REPORT: NEW JERSEY TOWNS RAISED LOCAL TAXES IN ’10

Many of the state’s 500 plus municipalities will have a tough time balancing their municipal budgets in 2011.  A new report over the weekend by the Star Ledger shows that many municipalities in the Garden State increased their local tax levies by five percent or more during 2010.  Now these same communities will have to handle Governor Chris Christie’s new two percent cap on local property tax hikes.  The new law does allow for exceptions on debt payments, health and pension costs for municipal employees, and emergency spending.  The report shows that 70 percent of New Jersey’s municipalities saw increases in the tax levies of three percent or more last year.