BobJordan  APP,  March 15, 2013,

TRENTON —A sharp hike in net property taxes at the start of Gov. Chris Christie’s term has been softened, but New Jersey homeowners on average pay nearly $1,200 more than when Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine left office.

 Christie, who is up for re-election in November, currently stars in a new television campaign ad that includes the headline “Christie’s plan offers hope on property taxes.”APP.comHis plan has included overhauls of pensions and health benefits for public employees and a cap on local government taxes, but average net property taxes have risen 19 percent under Christie during his first three years in office. Corzine’s first three years showed an 11 percent increase, according to new data from the state Department of Community Affairs.

 The data do not include the expected impact on property taxes to offset millions of dollars in lost tax revenue in beachfront towns hit by superstorm Sandy.

Local municipalities (with populations of 4,000 or greater) with the highest net property tax hikes since Gov. Chris Christie took office in January 2010:

Monmouth County

Neptune City: 29.2 percent increase

Keansburg: 25.8 percent

Aberdeen: 22.2 percent

Ocean County

Manchester: 49.1 percent

Toms River: 36.8 percent

Berkeley: 30 percent

Source: state Department of Community Affairs

 The trend creates an opening for Christie’s likely November opponent, Democrat Barbara Buono. A Monmouth University poll released last month said 59 percent of registered voters think Christie deserves a second term.

 Buono said the report on property taxes “has now confirmed what millions of New Jerseyans already know —the governor has an abysmal record on reducing the property tax burden for working and middle-class families.”

 “Under his administration, Gov. Christie has stopped millionaires from paying their fair share while the average property tax bill has increased by nearly 20 percent,” Buono said in the emailed statement.

 Christie’s first year in office, 2010, resulted in an average property tax bill of $7,576 without any credits or rebates. He claimed at the time that he needed to close a fiscal shortfall and delayed the start of his credit program, creating a 19-month gap between program outlays.

 In 2009 under Corzine, the average net tax bill was $6,244, thanks to an average $1,037 rebate from the NJ Saver program.

 Christie has fared better since, with slight reductions in both of the last two years. The average net property tax bill now stands at $7,410, a drop of $166 from his first year.

 ’Ridiculous Band-Aid’

 Christie, with bipartisan support from lawmakers, ushered in 2 percent caps on local government tax levy increases and in 2011 increased required pension contributions from public workers, increased the amount workers pay for health benefits, raised the retirement age and eliminated automatic cost-of-living increases for current retirees, among other things.

 The governor also has pushed to relax civil service job protections, which he claims will create efficiencies for local governments, but labor unions are fighting that proposal.

 Civil service reform will help control property taxes, said Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider, but the other changes so far have not delivered enough results to homeowners, he said.

 Schneider said Christie and lawmakers have not fully acknowledged the ballooning operating costs of local government.

 “Local costs edge up every year. The tax levy cap to me was a ridiculous Band-Aid that forced me to lay off cops and yet did little to hold down residents’ tax bills,” Schneider said. “I’d rather explain to residents why costs are rising and keep my city safe than live with an arbitrary cap.”

 Schneider, a Democrat, said Long Branch has a police force of 75, down eight positions since the cap became law.

 Long Branch property owners have seen an average net tax hike of 14.8 percent under Christie.

 That is lower than other midsize to large municipalities in Monmouth County, including Neptune City (29.2 percent increase),   Keansburg (25.8 percent) and Aberdeen (22.2 percent).

 In Ocean County, Manchester residents saw a 49.1 percent increase, and Toms River had a 36.8 percent boost.

 Toms River’s problems during the period were heightened by lower land valuations and an onslaught of successful tax appeals on the heels of a 2009 revaluation.

 Officials in other towns say they also struggled to deal with the financial impact of property tax appeals and costs beyond their control that are escalating at much more than 2 percent a year, such as for fuel in some years and snow removal at other times, for example.

 Buono taken to task

 Kevin Roberts, Christie’s campaign spokesman, said Buono has little standing to criticize Christie’s record on taxes.

 “Property taxes doubled under her watch,” said Roberts, referring to Buono’s years in the Legislature.

