Property taxes are high to pay, not for services in towns and transit, but for police and teachers’ salaries. Now I am a teacher, and I do not believe teachers make “a lot” of money, but the NJEA (NJ’s must-join public teachers union, yes, you really have no choice as a public school teacher–the 2nd largest (strongest) teachers union in the country–1st California!) is prohibiting progress. I believe unions once had a point and were needed, but they have outlived their place in modern day society because of their refusal to “change” with the tides, thus hindering progress. Now, looking at it more closely, there are more and more students, so we need more teachers, we cannot save money in towns by having less teachers. BUT we could have less Superintendents who probably make $150,000.00 on average. The town I grew up in had one, the town next to me, and we shared a “regional” high school, so the high school had it’s own Superintendent. WTF?!? If this were the business world, we’d cut back there immediately. There are places to cut that are feasible. Why does my town have 20 police cars? Ridiculous. None of this easy to do, but it has to be done. It shouldn’t have been allowed to happen in the first place. But “elected” officials seem to worry most about being elected again, not about the lives of the constituents that elected them in the first place.

N.J. property taxes climb 70 percent in 11 years, remain highest in U.S.

By Statehouse Bureau Staff

February 26, 2010, 6:56PM

New Jersey’s highest-in-the-nation residential property taxes continued to climb last year, to an average of $7,281, according to a new state report.

The 3.3 percent average increase was the smallest in a decade, and marked the second straight year with a rate below the 4 percent cap instituted by former Gov. Jon Corzine through a special legislative session in 2006-07.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said today, adding that the caps forced the state’s hundreds of towns and school districts to cut expenses by sharing services. “They’re doing it now because there’s a gun to their head.”

Still, New Jersey property taxes have grown more than 70 percent since 1999, when the average bill was $4,239. Last year, the average property tax bill increased by $236, according to data released by the state Department of Community Affairs.”They just continue to go up. It’s difficult,” said Chris McCook, a homeowner in Woodbridge, where the average property tax bill increased by 8.5 percent last year to $5,978. “I know people that own houses here that no longer live here, and they have to make all kinds of sacrifices.”

There were 384 towns in which average bills rose 4 percent or less, up from 266 in 2008. But 181 towns had increases higher than 4 percent, which can occur when the state grants a waiver for special circumstances. Corzine spokesman Josh Zeitz said the caps “were extremely influential,” noting property taxes rose at about 7 percent a year when the Democrat took office in 2006.

But with towns and school districts expecting a drop in state aid from Gov. Chris Christie’s upcoming budget, towns may be forced this year to seek more from property taxes or make severe cutbacks, said Mary Forsberg, interim president of the liberal think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective. “Either there are going to be really serious layoffs, or property taxes are going to go up by more than the four percent,” she said.

The Republican governor has promised towns and school districts the “tools” to hold down property tax hikes — including changes to public worker pensions, benefits and contract negotiations. Christie, who will propose his fixes for an $11 billion budget deficit March 16, also has said he wants a tighter cap and will restore part of the property tax rebates Corzine cut last year.

Christie spokesman Mike Drewniak declined to elaborate today, but said a smaller rate of property tax increase is cold comfort: “New Jersey still has a serious property tax problem.”

The report showed major differences in property tax bills throughout the state:

* Average bills topped $10,000 in 90 municipalities, up from 81 in 2008, and exceeded $15,000 in 16 municipalities, an increase of five. Homeowners in Millburn on average paid the most: $19,097.

* Among the 25 towns with the highest average bills, 10 are in Bergen County, five in Essex and three in Morris, including Mendham Township, where Christie lives, which ranked sixth at $17,113.

* 11 towns had an average increases of more than 10 percent, a drop from 24 in 2008. The biggest hikes were in Wrightstown, where residents paid 70 percent more, and Loch Arbour, 54 percent more.

* Average bills fell in 67 towns, up from 28 in 2008.

Branchburg Mayor Jim Leonard said taxes there fell 1.4 percent to $8,526 due to cutbacks.

“We’ve got less staff than we did five years ago. We’ve got more shared services than we did five years ago. And we’re looking under every rock to find some kind of savings,” Leonard said.

By Claire Heininger and Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/nj_property_taxes_climb_70_per.html

Ryan Hutchins and Stephen Stirling of the New Jersey Local News Service contributed to this report. © 2010 NJ.com. All rights reserved.