A state judge has challenged a core argument by more than 200 municipalities opposing advocates’ call for construction of more than 200,000 low- and moderate-income housing units statewide over the next 10 years.
Judge Marc Troncone’s Feb. 18 ruling in Superior Court, Ocean County, marks the second time a judge has ruled that local governments can’t ignore the housing demand that’s built up since 1999 amid stagnant action on the issue.
Troncone is one of 15 judges reviewing the affordable housing plans of hundreds of municipalities statewide — and what should be their baseline numbers.
Both municipalities and housing rights groups cite experts with sharply different ways of calculating so-called affordable housing needs until 2025. Each side says it is the one being realistic.
Troncone’s opinion specifically questions a Dec. 30 report, commissioned by a group of 283 municipalities, putting the need at just under 37,000 units. The Philadelphia-based Econsult Solutions report doesn’t include the “gap period” of 1999-2015, when a state agency failed to set affordable-housing quotas for communities..
New Jersey faced $153.5 billion in outstanding debt obligations last July, hitting a new record, according to a report released by state officials Friday.
The cost of public employee benefits, school construction and transportation projects drove the 6.9 percent, or $9.9 billion, increase for fiscal 2015.
But not all of the increase was attributed to new debt.
Treasury Department officials said New Jersey transitioned to a new accounting methodology for pension and post-retirement health benefits last year. Those bookkeeping methods, which are more stringent than what the state used previously, were designed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.
Growth in unfunded pension liabilities, unfunded medical benefits for retirees, and the effect of switching to the new accounting standards contributed an $8.5 billion increase in the state’s non-bonded debt.
On the other hand, New Jersey’s bonded debt rose $1.4 billion, or 3.35 percent, according to the report, led by a $755 million surge in borrowing for school construction projects and $609 million in added borrowing for the state’s troubled Transportation Trust Fund.
That fund’s borrowing authority runs out at the end of June, and Governor Christie and lawmakers have not said how it will be renewed – through more borrowing, an increase in New Jersey’s gas tax, or another method.
Despite the millions of gallons of volatile crude being transported through the state by train, New Jersey will receive none of the $10 million awarded by the federal government Thursday to improve safety conditions on rail lines carrying the oil.
million awarded by the federal government Thursday to improve safety conditions on rail lines carrying the oil.
The Christie administration was among 34 applicants seeking a portion of the funds set aside by the Federal Railroad Administration to upgrade rail crossings along lines that have experienced an exponential increase in crude shipments. The oil, from the recent oil boom in North Dakota’s Bakken rock formation, has been involved in several fiery derailments, including one in Canada that killed 43 people three years ago.
Steve Schapiro, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said agency officials were disappointed in not receiving any funds but understands the process was competitive.
Related: Oil train bridges targeted in study; group says span over Passaic River decaying
Bergenfield Mayor Norman Schmelz was less diplomatic, saying the funding was inadequate to begin with. An estimated 15 to 30 trains, each carrying as much as 3 million gallons of crude, pass through his town each week. Like many communities in New Jersey, Bergenfield has homes, businesses, schools and government buildings within feet of the rail line.
“Ten million dollars probably wouldn’t be enough for Bergen County let alone the whole United States,” said Schmelz, whose emergency managers are preparing a response plan in case of a derailment. “I can’t believe there would be places in the country that are in more of a dire situation than here.”
Grants were awarded Thursday to transportation departments in Washington state, California, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Federal Railroad Administration officials said they received requests totaling $50.8 million, more than five times the money available. “In short, there is more need than funding available and a lot of strong applications,” said Marc Willis, an agency spokesman. Neither state nor federal officials provided details Thursday about New Jersey’s application.
New Jersey’s new standardized tests might not be popular, but they do produce more honest results than the prior exam, according to a new study by education reform groups. Adam Clark, NJ.com Read more
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 28, 2015 at 7:08 PM, updated December 29, 2015 at 7:15 AM
TRENTON — New Jersey’s Unclaimed Property Administration connected $123 million in unclaimed assets with their rightful owners or heirs in the fiscal year that ended in June, according to an audit of the agency.
The state paid out $125 million in 2014 and $107.5 million in 2013.
But plenty remains unclaimed. Nearly $264 million was turned over to the state in the last fiscal year alone.
“It is common that in the normal course of business that individuals or businesses lose track of either checks that were issued to them or bank holdings,” according to the state website. “Once property reaches the defined abandonment period with no activity, the holder of this property will turn the property over to the state.”
The Unclaimed Property administration is merely the custodian. You never give up your right to claim these assets. “If property is not claimed it remains in the Unclaimed Property Trust Fund in perpetuity or until a valid claim is submitted and processed,” the website said
184,038 Number of patients admitted to New Jersey substance abuse treatment facilities for heroin or opioid abuse since 2010.
781 Number of heroin-related deaths in New Jersey in 2014, the fourth straight year the state saw an increase
By Stephen Stirling | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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on December 15, 2015 at 6:38 AM, updated December 15, 2015 at 7:59 AM
The statistics on New Jersey’s heroin crisis are staggering, and paint a picture of a crisis that spreads far beyond overdoses and deaths.
Below are bullet points on just how far and wide heroin and opioid addiction reaches in the Garden State.
