[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 59

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblymen KAVANAUGH and PASCRELL

An Act concerning the apportionment of county taxes in certain cases and supplementing chapter 4 of Title 54 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "County Seat District Tax Relief Act."

    2. As used in this act:

    a. "County property" means land and improvements owned by a county and includes, but is not limited to, county offices, garages, warehouses, jails, parks, hospitals, institutions, schools, and colleges, together with abutting vacant land held for future development for those purposes, located within the taxing districts comprising the county seat district. It shall not include property used or held by the county for future use for highway, bridge or tunnel purposes, or any property which is qualified under State law for any State or county payment in lieu of taxes.

    b. "County seat" means the taxing district serving as the county seat of the county.

    c. "County seat district" means the taxing district serving as the county seat of the county and any taxing district ¹[adjacent to the county seat]¹ wherein the equalized valuation of county property for any tax assessment year is at least 50% of the equalized valuation of county property located in the county seat.

    d. "Director" means the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury.

    e. "Equalized valuation of county property" means the valuation of that property determined by dividing its taxable value assessment by the average ratio of assessed to true value of real property for the municipality constituting the taxing district in which the county property is situated, as that average ratio is set forth in column 8 of the Table of Aggregates prepared for the municipality pursuant to R.S.54:4-52.

    3. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, and to compensate county seat districts for the costs of providing municipal services to county property, county property located within a county seat district shall be treated as hereinafter provided for the purposes of apportioning county taxes.

    4. Commencing with the ¹[1994] 1997 ¹ tax assessment year, the assessor of every municipality located in a county seat district shall annually prepare and send on or before February 1 to the director, on a form prescribed by the director, statements of the taxable value assessments of each parcel of county property, as defined in section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), located within the assessor's taxing district as if that parcel were not exempt from taxation.

    5. The director shall review and, if required, revise the list and assessment of any parcel of county property. On or before March 15, the director shall provide each county board of taxation and each taxing district located in a county seat district with the final list. The determination by the director shall be final and there shall be no appeal taken with respect thereto, except to correct typographical and mathematical errors.

    6. Upon delivery of the county budget pursuant to N.J.S.40A:4-11, the county board of taxation of each county shall determine the amount of county taxes which would be apportioned to the county property located in every municipality within the county seat district of the county if that county property were not exempt from taxation. The board shall determine the amount of taxes which would be apportioned to those county properties by multiplying the equalized valuation of the county properties located in every municipality within the county seat district by the quotient produced by dividing the total county taxes to be apportioned within the county, as expressed in column 12 A(1) of the Table of Aggregates for the county, by the net valuation on which county taxes are apportioned within the county, as expressed in column 11 of the Table of Aggregates for the county plus the aggregate equalized valuations of county property located in the county seat district.

    7. When apportioning the amount of county taxes among the several taxing districts within the county, the county board of taxation shall deduct from the amount to be apportioned to the taxing districts within the county seat district of the county the amount which the board, pursuant to the provisions of section 6 of this act, determined would have been apportioned to the county property located in every municipality within the county seat district if that county property were not exempt from taxation. The amount so deducted pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be apportioned among the several taxing districts of the county, excluding the taxing districts within the county seat district of the county, in the same proportion as the net valuations on which county taxes are apportioned for each of those taxing districts, as expressed in column 11 of the Table of Aggregates, bears to the total of all the net valuations on which county taxes are apportioned for the county, minus the amount set forth in column 11 of the Table of Aggregates for the taxing districts located in the county seat district.

    8. The director shall promulgate such rules and regulations, in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), as are appropriate and necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.

    9. This act shall take effect January 1, next following enactment.

"County Seat District Tax Relief Act."