Homestead, Senior Freeze To Be Funded Again

File Photo

  TRENTON – In his revised budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2021, Gov. Phil Murphy restored funding for two key programs that help seniors and homeowners make ends meet.

  The Senior Freeze program locks in senior property owners at a fixed amount. For example, let’s say the senior has to pay $1,000 in taxes. The program locks in the taxes at that rate. Then, when their taxes go up to $1,050, the senior pays $1,050 and then the state reimburses the senior that $50.

  The Homestead Rebate Benefit program also provides property tax relief to eligible homeowners. For most homeowners, the benefit is distributed to their municipality in the form of a credit, which reduces their property taxes.

  However, the state’s proposed supplemental budget had a significant reduction in both of these programs.

  The reason that the state gave for cutting these two programs was that the state lost money due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  The governor had made this announcement on Aug. 25. At the Aug. 24 Berkeley Township Council meeting, the governing body repeated their request to the governor to reinstate the Homestead Rebate and Senior Freeze funding.

  They had made their first request during the summer.

  “We have to continue to keep pressure on the state,” Mayor Carmen Amato said.

  The township’s resolutions said that it is precisely because of the pandemic that the state shouldn’t cut funding to residents. Residents are suffering economic hardships due to the virus as well and township officials said Trenton shouldn’t balance its budget on the backs of residents who are already hurting.

  According to the resolution, Berkeley has 8,700 residents who qualify for Homestead – the most of any municipality in the state. Across the county, 60,906 qualified for the program, which provided them an average of $221.

  The Ocean County Freeholders had also urged the governor to fully fund these programs.

  With more than 173,000 seniors in Ocean County, the loss of this money could be disastrous, said Freeholder Director Joseph Vicari.

  “When your monthly income is no more than $1,400 from Social Security, taking away these programs will only increase the severe financial hardship already experienced by this vulnerable population,” Vicari said.

  The 9th District legislators – Senator Christopher Connnors, Assemblyman Brian Rumpf and Assemblywoman DiAnne Gove (R-9th) – started an online petition urging the governor not to cut these two programs. It can be found here: senatenj.com/petitions/propertytaxrelief/. As of press time, it had been signed 5,656 times.

Other Budget Changes

  There are other changes included in the governor’s spending plan:

  • Imposing the millionaire’s tax on all income above $1 million;
  • Permanently incorporating the 2.5 percent corporation surcharge;
  • Restoring the sales tax on limousines;
  • Removing the tax cap on boats;
  • Applying a 5 percent surcharge to high-income individuals with federally Qualified Business Income (QBI) who have benefited from a new deduction for pass-through entities created under the 2017 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
  • Baby Bonds – a $1,000 deposit for the approximately 72,000 babies born in 2021 whose family income is less than 500 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, or $131,000 for a family of four. They gain access to the money at 18. This will assist three of four children born in New Jersey.

  “This budget proposal is not simply about getting New Jersey back to where it used to be, but moving forward to where we need to be by building a new economy that grows our middle class and works for every single family, while asking the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share in taxes,” said Governor Murphy.

  Other monies include $60 million for clean drinking water, $4.9 billion for the state pension system, and $2.2 billion in surplus.

  The state’s spending was cut by $1.25 billion.