and PTR Programs are administered. This is just a small sampling of the proposed changes: -expanding eligibility requirements to non-eligible surviving spouses for a portion of the year the deceased spouse lived. -lowering the age of eligibility for surviving spouses from 65 to 62 -revising eligibility when relocating within the same municipality -direct payment of homestead credit upon request if home is sold after filing the application -requiring distribution of benefits by Oct 31 -extending eligibility to retired PFRS members on disability

7 Homestead Property Tax Reimbursement Bills A382, A407, A686, A870, A983, A1202, A2714, S210, S691,S1024, S1082, S1084, S1278 Keep original base year when relocating Reimbursement proportionate to amount paid Available in different languages Increase income level to $160,000 in 2017 PTR as credit on tax bill Extend deadline to October 1 -allow base year established to be maintained even if you move to another home -permit proportionate owners to get the full reimbursement if they are paying the total tax bill -changing the language the forms are written in -increasing the income eligibility from $80,000 to $160,000 in 2017 -making sure the income limits listed in the application match the annual State budget appropriations -crediting the PTR amount to 3rd and 4th qtr. of the following year’s tax bill -extending the deadline to file from June 1 to Oct 1 Then there is also one other bill entitled the “Homestead School Property Tax Reimbursement Act” which provides for 50% reimbursement of school taxes paid by seniors 65 and older.

8 A2820 Allow credit card and EFT payments to include delinquent taxesNo Post year Tax Statement for year property sold Increase Search fee from $10 to $25 Increase Continuation Certificate fee from $2 to $25. Remove preceding year’s tax amount from annual assessment post card This bill is our bill, which amends parts of Title 54:Chapter 5 It would allow EFT and credit and debit card payments to include delinquent taxes, fees, and other local unit liens and also allow you to decide under what circumstances EFT’s and Card payments will NOT be accepted. By now we should all have collected the PD5’s from our seniors and disabled taxpayers allowing them to keep or lose their $250 property tax deduction. This bill would make it unnecessary for the annual post tax year statement to be filed for the year the property is sold. The current search fee of $10 would be increased to $25, and the $2/year continuation fee would be repealed and the same $25 fee would be applied. Finally, the post cards that are mailed by the County each year would no longer include prior year’s property tax amount. It would just include the current assessment.

9 A1227 Authorizes municipality to deliver property tax bills, construction permits, and receipts for payment via . Procedures established by DLGS and OIT Adopt an ordinance authorizing the use of e- mail as a permitted means of delivery. Provide hard copies though regular mail A1227 is a bill that would modernize the delivery process by allowing tax bills, construction permits and receipts for municipal fees to be sent via . DLGS in conjunction with the Office of Information Technology would promulgate the rules. To participate, a municipality would just have to adopt an ordinance authorizing as an accepted form of delivery. Since it is permissive and not required, anyone opting not to receive electronic delivery could still receive a hard copy by regular mail. This bill has actually been around since 2010 and has continued to be introduced each successive year since. In 2014, it was passed unanimously by the Senate at the end of the session, and didn’t make it any further that year. It would be nice to see this make it a little further this year.

10 A377 “Transparent Tax Act of 2015”Resolution authorizing tax collector to issue two separate property tax bills – one for municipal purposes and one for all others(schools, county, special districts) Disclose rate/$100 of assessed valuation on each bill Appeal refunds to be apportioned Assemblyman Robert Auth first introduced this bill in February of The Transparent Tax Act of 2015 would have the Tax Collector send out two separate tax bills-one for municipal purposes and one for everything else. It caused quite a stir when it first came out. You may recall seeing a Resolution that was passed around to governing bodies for support of this bill. We have all certainly been faced with the challenges of explaining how the municipal portion of the latest tax bill is only about 25% or less of the total and that the majority of the bill is either County or School related. We’ve all put together those pie charts, be honest. Look familiar? This bill would make it quite clear how much is ours and how much is theirs. But it also provides other challenges, like what happens if the tax payer decides they only want to pay the municipal portion. They don’t have kids in school anymore so they shouldn’t have to pay for that service. We’ve all heard that one before. The way the tax collection statutes are written, we could not apply the amount paid only to the municipal portion. We would still need to make our payment to the schools and county whether we collected this money or not and this could have an adverse impact on our Reserve for Uncollected Taxes. The other half of this bill deals with how appeals are handled. The schools and county would have to share this burden. The bill states that the tax collector would notify the county, schools, and districts what their share of the appeal refund was so that they could include it in their next year’s budgets. The CFO would have to deduct it from the levy amount paid to the district.

