Permits municipalities to enter into shared service agreement for tax assessment.

A4401

ASSEMBLY, No. 4401

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman� JAY WEBBER

District 26 (Morris and Passaic)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Scharfenberger

SYNOPSIS

���� Permits municipalities to enter into shared service
agreement for tax assessment.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act
concerning shared municipal tax assessors and amending
P.L.1967, c.180 and P.L.2007, c.63.

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

���� 1.��� Section 1 of P.L.1967,
c.180 (C.40:48B-14) is amended to read as follows:

���� 1.��� The governing bodies of
any two or more municipalities may, by substantially similar resolutions duly
adopted by each of such governing bodies within six calendar months after the
first such resolution is adopted, establish and maintain the office of joint
municipal tax assessor to assess real and personal property for taxation within
each of the respective municipalities joining hereunder
; provided, however,
that after the effective date of
P.L. , c. (pending before
the Legislature as this bill), the office of joint municipal tax assessor shall
only be established pursuant to a shared service agreement under the
"Uniform Shared Services and Consolidation Act," P.L.2007, c.63
(C.40A:65-1 et seq.)
.

(cf: P.L.1995, c.356, s.3)

���� 2.��� Section 4 of P.L.2007,
c.63 (C.40A:65-4) is amended to read as follows:

���� 4. a. (1) Any local unit may
enter into an agreement with any other local unit or units to provide or
receive any service that each local unit participating in the agreement is
empowered to provide or receive within its own jurisdiction, including services
incidental to the primary purposes of any of the participating local units
including services from licensed or certified professionals required by statute
to be appointed.�
In the case of a county which assumes the duties and
responsibilities for the assessment of property for purposes of taxation on
behalf of each municipality in the county, that county may act as a local unit
providing a service to other participating local units.

���� In the case of pilot
municipalities, tenure rights shall not prohibit the sharing of services for a
municipal clerk, a chief financial officer, an assessor, a tax collector, a
municipal treasurer, or a municipal superintendent of public works.� The statutory
requirements that each municipality must appoint a municipal clerk, a chief
financial officer, an assessor, a tax collector, a municipal treasurer, a
municipal engineer, and a principal public works manager shall, for those pilot
municipalities, permit and include the provision of the services of any of
those municipal employees through a shared service agreement pursuant to the
provisions of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et seq.).� The shared service
agreement shall be subject to the provisions of subsection d. of this section
and of section 3 of P.L.2013, c.166 (C.40A:65-4.2).

���� In a shared service agreement
between pilot municipalities for the services of a municipal clerk, a chief
financial officer, an assessor, a tax collector, a municipal treasurer, or a
municipal superintendent of public works, the agent-party, as that term is used
in subsection d. of section 7 of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-7), shall select for
employment under the agreement one of the employees of the pilot municipalities
that are party to the agreement who was employed in that same capacity prior to
the approval of the agreement.

���� (2)� Notwithstanding any law,
rule or regulation to the contrary, any agreement between local units for the
provision of shared services shall be entered into pursuant to sections 1 to 37
of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et al.); provided, however, that agreements
regarding shared services that are otherwise regulated by statute, rule, or
regulation are specifically excluded from sections 1 to 37 of P.L.2007, c.63
(C.40A:65-1 et al.).

���� (3)� The board is authorized
to render a decision in the determination of the statutory basis under which a
specific shared service is governed.

���� b.��� Any agreement entered
into pursuant to this section shall be filed, for informational purposes, with
the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community
Affairs, together with an estimate of the cost savings anticipated to be
achieved by the local units that are the parties to the agreement, pursuant to
rules and regulations promulgated by the director.

���� c.��� In the case of a pilot
municipality, a tenured municipal clerk, chief financial officer, assessor, tax
collector, municipal superintendent of public works, or municipal treasurer may
be dismissed to effectuate the sharing of a service entered into pursuant to
the provisions of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et seq.) and such dismissal shall
be deemed to be in the interest of the economy or efficiency of the
participants in the shared service agreement.

���� d.��� In the case of a pilot
municipality, a tenured municipal clerk, chief financial officer, assessor, tax
collector, municipal superintendent of public works, or municipal treasurer who
has been dismissed to effectuate a shared service agreement entered into
pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et seq.) shall be
reappointed to his or her former position, and shall regain his or her tenured
status, if the shared service agreement is cancelled, or expires, within the
two-year period immediately following the dismissal of that person.

���� e.��� Notwithstanding any law,
rule, or regulation to the contrary, a local unit or units may enter into a
shared service agreement with a federal military base, to the extent permitted
by 10 U.S.C. s.2679, under which services would be provided to the extent a
local unit involved in the agreement is empowered to provide those services
within its own jurisdiction.� This subsection shall not be construed to impact
existing federal or State civil service laws, rules, or regulations with
respect to federal employees or employees of a local unit.� Where federal law
and State law conflict regarding the content and duration of such agreements,
federal law shall control.

(cf: P.L.2023, c.308, s1)

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would permit
municipalities to enter into an agreement to share a municipal tax assessor,
under the shared service provisions of the �Uniform Shared Services and
Consolidation Act,� sections 4 through 13 of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-4 through
C.40A:65-13).� This bill aligns the law with the �Uniform Shared Services and
Consolidation Act� in order to provide municipalities with a more flexible and
cost-effective means of sharing a tax assessor.

���� The bill also permits a county
to assume the duties of tax assessment for each of its constituent
municipalities, also under the provisions of the �Uniform Shared Services and
Consolidation Act.��