Governor Christie: CAP 2.5 Linden

Mayor Richard J. Gerbounka talks about Governor Chris Christie's proposal to cap property tax increases to no more than 2.5 percent for the state of New Jersey in Linden, N.J. The Christie Reform Agenda takes immediate action to provide real property tax relief by putting power in the hands of the people. Since 2001, spending at the local level has spiked by 69% from $26.5 billion to an estimated $44.7 billion this year. New Jersey taxpayers bore the brunt of surge in government spending, with property taxes growing an astonishing 70% from 1999 to 2009. The average New Jersey household now pays $7,281 a year in property taxes - the highest rate in the nation.

More information can be found at: http://bit.ly/ck9udw (transcript below)

Mayor Richard J. Gerbounka, Linden, NJ: Everybody was sad. I was kind of surprised, but General Motors was an icon in the city of Linden. It was here before World War II, and during World War II they made fighter Wildcats and in General Motors, and they actually drove them across Route 1 & 9 and test fired the machine guns at Linden Airport. So there's a lot of nostalgia that was also involved with General Motors besides the fact that it hurt us in the pocketbooks, hurt the city of Linden, and also many city residents. Linden is a blue collar town. We were known for industries like Cyanamid, DuPont, General Aniline, Gordon's Gin, General Motors, but now all those industries are gone, and we don't have the tax base that we used to have. Back in 1974, the city of Linden, industry paid the city of Linden 68% of their taxes. Now industry's paying the city of Linden 46%. The 2.5 is going to help the city of Linden in the fact that it's going to force everyone to limit spending so that we cannot continue to tax and spend our residents. Taxes is a hot-button issue, not only in Linden but throughout the state. But our residents are upset because we have always enjoyed years back a very low tax rate and now taxes are going through the roof, and we need to control taxes. We need—we cannot continue to tax and spend anymore, and the one thing that I've learned in my 16 years in government is that if you give politicians money they're going to spend it, and that's why I support Governor Christie's 2.5% proposal of a constitutional amendment to limit spending on taxes to only 2.5%.