COMMUNITY

I saw his speech. The best part was what he told the Dems when they threatened to shut down the government.

I think there's a good chance he'll be asked to be VP candidate for whoever gets the Repub nomination, but I'd rather he run for prez.

Go ahead shut down the goverment, I will get in that black SUV go to the Governers mansion order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. Call me when the goverment reopens!!

Actually, he said he'd go home, as opposed to that other idiot Corzine who set up a cot in the governor's mansion.

yeah, you're right, he'd go home. Plus, as he said, he wouldn't fit on a cot. LOL

As a long time NJ resident, I'm going to have to reserve judgement on our new "rock star" gov. We have a long and interesting history in this state of playing a financial shell game when it comes to taxes and spending. Most of the so-called hard cuts he proposes will have negative effects on those least able to afford them.

Sales, fuel, and income taxes here are about on par with the rest of the country, in some cases lower. The long time killer tax in NJ are local property taxes. As state aid to towns is reduced, these will rise. Christie will praised for reducing state spending while towns will be forced to raise property taxes and cut services.

Cutting back on needed road, bridge, and rail projects in the state will only defer and increase the cost of future repairs. Again, Christie comes off looking like a savior, but the larger bill only becomes due and payable in the future. Reducing pensions for state workers and teachers is already causing a rush to early retirements and in the future will reduce the ability to attract highly qualified replacements.

In short, I'm not seeing much in this guy that's significantly different than last years model. Lots of chest thumping and rhetoric, how much actual benefit in the long run remains to be seen.

You might be right but give him time. At least from my vantage point here in CT he seems to be a bit serious about a bad situation.

this is why politics are great. give him time and let's blast Obama. Christie is a bully at best. I'm outta this convo

Every single politician talks a great game as they are preparing to stand out from other potential candidates. Then they get elected, and the big let down begins. THEY ARE ALL FULL OF S%#@!

I'm curious Otterman. When you say local property taxes are killer there would you put us in the ballpark? Say, what are the taxes on a $250K home. What all does that include? For instance in Texas, local property taxes also include school district taxes. In McKinney, Texas, a $250K home would have abou $3000 in annual property taxes and close to $4000 in school district taxes, for a whopping total of $7K annually. It varies widely though in Texas. In Frisco, just a few miles from McKinney, the taxes on $250K home would be around $4000 total.

In the town I live in, 250K assessed would be about $6900 total. I'm in south jersey, a neighboring town, Cherry Hill would run $13,600 if my calculator is working. Further north in Dunellen try $28,200! I'm not even sure where that is other than Middlesex county, I suspect you can't buy a tar-paper shack for $250K there however. That is a combined State, County, Town tax rate. It looks bizarre even to me, so if you want to check me try clicking here. I used the same numbers I found on the website and mine matched.

http://www.state.nj.us/treasur..

Be aware, north and south jersey are almost two separate states. Every now and then someone seriously proposes a split.

Otter, is that a typo, or is the tax on a home valued at $250K in this city/town of Dunellen really 11+% of the value of the property??? I can't imagine that is sustainable for any property owner. The tax on a $1M home would be $110,000 a year. You'd exceed the value of the home in taxes in nine years. Even in a good economy with a strong real estate market, there's no way you could recover that kind of money.

It looked weird to me, maybe it is a typo. On source lists the median income for Dunellen at less than $60K. So the housing prices there are most likely no where near as high as I thought.

I was looking at some of the towns in the link you provided and they show General Tax Rates and Effective Tax Rates. I'm not sure how the State of NJ defines this. Most show an Effective Tax Rate of between 1 and 5%. One though, Winfield Township in Union County shows a General rate of 196.4% and an Effective rate of 16.4%. All other towns in Union County have an Effective rate of between 1.6 and 3.1%. I'm not sure what to make of these numbers. In my town, a home valued at $250K would be paying around $3400 per year, or about 1.4% of valuation.

This is what I'm talking about when I say that it's all a major shell game. I put my assessed home value times the general rate and got my tax bill on the number. Homestead rebate maybe, we didn't get one last year as I recall.

The Effective Tax Rate is a statistical study that enables the comparison of one district to another district (based on the assumption that all districts are at 100% valuation). This rate is NOT to be used to compute the tax bill.
(from the same page) Whateverinthehell that means...