SENATE, No. 415
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED JANUARY 18, 1996
By Senators LaROSSA and INVERSO
An Act providing for payments in lieu of taxes on certain property acquired by State authorities and supplementing Title 54 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in this act:
"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;
"Pretax year" means the calendar year immediately preceding the tax year;
"Qualified State property" means property subject to payments in lieu of property taxes pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1977, c.272 (C.54:4-2.2a et seq.);
"Qualified authority property" means qualified State property acquired in one or more transactions by a State authority, within a municipality, on and after January 1, 1991;
"State authority" means a body, public and corporate, created by law, which law provides that the public body so created has at least the power to:
a. adopt and use a corporate seal;
b. sue and be sued;
c. acquire and hold real or personal property for its purposes; and
d. provide for and secure the payment of its bonds or other obligations, or impose charges for the use of its facilities, or any combination thereof; and
"Tax year" means the calendar year for which property taxes are
due and payable pursuant to chapter 4 of Title 54 of the Revised Statutes.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, qualified authority property shall be assessed and subject to a payment in lieu of property taxes as provided for in this act.
3. Commencing with the first tax year for which the provisions of this act are applicable, the tax collector for the municipality that constitutes the taxing district in which qualified authority property is located shall calculate the amount of the payment in lieu of property taxes for that property by multiplying the taxable value thereof, as determined pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1977, c.272 (C.54:4-2.2c) or R.S.54:4-27, as appropriate, for the pretax year times the effective municipal purposes tax rate for the municipality for the pretax year. The resulting amount shall be collected from the pertinent authority in two annual installments at the same times and in the same manner as provided in section 9 of P.L.1977, c.272 (C.54:4-2.2i). Delinquent payments in lieu of property taxes shall be considered delinquent taxes for the purposes of chapters 4 and 5 of Title 54 of the Revised Statutes.
4. Nothing in this act shall be construed as abrogating or requiring the abrogation of any agreement between a State authority and a municipality, entered into prior to the effective date of this act, for any payments in lieu of property taxes on qualified authority property or any other property owned by the authority which exceed the amounts that would otherwise be due pursuant to the provisions of section 3 of this act; nor shall this act be construed as prohibiting such agreements on and after the effective date of this act.
5. This act shall take effect 60 days following enactment, and shall apply to each tax year beginning on and after that effective date.
STATEMENT
This bill requires a State authority to make payments in lieu of property taxes for any State-owned property it acquired or acquires on or after January 1, 1991. The purpose of this bill is to ensure that a municipality which receives payments in lieu of taxes for State-owned property within its borders continues to receive such payments from a State authority which acquires title to the property.
The acquisition of such property by a State authority reduces the total amount of "in lieu" payments made to the municipality by the State and the property becomes tax-exempt under the ownership of the authority. In general, the State does not make in lieu of tax payments for property owned by an authority, except for State Building Authority buildings in Trenton.
The payments provided for in this bill will be calculated in the same manner as the State "in lieu" payments. The amounts will be paid directly by the authority to the tax collector of the appropriate municipality.
The bill will apply for property tax years beginning on or after the date on which the bill, if enacted into law, takes effect.
Provides for payments in lieu of taxes for State authority property
under certain circumstances.