Bill Text: NJ A4990 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits State aid and grants to municipalities that reduce law enforcement budgets by certain amount.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-11-16 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A4990 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A4990-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman EDWARD H. THOMSON
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits State aid and grants to municipalities that reduce law enforcement budgets by certain amount.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning State aid and grants to municipalities and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. (1) The Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs, as part of its review of municipal budgets, shall determine the percentage change in the appropriation for law enforcement services from the previous budget year for each municipality, and shall, no later than November 1 of each year, create a list of municipalities that have reduced the appropriation for law enforcement services by 25 or more percent from the previous budget year.
(2) Upon creation of the list pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, the director shall immediately notify each municipality of its inclusion on the list. Within 30 days of receipt of the notice, a municipality may apply to the director for an exemption from the list on the basis that its inclusion is the result of a miscalculation or other error, the municipality entering into a shared service agreement or joint contract for law enforcement services, or other reasonable basis as determined by the director. After considering and making determinations with respect to applications for exemptions made pursuant to this paragraph, the director shall certify a final list of municipalities that have reduced the appropriation for law enforcement services by 25 or more percent from the previous budget year, and that have not been granted an exemption.
(3) The director shall, no later than January 1 of each year, forward the final list of municipalities certified pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection, to the State Treasurer.
b. If a municipality is included on the final list reported to the State Treasurer by the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in a State fiscal year pursuant to subsection a. of this section, then the State Treasurer shall not distribute any Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief Aid, Energy Tax Receipts Property Tax Relief Aid, Extraordinary Aid or Transitional Aid to Localities, or any combination thereof in the next succeeding State fiscal year.
c. The Director of the Division of Local Government Services, in coordination with the State Treasurer, shall ensure that a State grant is not awarded to a municipality, which is included on the final list reported to the State Treasurer by the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in a State fiscal year pursuant to subsection a. of this section, in the next succeeding State fiscal year.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit municipalities that reduce their law enforcement budgets by 25 percent or more from receiving any State aid or grants in the next succeeding State fiscal year. The Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs would annually determine which municipalities, if any, are to be subject to the provisions of the bill. The bill provides a municipality the opportunity to seek exemption from the list on the basis that its inclusion is the result of a miscalculation or other error, the municipality entering into a shared service agreement or joint contract for law enforcement services, or other reasonable basis as determined by the director.
