Reducing taxes in New Jersey should be the number one priority of our legislature and yet they keep avoiding the painful (for them and their backers) truth that the taxpayers of this state are voting with their feet and leaving.
Here are some ideas that would actually save you the taxpayer money. Firstly get rid of the pension system for legislators, this was never ever meant to be a full time job and it really is not. Therefore these politicians need to be realistic and realize that they do not deserve to get a pension from the State of New Jersey. Along the same vein is that these same people also are eligible to be in the state health insurance plan and again they have no business being so.
Furthermore the better part of your property tax bill has to do with the exorbitant cost of school systems, it is time to say goodbye to 590 school districts and have one per county. That’s right one per county and that is only 21. The median salary for school superintendents per the state is $147,500.00 and that means a whopping savings of $83,927,500.00. That would put a very big dent in your property tax bill! And don’t start with the home rule garbage, for the state dictates what is taught.
From an op-ed piece by Assemblywoman Amy Handlin on App.com, “End sick-time payouts to public employees. Last year the statewide obligation to pay employees for unused sick time was approximately $2 billion, and it’s still increasing. If that $2 billion were to be paid out immediately, property taxes would increase by 11 percent. Needless to say we have a problem on our hands.
There were a couple attempts to cap the payouts but they never came to fruition. On one side was a $7,500 cap on payouts and the other side advocated for eliminating the payouts altogether. I am on the latter side, advocating to eliminate the payouts altogether. My colleagues and I sponsor a bill that would do it, but we aren’t betting that it will be considered. Four times last year the majority voted against eliminating these payouts, leaving them uncapped and unchecked.” Sounds like a great idea to me as this system has been abused to the point that many municipalities end-up having to borrow money to pay for the unused sick-time. And guess who has to pay for this, you the taxpayer!
The Assemblywomen went further and said, “School funding reform. Simply put, the current system of funding schools in New Jersey is broken and unaffordable. If it weren’t broken and unaffordable, then schools in urban districts would be performing better and the formula wouldn’t be underfunded by nearly $2 billion.
The Legislature has the task of doing the right thing and replacing the formula with something that will lower property taxes and provide students with a better education. To begin, let’s rededicate the income tax to school funding, where most of it goes anyway. Property taxes will no longer serve as the major funding tool for schools and school funding will increase by billions. That solves two problems at once.” Also sounds like this is something that our legislators should explore.
I know I only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to saving the taxpayer money in New Jersey and I hope that you the reader will contact your elected legislators to tell them to stop wasting taxpayer money!
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