 Buono is a state senator from Middlesex County. She joined the Assembly in 1994 and moved to the Senate in 2002. Net property taxes were $4,133 at the start of 2002.

 “We know that Barbara Buono will lob any negative attack in the book to distract from her record of voting for 154 tax and fee increases on New Jersey families. When Jon Corzine and Buono, as his budget chair, weren’t busy losing 240,000 jobs, they were raising taxes on families by $2 billion,” Roberts said.

 John Burzichelli, a Gloucester County Democrat who sits on the Assembly Budget Committee, said that despite reforms for public workers and the levy cap, the stable tax bills promised have not materialized “because there is an overreliance on property taxes. There’s too much weight on what we’re asking the property tax to do.”

 “There’s been some success in stemming higher bills, but the weight is too heavy to start with. One more brick to carry isn’t asking a lot, unless you’re at the breaking point,” Burzichelli said.

Why are towns on their own?

 Seaside Heights Mayor Bill Akers announced last week that he has enlisted the aid of the Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Science to help answer questions about how to best protect his town from future storms.

 While this news is undoubtedly welcome, six months after superstorm Sandy battered the Jersey Shore, it raises at least two questions:

 1. Why is it that towns up and down the Jersey Shore are left to find their own experts and answers, rather than being able to rely on some central state or federal clearinghouse where expert advice and best practices are readily available?

 We thought that was the job of the New Jersey storm czar, Marc Ferzan, hired by Gov. Chris Christie at an annual salary of $141,000 to coordinate efforts on all levels of government to help with the recovery.

 If Ferzan was hired to be the point person for the recovery, to be the public face for the efforts to help towns come back from Sandy better prepared and better protected, the mayor should not have had to go somewhere else for the answers and advice he sought. If Ferzan’s job description doesn’t include overseeing efforts for coastal preparedness against future storms, someone else in the Christie administration should be responsible.

 And if the state of New Jersey does not have the expertise to handle it on its own, it needs to go to the federal government. It is critical that storm protection efforts be coordinated. While every beach town is unique, the beaches do not end at the boundaries of those towns. Left on their own, well-meaning municipal leaders could find themselves working at cross-purposes, the result of which would be less storm protection for many, not more.

 2. Why have so many Shore towns adopted a “build first, ask questions later” modus operandi?

 Many towns, citing the importance of tourism to their local economy, have felt pressure to rebuild before the summer season gets under way. But again, without clear guidance from the state or federal government on the best ways to protect the shoreline from future storms of similar magnitude, all the pre-Memorial Day hustle and bustle could wind up being for naught.

 Akers, in addition to citing the need to rebuild quickly to accommodate the tens of thousands of summer guests that support the borough’s businesses, also says he wants to take time to find the most effective option for storm protection.

 Rutgers has agreed to assist the borough by sharing what its scientists know about coastal protection, and it also hopes to establish a university-run science facility on the boardwalk. It’s a good thing that Rutgers has agreed to lend its expertise to a community in recovery. And Akers is to be commended for reaching out for answers.

 What is not so admirable is that no one in the Christie administration or in the federal government seems able to provide Akers with the answers he and Seaside Heights are seeking.

Highlighting and Following comment by JA Coan

 Editor’s Comment:  Doesn’t this appear that the Governor, after the initial reactions and press briefings (great for a national run) has let towns struggle by themselves,  Where is his “Sandy Czar”, who was supposed to oversee coastal preparedness against future storms?

It’s springtime in election year New Jersey. And once again Gov. Chris Christie has come down with a case of tax cut fever.

 Or rather a relapse.

 This week he gave a conditional veto to a bill that would have raised the Earned Income Tax Credit to $550 for the working poor. Conditionally vetoed is the delicate way of putting it; held the EITC hostage is more like it.

 Christie said he would let the Earned Income Tax Credit increase if lawmakers in Trenton would give him his tax cut, albeit in the form of an income tax credit equal to 10 percent of property tax bills, phased in over four years and capped at $10,000.

 That’s just a modified version of a plan Senate President Stephen Sweeney offered last year to counter Christie’s proposal for an across-the-board income tax cut.

