ASSEMBLY SENIOR ISSUES, TOURISM AND GAMING COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 3
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: JUNE 9, 1997
The Assembly Senior Issues, Tourism and Gaming Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly, No. 3.
As amended by the committee, this bill provides, annually beginning in calendar year 1998, a homestead property tax reimbursement to senior and disabled, PAAD-eligible residents of the State who are homeowners and who have paid property taxes, or mobile home park site fees constituting property taxes, on a homestead or rental unit used as their principal residence in this State for at least 15 consecutive years. The annual homestead property tax reimbursement payments would effectively freeze the property taxes for those eligible senior and disabled residents. Currently, single persons must have an annual income of less than $17,550, and a married couple must have an annual income of less than $21,519, in order to be eligible for the Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled (PAAD) program. Qualified homeowners would be eligible to receive a check from the State equal to the difference between the amount of property taxes paid for the base tax year of 1996 or a base year in which such a person becomes eligible for this benefit, and any future tax year in which the eligible homeowner pays taxes that are higher than the base-year amount.
The homestead property tax reimbursement is intended to further the State's interest in maintaining a diverse population through the preservation, continuity and stability of its low-income senior and disabled homeowners, who have contributed to the fabric, social structure and finances of New Jersey communities, by affording protection to those homeowners who may otherwise be forced to move out of State due to increasing property taxes.
The homestead property tax reimbursement is to be calculated by the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services, who is directed to administer the homestead property tax reimbursement program using information, in the form of property tax payment, or other equivalent proof as permitted by the commissioner, provided by applicants for the homestead property tax reimbursement. The homestead property tax reimbursement is required to be paid to those eligible homeowners on or before July 15, 1998 and on or before July 15 in each succeeding year. Payments made pursuant to this bill will be appropriated from receipts in the Casino Revenue Fund. The bill gives the commissioner the power to promulgate rules and regulations and prescribe the necessary forms the commissioner deems necessary to implement the homestead property tax reimbursement program. The bill also permits a municipality to apply to the State Treasurer for any costs incurred by the municipality in connection with the administration of this bill in accordance with procedures determined by the State Treasurer.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS
The committee amended the bill to include the lessee of a mobile home park site on which the lessee owns a manufactured or mobile home as eligible for the homestead property tax reimbursement program if that lessee meets the other qualifications of the program. The committee amendments define "site fee constituting property tax" as 18 percent of the annual site fee paid or payable to the owner of the mobile home park. The committee also amended the bill to clarify that for eligible claimants who have paid property tax for only a portion of the base year, the amount paid in the base year would be the annualized amount otherwise payable.