From the Star Ledger:
Property taxes actually went down in these N.J. towns. Was yours one of the lucky ones?
New Jerseyans are accustomed to high property taxes, and they’re accustomed to those tax bills getting bigger year after year.
The state’s average residential property tax bill climbed from $8,549 in 2016 to $8,690 in 2017.
But not everyone saw a tax hike last year.In fact, 67 of New Jersey’s 565 townships, villages, boroughs and cities, and 67 actually posted a smaller average residential property tax bill in 2017.
There are probably 67 different reasons for why property taxes were lower in these 67 municipalities. We explain the ones with biggest cuts.
The reductions ranged from a few pennies to thousands of dollars.
Eleven of these towns saw reductions of more than $500.
4:20 ya’ll
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/text-letter-president-speaker-house-representatives-president-senate-21/
Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate
BUDGET & SPENDING
Issued on: March 23, 2018
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Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
In accordance with section 7058(d) of division K of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (H.R. 1625; the “Act”), I hereby designate as an emergency requirement all funding so designated by the Congress in the Act pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, for the accounts referenced in section 7058(d).
The details of this action are set forth in the enclosed memorandum from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Sincerely,
DONALD J. TRUMP
Some of these are akin to the $1 “increase” in state education money the town gets. Gee, thanks so much.
Our town wouldn’t dare reduce spending. Revenue is growing, so is the spending but at the same amount. The mayor calls it a “tax freeze”.
The $1 increases are a slap in the face.
Had to turn the central air on this weekend. Was in the high 80’s.
One unit isn’t working. Cold air comes out but it isn’t blowing with any force. Does this mean it’s probably the capacitor or the blower motor? I cleaned all the return vents, changed the filter, changed the system from auto to on. Also turned the switch to the unit off trying to reset it. When i set the unit to fan the air still comes out very softly.
I am hoping it’s the capacitor or blower since those are much cheaper than evaporator coils and condensers.
Start cap is a common issue, change it they are cheap.
The hvac guy thinks it’s the capacitor. He told me the Bad news is since we had the evaporator coil replaced under warranty that part wouldn’t be covered. The manufacturer only covers a part under warranty for one replacement.
Will find out this evening when the hvac guy comes over. At least this guy doesn’t charge a trip charge or diagnostic fee. He charges $80 or $100 to blow out the condensation lines and test the units and do diagnostic in them. All the places that do warranty work for our unit want $150 trip charge and a $75 a unit diagnostic fee. Even the places that work with Lowe’s and Home Depot unless you bought a system through them. And I thought dr bills were outrageous. It would cost us $300 just to have most hvac places knock on our door and hook up their diagnostic tool for a few mintutes.
Well that did take long for the taxpayers to miss the fat man …this bill will put the union in charge of setting employees contributions and employer( taxpayer) forced contributions plus reinstatement of COLA and all medical …The Legislature will likely pass a toxic bill today that transfers control of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) to the unions, essentially allowing them to increase their own benefits whenever the mood strikes…..nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/03/mark_the_occasion_murphy_has_a_chance_to_tell_unio.html#incart_2box_opinion
Replacing a motor start cap is about half and hour and $20 bucks if you do it yourself.
(lead article)
Loch Arbour Village: Wow!
2017 average tax bill: $16,874
2016 average tax bill: $22,323
Year-to-year change: -$5,449
Last spring, by a margin of 93 to 4, Loch Arbour residents voted to pull out of the Ocean Township School District and enter into a drastically less expensive agreement with the West Long Branch and Shore Regional school districts.
Loch Arbour leaders said the driver was the “crippling school taxes” it paid to enroll 16 students in the Ocean Township School District, and by switching districts the community could save $110,000 per student.