11

12 S2454-P.L. 2015 c. 95 DLGS Local Mandate Relief Act of 2014State Aid Savings Renewal within 12 months of the expiration under special circumstances for CFO/CTC/QPA/RMC/PWM if the following conditions apply: (1) a flood, hurricane, superstorm, tornado, or other natural disaster, and a state of emergency has been declared as a result thereof by the Governor; or (2) a medical event or condition Competitive contracts award expanded Private entity hired as CFO Budgets = Libraries Exceeding Appropriations Cap +3years=reset Just a reminder : S2454 was signed into law this past August. It streamlines many duties of the Division. These are just a few of the changes, but on top of the list for me is this……..

13 What’s different in these 2 pictures? Thanks to this bill becoming law, we will no longer have to wait for state aid figures to be approved so we can put this personalized calculation on each individual tax bill. How much you saved in taxes because of state aid that was paid to your town will now be available to taxpayers through a State website. And from what I understand this site will not be made available to taxpayers until sometime around the end of July.

14 A612 The "Municipal Volunteer Property Tax Reduction Act"; permits certain municipal property owners to perform volunteer services in return for property tax vouchers. 60 years and older 15 years aggregate residency in the municipality Non-professional, non-salaried positions Vouchers up to $1,000 credit towards current year taxes A612 (S2524 from the last legislative session) The “Municipal Volunteer Property Tax Reduction Act” would allow municipalities to hire seniors, which are defined in this bill as “60 and up” who have resided in the town for 15 years, to do jobs for the town that they would not pay anybody else to do, in exchange for vouchers worth up to $1,000 to be used towards payment of their taxes. This bill is currently on 2nd reading in the Assembly.

15 S1353 “Property Tax Reduction Work Act”; permits local units to recruit residents to perform services in return for property tax vouchers Resident Associate fills P/T or F/T position Clerical or Professional Services at <50% rate of pay of prior employee State and Federal taxes withheld Voucher for current or delinquent taxes Ineligible for health, pension or other fringe benefits. S1353 is similar to the Municipal Volunteer Property Tax Reduction Act except there is no age restriction. A resident could be hired to fill a vacated full or part time Clerical or Professional position. They could not fill a position requiring State certification or a position that was funded through a Grant The “resident Associate” is defined as any bona fide resident of the county, municipality or school district. He or she would receive a voucher to offset current or delinquent taxes. The value of services performed could not exceed 50% of amount paid to prior local government employee in the same position. And the value of the voucher paid to the resident associate would be state tax exempt. That might be the way around having to provide them with a 1099 at the end of the year.

16 A2132 Increases from $15,000 to $25,000 annual compensation PERS retiree may earn in PERS- covered employment without reenrollment. Generally, if you retire and begin receiving retirement benefits through PERS and then go back to work in a position that would require you to be re-instated in the pension system, your retirement benefits would cease if you make over $15,000 in aggregate. This bill would increase the aggregate amount to $25,000. The Director of Pensions and Benefits is permitted by law to raise the aggregate amount by 3/5 of the CPI percentage change over a period of time. The last time the amount was changed was in 2001 (from $10,000 to $15,000). During this period the CPI changed by 10% Just so you know, between 2001 and 2016 the CPI increased by 34% but the annual compensation limit remains $15,000.

17 S1857 Prohibits holding full-time municipal employment and certain other part-time public employment simultaneously. Exemptions: Military, Reserves, National Guard Volunteer positions such as Fire, Rescue, First Aid Compensation based on reimbursement Holding 2 jobs when bill is passes And then there’s S1857…… How many of you are currently working a couple of P/T jobs or F/t in one town and P/T in another? This bill which would make it unlawful for a municipal employee working a full time job of at least 35 hours a week to simultaneously hold another P/T or F/T position for the same or another public employer. There would be some exemptions. This would not apply if one of the other jobs was in Military service or as a Volunteer Fireman. And anyone already holding 2 jobs would be grandfathered under the law.