“It takes a certain kind of stupidity to find yourself ranked dead last” Reader
New Jersey’s high property and income taxes contribute to its standing as the nation’s least attractive tax climate for businesses, according to a Washington tax policy group’s annual ranking of the 50 states. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
OCTOBER 24, 2015, 11:20 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2015, 12:59 PM
BY JEAN RIMBACH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
One doctor won his medical license back after he served time in prison for sexual crimes against female patients. He is a registered sex offender on lifetime parole supervision.
Another physician accused of sexual impropriety is restricted from having patients remove their underwear during exams — or be alone when treating girls age 10 or older — under a confidential agreement that hides his name from the public.
And a third, who pleaded guilty to sexual contact with three female patients, was barred from treating women but allowed to see male patients in the presence of a chaperone — until he violated that requirement and lost his license again.
The state’s system of handling accusations of sexual misconduct by doctors was called into question by revelations early this year about the case of Gangaram Ragi, a Teaneck dermatologist who continues to practice despite a dozen allegations of groping patients.
Now a review by The Record shows it to be a system that is at times porous, inconsistent and opaque, one that allows physicians to resume their practice despite evidence of serious improprieties.
Even convicted abusers, who have violated their positions of trust in disturbing ways, have been returned to work by the state Board of Medical Examiners.
Who these doctors are — and the limits placed on them — may not always be apparent to patients.
The top three tolling agencies in the country are all in the New York-New Jersey region, and together account for nearly a third of all tolls collected nationwide, an industry group says.
The top three are: the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which collected $1.42 billion in tolls on the turnpike and the Garden State Parkway in 2013; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which took in $1.33 billion at its four bridges and two tunnels linking the two states; and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which collected $1.23 billion at its New York City bridges and tunnels.
The top ten list was compiled by the International Bridges, Tunnels and Turnpike Association, a group based in Washington, D.C. The $4 billion in tolls the three agencies took in was nearly a third of the $13 billion collected from motorists nationwide, the IBTTA found.
SEPTEMBER 23, 2015, 2:51 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015, 5:48 PM
BY SCOTT FALLON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
State officials on Wednesday began urging North Jersey residents to conserve water with a very dry summer having come to a close and forecasts showing little rain in the near future.
The state’s designated “drought watch” for 12 counties including all of Bergen and Passaic comes about three weeks after some utilities began asking their customers to limit consumption.
The state Department of Environmental Protection singled out United Water for a “significant” decline in reservoir levels because the company has been relying on other water providers to help meet the demand of its 800,000 customers in the counties of Bergen and Hudson. The company’s three New Jersey reservoirs were at 48.6-percent capacity on Wednesday and have been pumping in water from other sources including the Wanaque Reservoir and the Passaic Valley Water Commission for much of the summer.
But United Water executives and their counterparts at other utilities said Wednesday that demand has dropped significantly with cooler autumnal temperatures arriving. The Wanaque Reservoir, which is at 51-percent capacity, is releasing 20 million gallons per day less this week than it was at the beginning of the month, a 16-percent drop.
“We’re getting out of peak season, so things are looking better despite the lack of rain,” said Rich Henning, a spokesman for United Water. “If we were at this point at the beginning of summer or the middle of summer, then there would be much more of a concern.”
Still, water companies have a lot of volume to make up. The counties of Bergen and Passaic have received only 5.7 inches of rain during the past 60 days, about 12 inches below normal, according to the National Weather Service.
Faced with the difficulties of benefits reform, some stakeholders’ instincts have been to stand still and resist change. The state’s current position, however, is untenable: It faces an $82 billion pension deficit which, in the absence of funding increases beyond the realm of reason, will lead to state workers’ pensions beginning to run out of money within a decade. Credit ratings agencies this week again stressed the state’s need to reduce its employee benefits costs. Moody’s Investors Service concluded in assessing the state’s creditworthiness: “Without meaningful structural changes that improve the affordability of the state’s liabilities, the state’s structural imbalance will persist and/or pension liabilities will grow, and the state’s rating will continue to fall.” Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
AUGUST 5, 2015, 11:45 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015, 11:49 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
New Jersey won’t increase the weight of state tests on teacher evaluations in the coming school year — to the relief of educators whose reviews are based in part on students’ scores.
Student performance on state tests will count for 10 percent of a teacher’s job review in the coming school year, the same as in the past year, state officials announced Wednesday.
The state could have made test scores account for as much as 20 percent of a teacher’s evaluation under a revised policy adopted last year. But state officials backed down amid an outcry from teachers against use of standardized state tests in their reviews.
“We don’t think this is a proper use |of test score data, but it is a step in |the right direction that they’re freezing it rather than raising it,” said Steve Baker, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.
David Hespe, the state education commissioner, said the decision was made because data from the new tests haven’t been received and reviewed yet and because the state was still transitioning from its old tests.
“This is the right move to keep teacher evaluations strong and successful into the future,” Hespe said at a state Board of Education meeting.
7 of the 10 counties in America with the highest property taxes are in N.J., study says
By Paul Milo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
April 28, 2015 at 12:36 PM, updated April 28, 2015 at 1:12 PM
Counties in New Jersey dominate the top 10 nationwide for property taxes, according to data compiled by real estate Web site Zillow.
It’s no secret that New Jersey homeowners are hit with some of the highest property taxes in the nation. But just how high, relative to other parts of the country, might be a bit of a shock.
A typical homeowner in Bibb County, Ala., paid just $228 in property taxes in 2013,according to an analysis by Zillow, the real estate website. Compare that to someone paying the median in Paramus or Ridgewood in Bergen, who shelled out $9,546 — about 45 times as much.
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