The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Planning Board will be meeting on Tuesday, July 15 at 7:30 PM in the Village Hall courtroom to discuss this:
the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Planning Board and Village Council members are set to approve changes to current land use ordinances that would permit construction of a 120-bed, multi-story assisted living facility on the east side of North Maple Ave., between Franklin Ave. and Marshall St. The property is currently the site of multiple medical/professional office buildings, all of which would be demolished to facilitate construction of the planned facility.
July 28,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, On July 17th, NJ lottery started a pilot program to put Quick Draw into selected bars in New Jersey.
They selected not franchised or chain restaurants, but local establishments. As of now, there are only a handful of places in Bergen County. One that was picked and already running is our favorite pub in town Mac Murphy’s.
Quick Draw is basically Lotto w/ 80 numbers to pick. It’s very popular over the border in New York. You can also play any other lottery game there.
“Mac’s” has expanded their outdoor dining area and chef Shamus from the “Old Country” will delight your culinary needs.
Stop by.. WIN and DINE…
LILO H. STAINTON | APRIL 24, 2017
Dozens of municipalities have challenged hospitals and their current tax-exempt status
Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen)
A leading Senate Democrat is crafting a plan to revise a century-old law that permits the vast majority of New Jersey hospitals to avoid paying property taxes, a situation that has already prompted dozens of lawsuits in municipalities seeking to change this status quo.
Budget Chairman Paul Sarlo, (D-Bergen), said he is working on a bill that would require hospitals to pay regular fees, based on the number of beds or a similar mechanism, to their host communities to help fund local roads, first responders, and other costs now covered largely by municipal property taxes.
Updated: JANUARY 17, 2017 — 3:48 AM EST
by The Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – New Jersey was among seven states selected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for participation in an online purchasing pilot program for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Under the two-year pilot, residents of the Garden State who use food stamps will be able to purchase eligible grocery items online from Amazon and ShopRite beginning this summer.
SNAP online ordering will follow the same rules as in-store purchasing. Participants in the program will be able to use their food stamps to purchase bread, fruit, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, dairy products and other produce.
Ridgewood NJ, A reader says that , “Valley has utilized deplorable tactics in its fight against Ridgewood to expand – and those tactics have failed miserably. Their “all or nothing” expansion plan hasn’t even broken ground yet and Hackensack has already beaten them. Valley spent all of this time fighting a rag-tag bunch of community activists and still haven’t prevailed despite having millions of dollars to spend on the fight and 2 insiders on the Village Council. They may ultimately get their way with Ridgewood but it will be far too little and way too late. A Hackensack takeover would be better for Ridgewood if it meant getting rid of the current Valley leadership team.”
But some praised the Hospitals financial IQ , “On an executive level, Valley is well run and very strong financially. A lot of that is due to Ms Meyers. The way they celebrated victory before the dust settled implied that there was an inside track to get this done. That was evident when she showed up at one meeting at the 11th hour in a panic. Fortunately they also fell under the svengali like influence of PR hacks who figured the village for a bunch of sheeple who would roll over. Remember the ads and the “poll” results? That tone-deafness is a characteristic of many successful executives in all fields of operations. Arrogant and tone deaf? absolutely. But that does not take away from the hospital’s successful track record.”
Passage nears in N.J. Legislature on hospitals-towns tax deal
JANUARY 6, 2016, 7:47 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2016, 6:49 AM
BY LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Last-minute negotiations on Wednesday set the stage for passage of a bill requiring New Jersey’s non-profit hospitals to contribute financially to their |host towns, a measure crafted after a landmark state Tax Court decision raised doubts about their century-old property tax exemptions.
The measure would put up to $25 million into the coffers of municipalities where hospitals are located statewide, including an estimated $2.7 million to towns in Bergen and Passaic counties.
The state’s largest hospital association, in a historic shift, agreed to the “community service assessments” — with exemptions for hospitals in serious financial trouble — required by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney’s proposed law. However, the measure is opposed by the League of Municipalities, whose members generally think towns deserve more from the hospitals.
Today, the Assembly Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on an amended version of Sweeney’s bill, and both houses of the Legislature are expected to vote on it Monday, Senate staff said. The measure, sponsored by Sweeney and state Sens. Robert Singer, a Republican of Monmouth and Ocean counties, and Joseph Vitale, a Middlesex County Democrat, has bipartisan support.
“The goal isn’t to put them out of business, or [see] how much can we get out of them,” Sweeney said of the state’s 60 non-profit hospitals. “But we wanted to acknowledge and come up with a fair process. You don’t want a free-for-all where everyone is going to court, everyone’s suing.”
The New Jersey Hospital Association’s endorsement came after a precedent-setting decision by state Tax Court Judge Vito Bianco in June opened the door to new tax bills — and lawsuits — for non-profit hospitals statewide. Bianco found that the non-profit Morristown Medical Center was not entitled to its property-tax exemption because its operations were hardly different from those of a for-profit business. The two sides in that dispute settled, with the medical center agreeing to pay $15.5 million over 10 years.
The bill would preserve the New Jersey Constitution’s century-old property tax exemption for non-profit hospitals, a protection sought by the hospital industry. But it assesses a daily fee of $2.50 per hospital bed, payable to the host municipality, to be used for police and fire protection or to lower property taxes. Five percent of the assessment would be paid by the municipality to the county government.
Two amendments were negotiated Wednesday, and the measure was scheduled for votes in the Legislature’s final voting sessions. One amendment added an inflation clause, increasing the assessment by 2 percent annually. The other changed an exemption for hospitals in danger of bankruptcy or close to violating their bond covenants by allowing the finances of a hospital system, rather than an individual hospital, to be considered when exemptions are decided.
In landmark shift, hospitals agree to fees in lieu of property taxes
JANUARY 3, 2016, 10:59 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2016, 11:00 PM
BY LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
For more than a century, New Jersey’s non-profit hospitals have been exempt from paying property taxes, despite relying on their communities to maintain local roads and provide police and fire protection. Now the state’s largest hospital association says its members are willing to make payments to towns they reside in — but many municipalities want more.
In a historic change, the New Jersey Hospital Association recently declared its support for a proposal in the Legislature to require non-profit hospitals to make “community service contributions” to municipalities. The move came after a tax court decision this summer that Morristown Medical Center was not entitled to its property-tax exemption because its operations were little different from those of a for-profit company. That hospital has since agreed to pay $15.5 million over 10 years.
Concerned that Judge Vito Bianco’s decision would lead to tax battles involving many other hospitals, the hospital association endorsed a proposal by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney. The measure would assess non-profit hospitals a fixed daily contribution — not a tax — of $2.50 per bed, to be used for public safety expenses or to reduce property taxes.
The association estimated that the payments from all of the state’s s would total $21 million to $25 million, including about $2.7 million annually from the six non-profits in Bergen and Passaic counties, if the measure is enacted as written. They are Hackensack University Medical Center; The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood; St. Joseph’s Healthcare System’s two hospitals in Paterson and Wayne; Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck. Hospitals owned by for-profit companies — HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley in Westwood and St. Mary’s General Hospital in Passaic — already pay property taxes.
A PILOT program has been discussed and quickly pushed under the table several times. Perhaps a lawsuit directed at Valley would do the trick?
I am not anti-Valley (I prefer a modified, reasonable expansion, including locations on Rte 17NS). I believe Valley is an important part of our community. But I have never quite understood how they can be classified as a non-profit. To be fair, I think to expect them to pay +$4mio in taxes is aggressive. But clearly they are a consumer of Village services? Clearly “we” subsidize their activities through our own taxes. So there must be a compromise somewhere, i.e. the PILOT program.