 Given the shaky foundation on which New Jersey’s economy still rests, the state can ill afford such a large tax cut. As Sweeney himself said, “In my mind, nothing has changed since I was part of passing the budget last June. …. We said if the revenues work out, we’d do a tax cut. …. Up to this point, the revenues have not worked out.”

 Revenues are still $302 million short. How can one justify a substantial tax cut now?

 Not only is Christie’s use of the Earned Income Tax Credit as a bargaining chip cruel, but a property tax credit of any sort, whether promoted by Democrats or Republicans, even if welcomed by many in a better economy, misses what most New Jerseyans desire most: real and permanent property tax relief. This will be accomplished when serious people work at shifting the tax structure away from property taxes once and for all.

 Highlighting  by JA Coan

TRENTON – Charles Wowkanech, President of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, issued the following statement regarding Governor Christie being named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world:

Governor Chris Christie has been recognized as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for the second time, but the question remains: what impact has the Governor’s influence had?

– Christie’s influence has not helped to reduce New Jersey’s nine percent unemployment, which is the worst unemployment rate in the region and significantly higher than the national unemployment rate of 7.6 percent.

– Christie’s influence has not helped to reduce the percentage of New Jersey families living in poverty, which has risen for four years in-a-row to record levels.

– Christie’s influence has not brought down property taxes, which have risen approximately 20 percent on his watch due to the reduction of rebates.

So what has Christie influenced?

– He has used his influence to conditionally veto the minimum wage bill, denying low-wage workers a long overdue raise, even as more New Jersey families continue to fall into poverty and income inequality rises.

– Christie used his influence to pursue one of the nation’s most aggressive packages of corporate tax breaks and subsidies. However, both history and our state’s persistent high unemployment rate have proven that trickledown economics is not a solution for New Jersey’s jobs crisis.

– Christie used his influence to cancel the ARC Tunnel project which would have created 6,000 new construction jobs, created 45,000 permanent jobs, increased real estate values, and spurred economic activity.

– Christie used his influence to cut property tax rebates for seniors, to slash education funding to our schools, to reduce tuition assistance for college students, to erode collective bargaining rights for public workers, to veto pay equity legislation, to cut funding for women’s health care/family planning, to pick fights with teachers, and to gut the Earned Income Tax Credit.

There is no denying that Governor Chris Christie is influential. But for unemployed families, low wage workers, and our state’s middle class, Christie’s influence has been a disaster

TRENTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency warned the Christie administration just days after Hurricane Sandy that its decision to award a no-bid contract to a politically connected firm to haul away debris could jeopardize maximum federal reimbursement for towns, The Star-Ledger has learned.

For months, Gov. Chris Christie has dismissed critics who said his decision to give the Florida-based AshBritt Inc. a contract could add costs for taxpayers in 53 New Jersey towns that employed the firm.

Christie and his staff also say FEMA all but endorsed the contract, which was “piggybacked,” or taken word for word, from a 2008 contract AshBritt had signed with Connecticut.

But a letter sent to Christie by U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) last month discloses the state was warned reimbursments could be at risk because of the contract.

“I am writing today because FEMA officials have informed my office that they warned the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General shortly after the storm that the “piggyback” contract utilized by the state for debris removal presents problems that could put federal reimbursement to local government at risk,” Lautenberg wrote in the Feb. 21 letter, obtained under the state’s Open Public Records Act.

 Lautenberg added: “I urge you to take all the necessary steps to ensure that current and future debris removal contracts are in full compliance with federal procurement regulations.”

FEMA strongly discourages the use of “piggybacked” contracts and subjects them to greater scrutiny, Lautenberg told Christie. As a result, he wrote, FEMA will determine whether AshBritt’s rates are reasonable and may penalize towns by cutting reimbursement if it finds the costs are out of step with the marketplace.

Christie eventually put the debris removal contracts out to bid, but the process was not completed until 90 days after the storm, when the bulk of the cleanup work was already finished. Christie has committed to keep standing contracts in place for future storms.

Spokesmen for Christie and Lautenberg described the letter as a routine communication and a sign the two — who have feuded — are working together.

