TOMS RIVER, NJ – If you served your country and were rewarded with a full medical disability for your sacrifice, under New Jersey State law, you can apply for a property tax exemption. That exemption rewards your service and sacrifice with a halting of your property tax burden.
Now, shore legislators are asking the state to pay up and reimburse the municipalities for their lost tax revenue.
Senator Christopher J. Connors, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf, and Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove are calling the veterans tax exemption state mandate and in-kind, want the state to pay for it.
“Municipalities should be reimbursed by Trenton for the costs associated with the disabled veterans’ property tax exemption, as it is a state mandate. This would be consistent with the policy of ‘state mandate – state pay.’ Moreover, it would enable municipalities to provide property tax relief, which remains the top issue of taxpayers who are finding New Jersey increasingly unaffordable,” the legislators said. “More than 900 veterans living in our Legislative District receive this property tax relief benefit. However, since this is an unfunded state mandate, the cost of the exemption, which amounts to millions of dollars, is passed on to all other taxpayers in their respective municipalities.”
“Given the considerable number of veterans residing in our area, this policy of non-reimbursement disparately impacts our Legislative District, just as the state’s broken school funding formula and toll increases,” they continued. “No one would argue that disabled veterans and their families are more than deserving of this benefit in view of the tremendous sacrifices by these individuals in service to their country. It’s important to note that our constituent municipalities do an incredible job of assisting qualified veterans applying for the property tax exemption and other programs. Therefore, the state should be obligated to cover the costs associated with property tax exemption.”