Category: Trenton

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Ex-N.J. mayor hid financial ties to developer doing business with town

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 By S.P. Sullivan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com 
on April 19, 2016 at 4:58 PM, updated April 19, 2016 at 7:22 PM

Former Chesterfield official Lawrence Dur.Attorney General’s Office

TRENTON — A former Burlington County mayor accused of hiding his ties to a developer doing business in his town will avoid jail time under a plea deal with the state, authorities said.

Lawrence Durr, the former mayor of Chesterfield Township, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single charge of third-degree conspiracy to tamper with public records during an appearance in front of Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert in Burlington County, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

Durr, who has also served as a committeeman and planning board member for his town, was accused of selling development rights on a 100-acre farm to Renaissance Properties, Inc. at a substantial profit and then using his official positions to advance the company’s interests in Chesterfield.

Authorities said he made at least $372,500 from the development rights deal.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/04/nj_mayor_admits_hiding_financial_ties_to_developer.html#incart_river_home

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Guadagno Sounds More Than Ever Like Guv Candidate on Conference Call

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On the heels of a snazzy jazz soundtrack conference call intro, Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno this afternoon whisked away the tarp over Building a Better NJ Together, a new registered 501(c)4 political organization based in Ocean. Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more

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New Jersey Makes the Top Ten: 2016’s States with the Highest Tax Burdens

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New Jersey Places Number 7 in States with the Highest Tax Burdens

April 11,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood bog

Ridgewood Nj, With a week remaining until Tax Day and many Americans finding the current tax code too confusing to determine exactly how much their home states are actually taking from their income in taxes, the personal finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s States with the Highest & Lowest Tax Burdens.
In order to determine which states tax their residents most aggressively, WalletHub’s analysts compared the tax burdens of the 50 states by measuring property taxes, individual income taxes, and state and gross receipts taxes — the three components of state tax burden — as percentages of the total personal income in each state.

States with the Highest Tax Burdens (%) States with the Lowest Tax Burdens (%)
1 New York (13.12%) 41 Texas (7.67%)
2 Hawaii (11.86%) 42 Wyoming (7.62%)
T-3 Maine (11.13%) 43 Alabama (7.41%)
T-3 Vermont (11.13%) 44 Florida (7.22%)
5 Connecticut (10.91%) 45 Oklahoma (6.95%)
6 Minnesota (10.46%) 46 South Dakota (6.94%)
7 New Jersey (10.38%) 47 New Hampshire (6.88%)
8 Rhode Island (10.36%) 48 Tennessee (6.56%)
9 Wisconsin (10.32%) 49 Delaware (5.91%)
10 Illinois (10.19%) 50 Alaska (5.18%)

Comparing the States

  • Red states have a lower total tax burden, with an average rank of 32.00, compared with Blue states, which have an average rank of 19.38. (The lower the rank, the higher the burden)
  • New Jersey has the highest property tax as a fraction of personal income, 5.41 percent, which is four times higher than in Oklahoma, the state with the lowest, 1.42 percent.
  • New York and Oregon have the highest individual income taxes as a fraction of personal income, 4.76 percent and 4.04 percent respectively, whereas Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming do not levy such a tax.
  • Hawaii has the highest total sales and gross receipts tax as a fraction of personal income, 6.95 percent, which is six times higher than in Oregon, the state with the lowest, 1.15 percent.

For the full report and to see where your state ranks, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494/

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Deadlock on Atlantic City threatens other N.J. cities, credit agency says

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The deadlock between Gov. Chris Christie and elected officials over a deal to rescue Atlantic City from a mounting financial crisis has the potential to send shockwaves through some of the state’s largest cities, a credit agency said Wednesday. Matt Arco, NJ.com Read more

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N.J. to order property tax-changing revaluations in 3 municipalities

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The state on Monday will order three New Jersey municipalities that have not revalued property in at least a quarter century to conduct revaluations that will affect property taxes for thousands of residents, NJ Advance Media has learned. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more

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Legislative budget office: N.J. will get $162M less in taxes than Christie says

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New Jersey tax collections will come in about $162.1 million short of Gov. Chris Christie’s expectations for the current and upcoming fiscal year, the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services told lawmakers Tuesday. Samantha Marcus, NJ.comRead more

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This N.J. Transit Expansion Costs $474,000 Per Commuter

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Elise Young EliseOnDeadline

Seven months after New Jersey Transit raised fares and cut routes to close a budget gap, the railroad is laying track to link dairy-country commuters with Manhattan, at a cost of about $474,000 per rider.

The seven-mile (11.3-kilometer) line between Port Morris and Andover in northwest New Jersey will add but a ridership blip to the nation’s second-busiest commuter railroad. By 2030, just 130 daily passengers are expected to board. One multilevel rail car could haul the whole crowd, with a dozen seats to spare.

Meanwhile, closer to Manhattan, commuters in the nation’s most densely populated suburbs endure crowding and train breakdowns at a rate four times higher than the U.S. average. The transit agency says the Sussex County line is a first step to expand rail service to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, a haven for ex-New Jerseyans seeking lower living costs. That $500 million proposal has been on the drawing board for decades without federal funding.

“I moved here in 1983 and the first thing we heard was the train is coming,” said John Moyer, 69, chairman of the governing body for Monroe County, Pennsylvania, where a high percentage of residents have one of the nation’s longest mega-commutes to New York City. “I’m not sure that I’m going to live long enough for it to get here.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-06/n-j-transit-math-rural-rail-expansion-at-474-000-per-commuter

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N.J. pension debt grew to $43.8B last year

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By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

on March 31, 2016 at 5:40 PM, updated March 31, 2016 at 5:41 PM

TRENTON — New Jersey’s public pension shortfall, already one of the worst in the country, got even bigger in 2015, according to new actuarial reports.

