April 21, 2017 Local Government Investment Pools    NJAC is urging the Legislature to pass Assembly, No. 4404/Senate, No.2978 (Greenwald D-6)(Beach D-6), which would permit local units and school districts to invest in local government investment pools managed in accordance with applicable Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) guidelines.  GASB is an independent private-sector organization that establishes accounting and financial reporting standards for national, state, and local governments that follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).  In 2014, the Securities an...

March 31, 2017 Police and Fire Pension On March 23rd, both houses passed Assembly No. 99/Senate, No. 3040 (Prieto D-32/Sumter D-35)(Sweeney D-3/Kean R-21), which would  transfer management of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) to the Board of Trustees of PFRS.  NJAC and the New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJSLOM) oppose this legislation as the measure would inequitably vest the Board’s far-reaching power with labor by a 7-5 majority. As has been well documented, property taxpayers subsidize 70% of PFRS annual contributions while employees fund 30%; property taxp...

March 3, 2017 State Fiscal Year 2018 Budget On February 27th, Governing Chris Christie delivered his final budget address before the both houses of the State Legislature.  NJAC is in the process of analyzing the $35.5 billion spending plan, and you may review the Budget Summary on our website at www.njac.org.  Some highlights relevant to county government include:       Transportation Funding $2.0 billion for the State’s Transportation Capital Program, which includes $400.0 million in Local Aid for counties and municipalities. A $400.0 million supplemental budget appropriation...

February 10, 2017 Criminal Justice Reform At 10:30 a.m. on February 15th in Committee Room 16 of the State House Annex in Trenton, the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates will consider oral arguments on the State’s motion to dismiss NJAC’s complaint that Criminal Justice Reform imposes an unfunded State mandate on county governments. NJAC’s Labor Counsel Genova Burns will argue the case on our behalf. Separately, NJAC’s Board of Directors chose not to endorse recently introduced Senate, No. 2933 (Singer R-30), which would establish a one-year property tax cap levy exclusion for the cost...

January 20, 2017 Electronic Waste Recycling After more than two years of steadfast advocacy by NJAC’s Legislative Director Allen Weston, Governor Christie signed into law Senate, No. 981 (Smith D-17/Bateman R-16)(McKeon D-27/Gusciora D-15), which requires manufacturers of “covered electronic devices” to provide for the collection, transportation, and recycling of its market share in weight of all covered electronic devices collected in a program year. Special thanks to Gloucester County Recycling Coordinator Monica Gismondi, Burlington County District Recycling Coordinator Ann Moore, Oce...

December 23, 2016 CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM On December 6th, Genova Burns filed a complaint on behalf of NJAC with the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates. The complaint makes a compelling argument that Criminal Justice Reform imposes an unfunded mandate on county governments in violation of the State’s constitution. In general, the complaint asserts that the risk assessment and speedy trial components of the new law set to take effect in January of 2017 are forcing county governments to spend valuable taxpayer dollars without authorizing any other resources to fund the costly reforms. The c...

November 23, 2016 Criminal Justice Reform For nearly two years, NJAC and county officials from across the State have been urging State leaders to address our concerns with the costs associated with implementing Criminal Justice Reform set to take effect in January of 2017. In the past two weeks alone, NJAC and a delegation of county officials have met with the Governor’s office and Attorney General’s office. We’ve also testified before the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and have had ongoing conversations with the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), which has been very helpful througho...

October 28, 2016 Transportation Trust Fund On October 14th, Governor Christie signed into law legislation that reauthorizes the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) with an 8 year $2.0 billion per year capital program.  In summary, the measure generally increases the State’s motor fuels tax by .23 cents per gallon, reduces the State’s sales tax to 6.875% in 2017 and then 6.625% in 2018, increases the earned income tax credit from 30% to 35% of the federal benefit amount, increases the New Jersey gross income tax exclusion on pension and retirement income for seniors, provides a personal exemptio...

September 30, 2016 Criminal Justice Reform At its meeting on September 23rd, NJAC’s Board of Directors authorized the Association to file an action with the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates that certain provisions of the “Criminal Justice Reform Act” N.J.S.A. 2A:162-15 et. seq. constitute an unfunded State mandate with the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates. The New Jersey Council on Local Mandates is responsible for resolving disputes on whether a law, rule, or regulation adopted after 1996 constitutes an unfunded mandate. In general, an unfunded mandate upon boards of education, mu...

County Emergency Management On August 29th, Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) and Senator Joseph Vitale (D-19) held a press conference at the State House with NJAC and county officials to unveil their plans to introduce legislation that would assist county offices of emergency management (OEM) prepare for natural disasters. In summary, the measure would create a program in the Department of Law and Public Safety to distribute aid annually to county OEMs based on a county’s risk exposure to natural disasters with each county receiving a minimum allotment. The program would allow counties ...