Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman NANCY F. MUNOZ
District 21 (Essex, Morris, Somerset and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Permits municipal board of library commissioners to reduce library tax rate when municipality acquires new ratables.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning reductions in municipal library taxes under certain circumstances and amending R.S.40:54-8.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.40:54-8 is amended to read as follows:
40:54-8. a. The governing body or appropriate board of every municipality governed by this article shall annually appropriate and raise by taxation a sum equal to one-third of a mill on every dollar of assessable property within such municipality based on the equalized valuation of such property as certified by the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury, except as provided in subsection b. of this section.
Such additional sum, as in the judgment of such body or board is necessary for the proper maintenance of a free public library, may be appropriated and raised by taxation, annually.
b. The board of library commissioners annually may adopt a resolution reducing the amount that the municipality is required to raise by taxation pursuant to subsection a. of this section, when it determines that due to a recent increase in ratables for the municipality, it requires less funding than would be provided under subsection a. of this section. The tax rate that is imposed following a resolution adopted pursuant to this subsection shall ensure that the amount that the municipality is required to raise by taxation is at least equal to the amount raised to fund the municipal library budget for the year prior to the increase in ratables.
(cf: P.L.1985, c.541, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would permit a municipal board of library commissioners to request that the municipal governing body reduce the amount of taxes assessed for library purposes, normally one-third of a mill on every dollar of assessable property within the municipality based on the equalized valuation of such property, for any year in which it determines that it requires less funding due to an increase in ratables. For example, if a new mall opens up in the municipality, under current law, the municipality would collect the one-third of a mill tax from the mall property and appropriate that money to the board of library commissioners to be used for library purposes. That increased funding may not be necessary to the library commissioners since the mall does not increase the population of residents using the municipal library and does not require any increased capital expenditures by the library commissioners. Therefore, the board of library commissioners should have the authority to request that the library tax rate be reduced in order save the taxpayers from unnecessary tax assessments. Under the bill, the reduced tax rate would have to remain at a level that ensures that the municipal library budget is funded at the same level as it was for the year prior to the increase in ratables.