Bill Text: NJ A3597 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires prison host benefit payments to certain municipalities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-09-11 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A3597 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A3597-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman CELESTE M. RILEY
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
SYNOPSIS
Requires prison host benefit payments to certain municipalities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring prison host benefit payments to certain municipalities, and supplementing P.L.1976, c.98 (C.30:1B-1 et al.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
"County correctional facility" means a prison or other secure facility owned or operated, or both, by any county of this State in which adult offenders are incarcerated, a secure juvenile detention facility owned or operated, or both, by any county of this State, or a half-way house providing reentry services to county inmates.
"Correctional facility" means a county correctional facility, or a State correctional facility.
"Correctional facility operator" means the State in the case of State correctional facilities, the county in the case of county correctional facilities, or any private entity contracting for operational responsibilities.
"Host municipality" means any municipality with one or more correctional facilities located within its boundaries.
"Prison host benefit" means an annual payment to be given from the correctional facility operator to the host municipality.
"State correctional facility" means a State prison or other penal institution where adult offenders are incarcerated, a secure juvenile detention facility operated by the Juvenile Justice Commission, or a half-way house providing reentry services to State inmates.
b. In order to more fairly apportion the societal costs associated with hosting a correctional facility, any host municipality shall be entitled to an annual prison host benefit beginning in the local budget year that starts in the first calendar year of the effective date of this section. All cash payments shall be appropriated by the host municipality in accordance with the provisions of the "Local Budget Law," N.J.S.40A:4-1 et seq. The correctional facility operator shall annually allocate each prison host benefit according to one of the following formulas, whichever results in a lower payment:
(1) Prison host benefit = $300 multiplied by the number of inmates or residents, as of January 1 of the current year, in each correctional facility it operates within the host municipality; or
(2) Prison host benefit = (20 percent of the total amount raised by taxation for municipal purposes in the previous fiscal year in the host municipality) x (the percentage of all correctional facility inmates and residents, as of January 1 of the current year, within the host municipality, that are also inmates or residents of a correctional facility operated by the correctional facility operator).
2. The Commissioner of Corrections, in consultation with the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of Treasury, and the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs, shall promulgate such rules and regulations, in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), as are appropriate and necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.
3. This act shall take effect January 1 next following enactment, except that section 2 shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
In order to more fairly apportion the costs associated with hosting a correctional facility, this bill requires the operator of a State or county prison, secure juvenile detention facility, or half-way house, to contribute a prison host benefit payment to the municipality hosting the facility.
Most municipalities in New Jersey obtain more revenue through the property tax than through other sources. A prison may bring certain benefits, such as jobs, to its host community, however, prison property is generally tax exempt, and many argue that prisons have an adverse impact on nearby property values. This circumstance may make it difficult for many municipalities hosting prisons to generate enough revenue to support community needs. Although municipalities hosting State prison property have been given payments in lieu of taxes to make up for this lost revenue, the amount of these payments has decreased in recent years. Presently, the full amount of in-lieu tax payments offered to individual municipalities cannot be determined because these payments have been folded into a larger form of municipal aid known as Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief Aid.
To more fairly compensate municipalities for such costs, this bill requires the prison or half-way house operator, which may be the State, county, or a private contractor, to annually pay a prison host benefit to each host municipality in the amount of the lesser of either:
(1) $300 multiplied by the number of inmates and residents in each correctional facility it operates within the host municipality; or
(2) the result of the following calculation: (20 percent of the amount raised by taxation for municipal purposes in the previous fiscal year in the host municipality) x (the percentage of all correctional facility inmates within the host municipality that are also inmates of a correctional facility managed by the correctional facility operator).
This bill takes effect on January 1 next following enactment, and shall require payments to be made starting in the local budget year that begins during that calendar year.