18 A2063 Requires State to pay full contribution to State-administered pension systems plus $300 million annually until systems are fully funded; provides members of systems with contractual right to financially sound funding of systems. A2063-Requires State to pay full contribution to State-administered pension systems plus $300 million annually until systems are fully funded; provides members of systems with contractual right to financially sound funding of systems. Just a pipedream.

19 Now I would like to turn the tablesNow I would like to turn the tables. I have told you about the pending legislation that will affect how you work. But what do you complain about in your job the most that you would like to see changed? How about Redemption Certificates? Does this strike a cord with anyone? How many times have you redeemed a Tax Sale Certificate and returned the original to the owner only they never have it cancelled at the County. And as soon as the house goes up for sale the attorney’s offices start calling to confirm the lien was paid and ask you to send them a Certificate of Redemption. How to YOU handle this? Some Collectors hold the original Certificates so that when someone finally calls wondering if the lien was ever paid because it still shows up on their search, you can pull the original out of the file and your done. What about charging for the Certificate of Redemption? We charge for duplicate Tax Certificates. Is that something worth considering changing with legislation? I have heard other Collectors collect the filing fees with redemptions that allows them to cancel the lien themselves instead of expecting the owner to do it. Is this a viable option? How about utility liens? Why can’t the mortgage companies pay these balances BEFORE they go to Tax Sale? Does anyone have a helpful hint on how to deal with this one? Someone had suggested we change the law to charge them a penalty upon redemption for not paying it when they knew it was going to tax sale. Does anybody have any other solutions to offer? What about the Property Tax Reimbursement Program? Do you wish we didn’t have to deal with this one any more?

20 Usually in February, on a day like this,the books begin arriving in mailboxes around town. And the shuffle to the Tax Office begins. Recently, Rich Lorentzen, my co-chair, Vice President Rachel Edinger- and I met with Senator Doherty to explain to him how the Blue Book requires seniors to visit their tax collector every year to verify the amount of taxes they paid in order to be eligible for a Property Tax Reimbursement. We told him that much of the information requested in the Blue Book is information already provided when they completed their Homestead Benefit Application. And that there should be an easier method

21 We asked him if we could get the Division of Taxation to review the resources they have available to confirm the taxes paid much like they do now for the Homestead Benefit. If not, maybe there’s a file that can be formatted through our software providers that would transfer the information from our records to the people in Taxation to confirm amounts. The Senator listened to our concerns and just last week, I am happy to report, A bill sponsored by Senator Doherty was introduced to do just that.

22 S2213 Requires Director of Division of Taxation to examine feasibility of centralized property tax information system to verify property taxes paid by homestead property tax reimbursement claimants.  S2213 Requires the Director of the Division of Taxation to examine the feasibility of a centralized property tax information system to verify property taxes paid by homestead property tax reimbursement claimants. 

23 This proposal could make it easier to apply for N. JThis proposal could make it easier to apply for N.J. property tax credits By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com    on May 13, 2016 at 11:38 AM, updated May 13, 2016 at 1:07 PM TRENTON — A state lawmaker wants to make it easier for New Jersey homeowners to apply  for Homestead property tax credits. Sen. Michael Doherty (R‑Warren) introduced a bill to spur state officials to  streamline the application process and cut back on the amount of information applicants have to supply the state.  Under the bill (S2213), the state would look into, and if possible, implement a  centralized  system where the Division of Taxation can verify applicants' property tax data rather than requiring homeowners to  seek out and submit the information. "This rebate is a valuable tool for homeowners to ease the burden of our high property taxes in New Jersey," Doherty said in a statement. "We need to eliminate any roadblocks they might encounter and make it easier for more people to take advantage of this program. "The head of the Division of Taxation would have six months to explore the  feasibility of creating that system and then four months to implement it.

24 Way to go Senator Doherty!!!

25 THE END