“We viewed the senator’s letter as appropriate, constructive input from someone with whom we are working closely in getting federal disaster aid to New Jersey,” Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said.

Asked whether he would confirm the FEMA warning to the Attorney General’s Office mentioned in the letter, Drewniak said: “I won’t contribute to The Star-Ledger’s over-dramatization of Senator Lautenberg’s letter.”

Lautenberg spokesman Caley Gray said: “We’re pleased that the governor is consulting regularly with federal officials about the issue raised in the letter. Sen. Lautenberg is committed to making sure municipalities are reimbursed fairly, and we’re confident that the Christie administration will continue working with FEMA towards that goal.”

Drewniak said the governor’s office consulted with FEMA officials before signing the contract, noting a March 8 statement from FEMA that said the agency “agreed New Jersey could proceed with this procurement.”

The FEMA statement related to the contract’s legality — which has not been questioned — not whether it would reimburse towns the full amount.

FEMA spokesman Dan Watson declined to comment on the Lautenberg letter.

“What I can say is as we continue to work with states impacted by Hurricane Sandy, FEMA has guidelines in place to ensure that we are responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars throughout the response and recovery process,” Watson said.

Two days after Sandy struck, Christie adopted AshBritt’s 2008 contract with Connecticut. AshBritt has secured contracts in 53 towns and anticipates billing them more than $150 million, the firm’s CEO, Randy Perkins, told a state legislative committee investigating the issue earlier this month.

The decision to use the politically connected firm has come under fire from Democrats in Trenton. A number of towns that decided against using AshBritt paid a fraction of the cost of those that did, and Christie ignored a request from another major debris removal company that said it was willing to do the work at one-third of AshBritt’s rates.

The federal government’s determination on whether the price tag for debris removal was reasonable is critical for towns that relied on the state’s contract since they already paid millions for the cleanup with the expectation FEMA will reimburse at least 75 percent of the costs.

“I am very concerned, and it’s troubling,” Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) said. “The administration has voiced real confidence, but nothing is guaranteed. (Christie) certainly never disclosed he was warned that there may be problems.”

Drewniak said the administration is “fully confident that New Jersey municipalities which chose to use AshBritt will receive full reimbursement, just as occurred in so many instances across the country with this particular company.”

The final answer may not come for years, following federal audits

TRENTON —AshBritt’s founder had two paydays in some Shore towns as part of the waste-hauling firm’s $150 million state contract for cleanup after superstorm Sandy.

High prices charged by the politically connected Florida company have been under scrutiny from a state legislative panel investigating the storm cleanup. Critics of the contract said Monday that AshBritt’s subcontracting arrangement with County Waste Inc. —both are owned by AshBritt CEO Randal Perkins —raises new questions about whether taxpayers got a raw deal.

“The federal government wants to prevent conflicts or bias in the selection of vendors and subcontractors, and this raises serious concerns about the transparency of this operation,” said state Sen. Robert M. Gordon, D-Bergen, chairman of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee.

An Asbury Park Press review of municipal bills showed that AshBritt charged towns $21.25 per cubic yard to gather roadside debris and bring it to a collection site within 15 miles —nearly double the $11.70 asking price of another Florida company, Bergeron, and others.

Gordon’s panel grilled Perkins for four hours at a March 8 hearing. Perkins told members that AshBritt hired 100 subcontractors, but did not mention that he owned one of the companies.

Bills for County Waste Inc. for work in Ocean County top $200,000.

Asked about the contract, Ocean County Administrator Carl W. Block said AshBritt had more than 100 subcontractors, and there are no regulations that would have required AshBritt to report such information.

Block noted that the county had appointed the Louis Berger Group of Morristown to oversee the cleanup, as required by Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations, and added that the county was confident its dealings with AshBritt were aboveboard.

But state Sen. Barbara Buono, the likely Democratic nominee for governor, pounced on the controversy.

“As pay-to-play allegations have surrounded AshBritt’s no-bid contract for weeks, it’s troubling, but unsurprising, that the firm’s CEO benefited by subcontracting a company he owned,” said Buono, D-Middlesex. “The fact that the firm is charging far more than local alternatives and hiring its affiliates is an insult to the families still working to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Sandy.”

