Aid from state will bring tax relief

NorthJersey.com
September 30, 2010
By Justin Zaremba

Residents of Haledon and Prospect Park will receive fourth-quarter tax relief due to $700,000 in state aid from the Department of Community Affairs.

Earlier this year, the state eliminated extraordinary aid to municipalities and indicated that a transitional aid program would replace it for the current year. The program allows towns to transition from a 4-percent tax cap in the current budget to the state-mandated 2-percent tax cap in January. Municipalities were not informed that they qualified for transitional aid until Sept. 16, resulting in the stalled passage of municipal budgets.

Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah made the announcement of $400,000 in transitional aid to residents via his Facebook page on Sept. 16. Khairullah said in a phone conversation on Sept. 21 that residents' taxes increased by $675 – including municipal, school and county tax bills – adding that the grant would drastically reduce the average household's tax bill.

"That $400,000 [grant] is going to cut about $321 from the increase for the average household," Khairullah said. "We're looking at no increase in the fourth quarter in terms of taxes. We still have to factor in savings from the [Chief Frank Franco's] retirement, an additional $60,000. The whole situation goes to show the town has been efficient."

Haledon Mayor Domenick Stampone said the municipality had applied for $450,000 in transitional aid – which it received in extraordinary aid last year – but only received $300,000 in transitional aid.

"[In order to apply for the grant] we had to prove a hardship and prove that we are operating in an efficient manner based on state guidelines," Stampone said, later adding, "It's no surprise that we have a rateables problem in Haledon, which is only that much more compounded when a bad economy takes away the revenue we need. We're really kind of scraping by."

Stampone stated the budget committee met on Sept. 21 to determine how the state funds would be used in the 2010 budget, adding that residents would see a "downward adjustment in their tax bill." He said the governing body would then try to pass the budget on Sept. 29.