Removes limit in annual budget requests of certain county offices.

A1470

ASSEMBLY, No. 1470

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman ANTWAN L. MCCLELLAN

District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)

Assemblyman WILLIAM W. SPEARMAN

District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Simonsen

SYNOPSIS

���� Removes limit in annual budget requests of certain
county offices.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning the annual budget requests of certain county
offices, amending P.L.2007, c.62, and repealing various parts of the statutory
law.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� Section 9 of P.L.2007,
c.62 (C.40A:4-45.44) is amended to read as follows:

���� 9.��� For the purposes of
sections 9 through 13 of P.L.2007, c.62 (C.40A:4-45.44 through C.40A:4-45.47
and C.40A:4-45.3e):

���� "Adjusted tax levy"
means an amount not greater than the amount to be raised by taxation of the
previous fiscal year, less any waivers from a prior fiscal year required to be
deducted by the Local Finance Board pursuant to section 11 of P.L.2007, c.62
(C.40A:4-45.46), that result multiplied by 1.02, to which the sum of exclusions
defined in subsection b. of section 10 of P.L.2007, c.62 (C.40A:4-45.45) shall
be added.

���� "Amount to be raised by
taxation" means the property tax levy set in the annual budget of a local
unit.

���� "Local unit" means a
municipality, county, fire district, or solid waste collection district, but
shall not include a municipality that had a municipal purposes tax rate of
$0.10 or less per $100 for the previous tax year.

���� "New ratables" means
the product of the taxable value of any new construction or improvements times
the tax rate of a local unit for its previous tax year.

���� "County entity budget
authority" means the county tax administrator, county superintendent of
election, county board of election,
and
county register of deeds and
mortgages,
[
county
clerk, county surrogate, county prosecutor, and county sheriff,
]
in their role
as the appointing authority of their respective offices.

���� "County entity"
means a county board of taxation, office of the county superintendent of
election, office of the county board of election,
and
office of the
county register of deeds and mortgages
[
,
office of the county clerk, office of the county surrogate, office of the
county prosecutor, and county sheriff's department
]
.

(cf: P.L.2015, c.249, s.2)

���� 2.��� The following sections
are repealed:

���� Section 7 of P.L.2015, c.249
(C.40A:9-77.2);

���� Section 8 of P.L.2015, c.249
(C.2B:14-14);

���� Section 9 of P.L.2015, c.249
(C.22A:4-8.2); and

���� Section 10 of P.L.2015, c.249
(C.2A:158-1a).

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately and shall first apply to the county budget year next
following enactment.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would remove the 2
percent limit on annual increases in the portion of the budget requests, of
county constitutional officers, to be raised by property taxation. �County
constitutional officers� is the colloquial term for county clerks, surrogates,
prosecutors, and sheriffs, because Article VII, Sections I and II of the New
Jersey Constitution, specifically reference those positions and provides
certain requirements about their term of office.

���� Under current law, in
preparation of the portions of their budget requests to be raised by property
taxation, the constitutional officers must limit any increase in that portion
of a budget request to 2 percent of the previous year�s budget request, subject
to the exceptions set forth in law. Under the bill, the offices of the
constitutional officers, would not be required to adhere to the 2 percent
budget request limitation.

���� This bill takes effect
immediately upon enactment and first applies to the next local budget year
following enactment.