Deal has defenders

A spokesman for Christie declined comment, referring inquiries to AshBritt.

The Christie administration awarded AshBritt’s contract without competitive bidding.

The governor has defended the deal, saying many towns in emergent situations needed an option for recovery efforts. Christie also noted that towns were free to pick other contractors.

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is a founding partner of BGR, a firm that lobbies for AshBritt, and Christie said Barbour recommended AshBritt to him.

The Florida firm also hired and worked with a team of influential consultants —including George Gilmore, the Ocean County GOP chairman, and Maggie Moran, former deputy chief of staff to Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine —to pitch its services to town officials.

AshBritt general counsel Jared Moskowitz said County Waste Inc. was chosen as a subcontractor “because it’s a garbage contractor, and we needed a garbage contractor.”

“The idea that AshBritt is double dipping is insane. Of the total amount of money we are being paid, 68.75 percent of that money is staying in New Jersey,” he said.

New Jersey has provided more corporate tax breaks in the past three years than it did in the last 10, but the state’s economy still continues to lag, according to a report released on Monday.

The state has awarded $2.1 billion in subsidies —compared to $1.25 billion for the previous 10 years, since Rep. Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010, according to a report by New Jersey Policy Perspective, the liberal think-tank.

However, New Jersey’s economy remains sluggish. While its unemployment rate has fallen slightly, it is the sixth-highest in the United States at 9.3 percent in February, well above the national jobless rate of 7.7 percent.

New Jersey had the second-highest foreclosure rate in January at 7.2 percent, behind only Florida, according to CoreLogic, a leading provider of consumer, financial and property information.

“So far, efforts to spur economic growth through aggressively awarding subsidies have not borne fruit,” the think-tank said in its report.

Michael Drewniak, a Christie spokesman, said the group was “not credible.”

“This study simply fails to consider the disadvantage we’d be in without effective job retention and business-incentive programs,” Drewniak said. He noted that both Democrats and Republicans have supported such measures.

Ben Sparks, spokesman for the state Republican Party, said in a statement that New Jersey Policy Perspective was trying to take the state back to “the failed policies” of ex-Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

Corporate giveaways aren’t new. But they’ve taken on urgency as many U.S. states struggle to recover from the recession, which stripped jobs and revenues.

By contrast, through the entire previous decade, the state awarded $1.25 billion in tax credits and grants.

The report, “New Jersey’s Subsidy Surge Has Not Subsided,” says corporate subsidies have gone to 171 projects since Christie took office in January 2010. But the report says the awarding of tax incentives by the New Jersey Economic “are often touted by members of both parties as effective job-creation tools.’’

“New Jersey now relies on a few mega bets that move jobs around within the state to restore jobs and prosperity,” said NJPP President Gordon MacInnes. “It ignores the lessons from states that are taking our best jobs that investments supporting research, educational opportunity, and improved infrastructure are much more productive

Tax breaks and subsidies have been popular with cities and states trying to lure businesses in the hopes of creating and retaining jobs.

According to the report, through just four programs, the Christie administration has awarded $822 million in tax credits and grants to 69 New Jersey businesses. The deals range from a $1,700 credit for a small printing company in Carlstadt to a $261 million grant to facilitate construction of a casino in Atlantic City. The average grant is close to $12 million, although half are for $1.2 million or less.

New Jersey has at least five different corporate tax and incentive programs. In the last three years, the largest award overall was a $261.4 million grant to Revel Casino, which filed for bankruptcy in March.

Overall, New Jersey officials have awarded tax credits and grants to 171 projects since February 2010.

Bayer Healthcare, Citibank, Pfizer, UBS Financial Services, Prudential Financial, Panasonic and Lockheed Martin are among companies receiving some of the largest taxpayer-funded incentives in the past three years, according to the report.

The report said that the state should focus more on economic development funding for education, infrastructure and job-training programs.

A great event- Ocean/Monmouth April Fools Comedy Night.  Thanks to our comedians and all who came out!

