Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOHN S. WISNIEWSKI
District 19 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Revises requirement that library tax be assessed against equalized value of property.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act revising municipal free library funding 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. 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] assessed valuation of such property [as certified by the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury].
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.
(cf: P.L.1985, c.541, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would revise the funding mechanism for the funding of municipal free libraries. Currently, the law requires that the 1/3 of a mill per dollar assessment of library taxes be against the equalized value of property, and so library tax revenues automatically increase as equalized assessments increase, in many cases providing a library with more revenue than it actually needs. The bill would require the tax to be imposed against the assessed value of property so that the equalization process does not act to inflate the library tax revenues.