WyBlog

Half a cap is better than none, but it's still half a cap

Governor Christie has reached a compromise with State Senate Steve Sweeney on a statutory property tax cap plan. Annual increases would be capped at 2%, down from the current 4% statutory cap. And there will still be exemptions, meaning the "cap" is not firm and inviolate.

All in all it is a significant departure from Christie's signature "Cap 2.5" initiative which would have enshrined a hard and fast cap in the state constitution.

At the same time it's a better plan than the 2.9% cap package passed by the legislature last month and sent to the governor. Under the compromise reached with Sweeney the governor will "conditionally veto" that bill, and then the legislature will amend it to conform to this new plan.

The four exemptions from the cap are all big ticket items — pension benefits, health benefits, capital expenditures and certain emergencies.

"Certain emergencies" is the catch-all loophole which is big enough to drive a truck through. Local school boards are well versed in the art of the "budget emergency". Given the right sales pitch almost any expenditure can be spun as an "emergency". So I fear that the new 2% cap, like the 4% cap which preceeds it, will be little more than a good suggestion for fiscally prudent towns to accept.

The spendthrifts will find a way to continue their "business as usual" profligate ways, and the taxpayers will once again get hosed.

Steve Sweeney, Sheila Oliver, and the Democrats stood firm to protect their buddies in the public employee unions. Keeping pension benefits and health care outside the cap means there is no incentive to restrain the costs of those gold plated benefit programs. The unions will continue to live high on the hog at our expense.

Given the current statehouse climate this is probably the best deal Chris Christie could get at this juncture. After November when a new legislature is elected I hope we can revisit the imperative of enacting a firm, no excuses cap. Without it our malingering property tax woes will never really be cured.

Posted at 12:05 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |   |   Tweet