  Scott Blakeman is “An astute, funny political observer who loosed his darts in a tone that remained suave and smilingly ironic.”                   New York Times
 Scott is an original member of New York’s political comedy show Laughing Liberally, and recently was featured in Laughing Liberally: This  Ain’t No Tea  Party in a five month run at the Midtown Theater in New York. He also hosted Breaking Convention: A Liberal Dose of Political Humor in   Denver and St. Paul during the 2008 Democratic and Republican conventions.

Blakeman was a guest panelist on MSNBC’s live coverage of the 2012, 2011and 2010 White House Correspondents Dinner. Scott appears regularly as a liberal pundit on the live webcast FoxNews.com Live. He has also appeared on Fox and Friends, and America Live with Megyn Kelly on Fox News Channel, and Follow The Money on Fox Business Channel. Scott has also appeared on The Young Turks on Current TV. Scott hosts a political comedy talk show The End Of The Week As We Know It atvarious venuesin New York, with a panel of liberal and conservative pundits.

  Joey Novick- As a professional stand-up comedian and actor, he’s appeared on MTV, Rascal’s Comedy Hour, One Life to Live and Comedy Central. He’s featured regularly at Catch A Rising Star, The Comedy Zone and Dangerfield’s and at scores of comedy venues across the country. He’s opened in concert for comedy legends Jerry Seinfield, Ray Romano, Paul Reiser, Chris Rock, Robert Klein and Rosie O’Donnell.

He is an award winning speaker, having been presented with the Leadership New Jersey Program Development Award for his United Nation conference program. Joey’s corporate clients include many Fortune 500 companies including AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, MetLife and Merrill Lynch. Many government groups including the National League of Cities and the National Association of County Officials have benefited from his humor training. His humor workshops have been prominently featured in the New York Times, the AP Newswire, Washington Post, Newark Star-Ledger, on ABC News and National Public Radio. Currently, Joey serves his community as an elected Councilman in Flemington, NJ.

Bill McCarty is one of the nation’s most gifted comedians. Clever and quick, thoughtful and aware, he elevates stand-up comedy to the level of fine art. His funny, imaginative routines and good-humored jibes are perfect for any audience, any event.

McCarty’s talents have been seen on television’s The Rosie O’ Donnell Show(NBC) and Late Night with Conan O’ Brian (NBC), as well asEvening at the Improv. (A&E) and Caroline’s Comedy Hour(A&E).

He has performed at many of the nation’s best venues such as New York City’s famous Comic Strip, Atlantic City’s prestigious Tropicana Hotel and Los Angeles’ renouned Comedy Store. In addition, McCarty was invited to perform stand-up comedy at the world class Edinburgh International Arts Festival in Scotland. He has also entertained passengers on the Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines.

Bill McCarty is the unseen voice of numerous radio and television commercials for Cannon, Burger King and GMC trucks. In addition, he has performed off, off-Broadway in the plays F-Stop and Triptych. McCarty has “opened” for comedian superstars David Brenner, Pat Cooper, Robert Klein and Bill Maher.

Harry Terjanian- In addition to playing major clubs in New York City, Harry has toured clubs, colleges, and theaters across America, playing to audiences of hundreds and thousands at high capacity venues such as New York’s Town Hall Theater, Chicago’s McCormick Convention Center, Syracuse University, U-Mass, NYU, and many others, as well as opening for the likes of 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander.

He has taken part in several national comedy festivals including being a runnerup in the New York Underground Comedy Festival’s Emerging Comics Competition, a finalist at the New York Comedy Festival’s Andy Kaufman Awards, and a finalist in the Disney sponsored Do You Think You’re Funny? Contest. Harry is a regular at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater where he’s written/performed his one-man show, the “No Fact’s Zone,” as well as several critically acclaimed sketch comedy shows as part of the HammerKatz sketch group.

By KATE ZERNIKE, New York Times 2/14/13

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey will retire rather than seek a sixth term next year, he said on Thursday.  

Mr. Lautenberg, at 89 the oldest member of the Senate, was to officially announce his decision Friday in Paterson, where he grew up the son of poor immigrant parents.       

To learn more about Buono’s candidacy, please visit BuonoForGovernor.com.