ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 1385

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: JANUARY 9, 1997

 

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1385 (1R).

      Assembly Bill No. 1385 (1R) exempts a nonprofit organization, operated for a religious, educational, social service or charitable purpose, from the payment of an annual fee for the inspection of one wheelchair lift.

 

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has advised that the fee currently charged by the DCA for the inspection of manlifts, stairway chair lifts, or inclined or vertical wheelchair lifts is $130. The DCA estimates that currently approximately 250 such devices exist that are State-inspected and would be fee-exempt under this bill, and approximately another 250 exist that are locally-inspected and would be fee-exempt under this bill. Therefore, the potential lost fee income to the State under this bill is approximately $32,500, and the potential lost fee income to municipalities is approximately the same amount. However, the DCA has noted that local fees may be lower, in which case the lost municipal revenue would be less.

      The cost of inspecting the exempted devices will be passed on to other persons paying construction fees, as aggregate fees must be sufficient to cover the cost of State construction code enforcement, and the lost fees will increase as more elevator devices are installed. The DCA notes that in many municipalities, inspections of elevator devices, including the devices that would be exempted from the fees under this bill, are performed by private, third-party inspection agencies, which will have to be paid for the work, even if the municipality is not paid a fee. The loss of fee monies will have to be made up either by other persons paying increased fees, or by municipal taxpayers paying any deficit of the local code enforcement agency.