Bill Text: NJ S1162 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires additional surcharge on certain documents filed in certain county offices to support affordable housing in certain populous municipalities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S1162 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S1162-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator RAJ MUKHERJI
District 32 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Requires additional surcharge on certain documents filed in certain county offices to support affordable housing in certain populous municipalities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act requiring an additional surcharge on certain documents filed in certain county offices and amending N.J.S.22A:4-17.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. N.J.S.22A:4-17 is amended to read as follows:
22A:4-17. a. All fees, costs, allowances, percentages and other perquisites of whatever kind which surrogates, county clerks in their several capacities, registers of deeds and mortgages, and sheriffs or persons employed in their offices are entitled to charge and receive for any official acts or services they may render shall be for the sole use of the county, except as provided in subparagraph (c) of paragraph (1) of subsection b. of this section, and shall be accounted for regularly to the county treasurer; however, such monies shall be utilized to increase the salaries of surrogates, county clerks, registers of deeds and mortgages and sheriffs, except as provided in section 6 of P.L.2001, c.370 (C.22A:4-8.1), section 7 of P.L.1985, c.422 (C.22A:4-17.1) and section 4 of P.L.1988, c.109 (C.22A:4-17.2).
Such accounting shall be made on or before the [fifteenth] 15th day of each month on form blanks supplied by the county treasurer. The statement of account shall clearly set forth all sums charged or taxed or which shall have accrued or become payable during the preceding month. Such statements shall be made under oath and filed in the office of the county treasurer as public records.
Such statements when received by the county treasurer shall be forthwith audited by the county auditor or other proper officer.
On or before the [twentieth] 20th day of each month surrogates, county clerks, registers of deeds and mortgages, and sheriffs shall pay over the amount of such fees and moneys to the county treasurer and such officers shall be personally liable to the county for such fees and moneys.
The penalty for each day's neglect to file the required statement of account or to pay over such moneys shall be [one hundred dollars ($100.00)] $100 to be recovered in the name of the board of chosen freeholders of the county in a civil action in the Superior Court, and said officers may also be proceeded against by proceeding in lieu of prerogative writ.
b. (1) In addition to the fees authorized in N.J.S.22A:4-4.1, and except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, upon resolution or ordinance of the county governing body, as appropriate, a surcharge of:
(a) three dollars; or
(b) five dollars, of which two dollars shall be used for the purpose required by subsection e. of section 6 of P.L.2009, c.123 (C.52:27D-287f),
which surcharge shall be charged for each document recorded, which will be in addition to any other charge allowed by law. The county treasurer shall deposit the surcharges so collected into a fund that shall be used by the county to accomplish the purposes of P.L.2009, c.123 (C.52:27D-287a et al.). This fund shall be known as the "County Homelessness Housing Trust Fund." Five percent of the fund may be used annually by the county for administrative costs related to administration of the fund and the grant program established pursuant to P.L.2009, c.123 (C.52:27D-287a et al.), and the remainder only for homelessness housing programs as described in P.L.2009, c.123 (C.52:27D-287a et al.).
(c) In addition to the surcharge authorized in subparagraph (a) or (b) of this paragraph, in the case of a county in which there is located a city of the first class, the governing body of the county, by resolution or ordinance, as appropriate, shall impose and collect an additional surcharge of not less than three dollars nor more than ten dollars on documents required to be recorded that pertain to real property located in the city of the first class. The surcharges shall be returned to the business administrator of the city of the first class on a quarterly basis, and shall be deposited by the business administrator into the city's municipal affordable housing trust fund, and the city of the first class shall use such fees for the sole purpose of creating or rehabilitating existing affordable housing opportunities in that municipality.
(2) The [surcharge] surcharges imposed in this section [does] do not apply to assignments or substitutions of previously recorded deeds of trust.
(cf: P.L.2019, c.53, s.4)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would provide an additional source of funding for affordable housing in cities of the first class, which are cities having a population of over 150,000 persons.
The bill would require the governing body of a county in which a city of the first class is located, by ordinance or resolution as appropriate, to impose a surcharge of not less than $3 nor more than $10 on documents required to be recorded that pertain to real property located in the city of the first class. The bill requires the surcharges to be returned to the business administrator of the city of the first class on a quarterly basis, and to be deposited by the business administrator into that municipality's affordable housing trust fund.
Currently, Newark and Jersey City are the only cities of the first class in the State. Those cities have much in common. Besides a large population (according to 2019 data, Newark's at 281,054 and Jersey City's at 261,940), they each have they have a large amount of older housing stock, and according to 2019 data, they each have a poverty rate (Newark's at 27.4 percent, and Jersey City's at 17.2 percent), that indicates that housing affordability may be an issue for a significant portion of their respective populations. The purpose of this bill is to provide these cities, the two largest municipalities in the State, with an additional source of revenue to be used to rehabilitate or purchase existing housing to create affordable housing units, or to construct new affordable housing, so that their residents have access to safe and affordable places to live.