They had been paying $143,000 per student! Annually! Using that number and the new savings of $110,000 I guess they are still paying $33,000 per student, a relative bargain!
https://www.app.com/story/news/education/2017/04/04/loch-arbour-votes-leave-ocean-twp-school-district/100031872/
Expat,
Maybe Loch harbor had an agreement with ocean that called for a flat rate per year no matter how many students they sent to Ocean. I remember years ago sea bright residents were screaming about paying shore regional over 40k per kid. Sea bright had signed an agreement for a flat amount of 600-700k a year for its kids to go to shore. Over the years after that long term agreement had been signed sea bright morphed from being a residential town with some summer houses to a weekend and summer place. Enrollment had dropped so much they only had 15 or so kids going to shore when home owners started yelling about their deal.
Montclair’s municipal taxes are going up 1.85% which is a tiny increase compared to year’s past. Primarily, the PILOTs on all of the crazy mega development on Bloomfield Avenue is responsible for the increased tax revenue which is allowing the town to limit the increase on homeowners. Unfortunately, with all of the revenue increases comes spending increases. Another 350K in new positions at the police department. Another 100K for another nurse for senior services. Same as it always was. How about not increasing spending every time a surplus comes in?
Just wait until next year. Remember this year’s tiny increases. Murphy is about to completely ruin it!
Hmb – In the article I just posted they once had a flat cap alright, but it went away in favor of some formula in 2008:
Loch Arbour’s annual contribution to Ocean Township was once capped at $300,000 under the Kiely Bill, a funding arrangement that dates to 1999. That measure was repealed in 2008, with passage of the state School Funding Reform Act, which established the school funding formula now in use.
Expat,
Ah. Didn’t click on the link. That is an ridiculous amount per kid. Ivy League schools are cheap in comparison.
Good luck figuring it out. The convoluted formulas begin on page 11.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2006/Bills/A0500/500_I2.PDF
Great m,
My wife thinks I am mechanically challenged and I will break the unit or set house on fire.
btw, that is just one document from the School Funding Reform Act page:
http://www.nj.gov/education/sff/
Expat
I would rather watch that dreadful movie a wrinkle in time again than try to figure out a state funding formula.
@ggreenwald
A motion filed by Omar Mateen’s wife, seeking to dismiss the charges, reveal: FBI just admitted that Omar’s father, Seddique, worked with the FBI as an informant for 11 years (2005-16) & himself was under investigation for sending $$ to Afghanistan & Turkey
I’m no expert, but being such low volume probably has something to do with it.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
March 26, 2018 at 10:56 am
They had been paying $143,000 per student! Annually! Using that number and the new savings of $110,000 I guess they are still paying $33,000 per student, a relative bargain!
https://www.app.com/story/news/education/2017/04/04/loch-arbour-votes-leave-ocean-twp-school-district/100031872/
They could give private school vouchers out and be ahead of the game!
Market doing better. Thank you Donny.
Lib,
I saw a 5 yr. CD today at 3%. Can you imagine? lol.
Ac had a bad contact on the compressor/condenser. Guy replaced it and blew out the condensation lines for $75.
HMB- did you ever add bleach to that line?
Never added bleach. Will do that next time I change the filters. He said use the 8 filters and change them every month. As long as you are a non smoker and no one has terrible allergies changing the 8 rating filter every month is more cost effective than replacing a high rated one ever few months.
He also said Make sure the system is off when you add the bleach so it doesn’t blow back into your face and eyes.
He said the monthly dose of a cup of bleach will get rid of the mineral deposits and eliminate the need to blowout the lines. We have medium water in this area. Not soft or hard.
Leftwing you were right… Thanks
Private corruption is a beautiful thing.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/03/do_you_have_to_show_up_when_you_have_a_500k_job_at.html#incart_river_mobile_index
Something has to give. If this continues, the economic repercussions will be significant.
“But their insurance premium was $1,691 a month last year, triple their mortgage payment—and was going up to $1,813 this year. They also had a $5,000 per-person deductible, meaning that having and using their coverage could cost more than $30,000”
Why Some Americans Are Risking It and Skipping Health Insurance – Bloomberg
https://apple.news/ADvN4w3r2QgemvI3V8aqPbg