ASSEMBLY, No. 1185

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

 

 

By Assemblyman DALTON

 

 

An Act concerning the Delaware River Port Authority and amending P.L.1931, c.391, authorizing the Governor, on behalf of the State of New Jersey, to enter into a supplemental compact or agreement with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending the compact or agreement between the State of New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania entitled "Agreement Between The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and The State of New Jersey creating the Delaware River Joint Commission as a body corporate and politic and defining its powers and duties," as amended and supplemented, and authorizing the Governor to apply, on behalf of the State of New Jersey, to the Congress of the United States for its consent to such supplemental compact or agreement.

 

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

 

    1. The Governor is authorized to enter into a supplemental compact or agreement, on behalf of the State of New Jersey, with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amending Article XI of the compact or agreement between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey entitled "Agreement Between The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and The State of New Jersey creating the Delaware River Joint Commission as a body corporate and politic and defining its powers and duties," as set forth in this 1994 amendatory act.

 

    2. Article XI of the agreement (R.S.32:3-12) is amended to read as follows:

    32:3-12. a. The effectuation of its authorized purposes by the commission is and will be in all respects for the benefit of the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey, for the increase of their commerce and prosperity and for the improvement of their health and living conditions; and since the commission will be performing essential governmental functions in effectuating said purposes, the commission shall not be required to pay any taxes or assessments upon any property acquired or used by it for such purposes, and the bonds or other securities or obligations issued by the commission, their transfer and the income therefrom (including any profits made on the sale thereof) shall at all times be free from taxation within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey.

    To the end that municipalities may not suffer undue loss of tax revenue by reason of the acquisition and ownership of property therein by the commission and except as otherwise provided in paragraph b. of this Article, the commission is hereby authorized and empowered, in its discretion, to enter into a voluntary agreement or agreements with any municipality, whereby it will undertake to pay a fair and reasonable sum or sums to compensate the said municipality for any loss of tax revenue in connection with any property acquired by the commission after one thousand nine hundred and fifty other than property acquired for bridge, tunnel or passenger transportation purposes. Any such payment or payments which the commission is hereby authorized and empowered to make may be made on an annual basis, in which case the payment or payments shall not be in excess of the amount of the taxes upon the property when last assessed prior to the time of its acquisition by the commission, or such payment or payments may be made in a lump sum or sums, or over a stated period of years, as shall be agreed upon by and between the commission and such municipality. Every municipality wherein the property shall be acquired by the commission is authorized and empowered to enter into such agreement or agreements with the commission to accept the payment or payments which the commission is herein authorized and empowered to make.

    b. Following the effectuation of this 1994 amendatory act, the commission shall annually compensate each municipality in the State of New Jersey having facilities related to the commission's rapid transit system for the related loss of tax revenue. The amount of compensation for each municipality shall be calculated by multiplying the taxable value of the facilities in that municipality, as determined pursuant to R.S.54:4-27 of the laws of the State of New Jersey, times the effective municipal purposes tax rate for the municipality. For the purposes of this amendment "effective municipal purposes tax rate" means the rate, per $100 of valuation, derived by dividing the amount to be raised for local municipal purposes for a municipality by the net valuation on which county taxes are apportioned to the municipality, as reported in column 12c and column 11, respectively, of the Abstract of Ratables and Exemptions compiled for the municipality by the Division of Taxation, in the Department of the Treasury, from the Table of Aggregates prepared pursuant to R.S.54:4-52 of the laws of the State of New Jersey.

(cf: P.L.1951, c.288, s.1(4))

 

    3. The Governor is authorized to apply, on behalf of the State of New Jersey, to the Congress of the United States for its consent and approval to such supplemental compact or agreement, but in the absence of such consent and approval, the commission referred to in such supplemental compact or agreement shall have all of the powers which the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey may confer upon it without the consent and approval of Congress.

 

    4. This act shall take effect January 1 next following enactment, but the Governor shall not enter into the supplemental compact or agreement hereinabove set forth on behalf of the State of New Jersey until passage by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania of a substantially similar act embodying the supplemental compact or agreement between the two States.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This amendment to the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) compact would direct the DRPA to annually compensate municipalities in New Jersey which have facilities used by the Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO), a subsidiary of the DRPA. The DRPA would pay an amount annually, based on the assessed value of the facilities in each affected municipality and the effective municipal purposes tax rate of each municipality, to compensate each such municipality for the loss of tax revenue associated with the presence of PATCO facilities.

    Although the DRPA compact currently exempts property acquired for passenger transportation purposes from the payment of taxes, the DRPA is negotiating new lease arrangements for four PATCO facilities leased for $1 per year from the City of Philadelphia. This amendment would make New Jersey municipalities having PATCO facilities eligible to be treated in a financially equitable manner.

 

 

 

Amends the Delaware River Port Authority compact to permit certain payments to New Jersey municipalities.