Unfunded liabilities in the state retirement system for government workers grew to $43.8 billion, as of July 2015. The state system had $85.2 billion in liabilities but just $41.4 billion in assets, 48.6 percent of the money needed to pay for promised benefits.

The unfunded liability reported at the end of July 2014 was $40 billion, but Department of Treasury officials said that figure has since been revised. The up-to-date data was not immediately available.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/03/nj_pension_debt_grew_to_438b_last_year.html#incart_river_home

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THE LIST: RETIRED NJ OFFICIALS WITH $100K-PLUS PUBLIC PENSION DOUBLES IN FIVE YEARS

Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino

Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino – $138,000 in salary plus $129,987 from pension as an Emerson Borough police retire

MARK LAGERKVIST | MARCH 14, 2016

Loophole in law lets some state employees collect retirement money while working at new job

The ranks of retired public officials who collect more than $100,000 a year from New Jersey pensions have more than doubled in the past five years, according to an NJ Spotlight analysis of state Treasury data.

When 2015 ended, 2,296 retirees were collecting six-figure pensions from state pension plans. It is a 131 percent increase above 2010, when the count was 992.

The top of the “$100K Club is loaded with retired school executives. Former Essex County College president A.Z. Yamba leads the pack with $195,000 in annual retirement pay. Of the 30 pensioners who get $150,000 or more, 22 retired as educators.

But in sheer numbers, police and fire officials are predominate. Nearly half – or 1,131 pensioners – belong to the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System.

Of those PFRS retirees, 93 percent – or 1,050 – took advantage of a “special retirement” provision in state pension law. It allows law-enforcement officers – but not other public employees – to collect full benefits after 25 years of service, regardless of age.

When Joseph Blaettler opted for special retirement at age 46, the former Union City deputy police chief started collecting $134,773 a year from PFRS in 2009. If he reaches age 80 – his statistical life expectancy – he will cash more than $4.5 million in pension checks.

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/16/03/13/the-list-retired-nj-officials-with-100-000-plus-public-pensions-doubles-in-five-years/

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Kim Guadagno ’s 2017 Options and Prospects

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lt Gov Kim Guadagno with former Freeholder John Mitchell

In any election year other than 2017, New Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno would be considered one of the leading stars in the national GOP firmament. Indeed, she has a “star” quality about her that is reminiscent of my former boss in whose administration I served quite proudly, Christie Whitman. Alan Steinberg, PolitickerNJ Read more

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Will Doherty’s Early Trump Endorsement Help Potential Guv Chances?

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State Senator Mike Doherty (R-23) endorsed Donald Trump for president in October of 2015, back when pundits and many in the Republican establishment imagined that his candidacy was nothing more than just a passing fad, a trend that would come to an end before the presidential contest got serious. But now, five months after that endorsement, Trump’s flame is anything but extinguished as he continues to dominate the Republican field as the frontrunner. Polls have him far surpassing the only other Republican candidates left in the race: Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich. He is earning endorsements left and right in New Jersey, but Doherty will always be able to claim he was first. Alyana Alfaro, PolitickerNJ Read more

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Trenton : Destroying New Jersey over Steak Dinners

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Are the days of wining and dining over at N.J. Statehouse?

The Auditor noticed that lobbyists last year spent about $70 million to sway public officials and public opinion – the second highest amount in state history. But precious little of that money went toward wining, dining and entertaining state bigwigs. Lobbyists paid only $2,439 in 2015 on meals, trips and entertainment in 2015. And officials wrote a check and paid lobbyists back for nearly $500 of these funds. The Auditor, NJ.com Read more

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N.J.’s wealthiest resident decamps to tax-friendly Florida

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New Jersey Stuck on Stupid 

Lifestyle Deal’BLOOMBERG NEWS |
WIRE SERVICE

New Jersey lost its richest resident late last year when billionaire David Tepper decamped to the tax friendly climes of Florida.

Tepper registered to vote in Florida last October, listing his residence as a Miami Beach condominium, and followed up in December by filing a court document declaring that he is now a resident of the state. He also carried out a business reorganization on Jan. 1 that relocated his Appaloosa Management from New Jersey to Florida, which is free of personal income and estate taxes.

The move could save Tepper hundreds of millions of dollars in state taxes several years from now. Florida has been pitching itself as a warm-weather tax haven to hedge fund managers in the Northeast, some of whom face a 2017 deadline to pay taxes on billions of dollars in performance fees that they had kept offshore for years. A Florida residence could offer partial relief to New York and New Jersey money managers who face the prospect of surrendering at least half of the deferred money to federal, state and local taxes.

“Anyone who has a large deferral coming due in 2017” is thinking about ways of reducing the tax hit, said Anthony Tuths, a tax attorney in the New York office of Withum who advises alternative investment funds. “What is easier than packing up your house in New York City and moving down to Miami?”

‘Lifestyle Deal’

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-s-wealthiest-resident-decamps-to-tax-friendly-florida-1.1529359

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Conflagration in the Caucus Chamber: Rice and Sweeney Separated over AC Takeover Bill

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Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) and veteran Senator Ronald L. Rice (D-28) exchanged harsh words in the Senate Democratic caucus chamber this afternoon before state Senator James Beach (D-6) stepped in to keep the men apart. Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more