May 7, 2012
Contact: Adam Bauer / (609) 847-3600
Senator Anthony R. Bucco
Senator Anthony R. Bucco (R- Morris) today urged Governor Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney to ensure that specific action is taken to eliminate charges for local emergency services as they negotiate legislation to place all such “user fees” under the 2% property tax levy cap.
Bucco, in response to disturbing proposals in Passaic to charge residents hundreds of dollars for police, fire, or EMS response in the event of an emergency, has submitted legislation (S-1895) specifically prohibiting user fees for emergency services. He urged the Governor and Senate President to include such a provision in their overall efforts to ensure that user fees for any municipal, county, or school service are not used to circumvent state law capping property tax increases.
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Following testimony from Labor Commissioner Harold Wirths before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, Senators Anthony Bucco, Kevin O’Toole, Steven Oroho, Joe Pennacchio, and Jennifer Beck remarked that the labor indicators presented to the committee show a marked turnaround for the state’s long term economic health.
Senator Anthony Bucco (R-Morris), Republican Budget Officer:
The Administration is to be applauded for putting the state’s unemployment insurance fund on the path to solvency more quickly than anyone expected. Through a combination of tax reforms, efficiencies, and aggressive prosecution of fraud and abuse, this Governor has fixed the mess he inherited as a result of years of diversions and fiscal irresponsibility by an unchecked Democratic Majority in Trenton.
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April 24, 2012
Contact: Adam Bauer / (609) 847-3600
Senator Anthony R. Bucco
Following today’s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing on the state Department of Transportation’s FY 2013 spending blueprint, Senate Republicans’ Budget Officer Anthony Bucco (R- Morris) issued the following statement questioning Democrats’ continued obsession with the now-cancelled ARC Tunnel project:
You really have to question certain Democrats’ obsession with the ARC Tunnel project, and Commissioner Simpson today demonstrated why that obsession is a misguided political ploy.
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Republican Senators representing districts with large numbers of New York City commuters have sent a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressing their strong opposition to any effort to restore a .45% income tax on New Jersey commuters working in New York City.
The proposal to bring back the “commuter tax”, which was abolished in 2000, has been floated by Manhattan Borough President and 2013 Mayoral candidate Scott Stringer. Proceeds from the levy would be used to bail out the long-dysfunctional Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
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April 17, 2012
Contact: Jeremy Rosen / (609) 847-3600
Senator Anthony R. Bucco
Senator Anthony Bucco, the Senate’s Republican Budget Officer, issued this urgent message to municipal leaders who are imposing or considering additional public safety fees:
“At today’s Senate Budget Committee mayors’ roundtable, we heard no justification for burdening New Jerseyans with nonsensical fees for the basic services already funded via our nation-high property taxes,” said Bucco, R-Morris. “The argument, ‘municipalities have bills to pay, ‘ is simply insulting to families that pay high percentages of their incomes – in some cases tens of thousands of dollars – to local governments.
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April 16, 2012
Contact: Adam Bauer / (609) 847-3600
Senator Anthony R. Bucco
Senator Anthony Bucco, the Senate’s Republican Budget Officer, will soon submit legislation to limit the authority of municipalities to impose fees for emergency services.
The move comes in response to a NJ 101.5 FM report that several municipalities in the state are considering increasing or imposing new charges on residents when police, fire, or EMS personnel are called to respond to an emergent situation.
“Residents already pay fees for emergency services, they’re called property taxes,” said Bucco (R- Morris). “If the highest property taxes in America aren’t enough to support basic public safety and emergency services, then there is something severely wrong with our spending priorities as a state.”
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March 28, 2012
Contact: Jeremy Rosen / (609) 847-3600
Senator Anthony R. Bucco
Senator Tony Bucco, R-Morris and Somerset, is renewing his call for all local governments to share responsibility in property tax assessment appeal refunds and settlements, in light of today’s Star-Ledger’s exposé, “Jersey’s Tax Appeal Revolution”
“We saw this revolution coming as the Great Recession crushed the real estate market, and some communities delayed property reassessments by several years and in some cases decades,” Bucco said. “The reported result of municipal tax bases decreasing by $3.8 billion last year is staggering. Local budget nightmares are indeed caused by a rising number of appeals, of which more than 52 percent were reportedly settled last year.”
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March 27, 2012
Contact: Adam Bauer / (609) 847-3600
Senator Anthony R. Bucco
Senate Republican Budget Officer Anthony Bucco (R- Morris) delivered the following remarks to the Senate Budget Committee’s hearing on revenue forecasts for the FY 2013 fiscal year.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
To me, this year’s budget marks a choice for the members of this committee:
Continue to do what has been working for New Jersey- what has helped us create 70, 000 private sector jobs- or go back to the type of fiscal recklessness that taxpayers have made it clear they no longer will tolerate.
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March 19, 2012
Contact: Adam Bauer / (609) 847-3600
Senator Anthony R. Bucco
Senator Anthony Bucco (R- Morris) is honored to have been recognized last week by the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey for his work as prime sponsor of a new law requiring children under the age of 18 to wear ski helmets in an effort to prevent sports related brain injury. Senator Bucco and five other legislators were recognized as part of the Alliance’s advocacy efforts on National Brain Injury Awareness Day (March 15).
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February 28, 2012
Contact: Adam Bauer / (609) 847-3600
Senator Anthony R. Bucco
A resolution sponsored by Senator Anthony Bucco renaming the Route 46 bridge in Dover for Officer Thomas E. DeShazo has been advanced by the Senate Transportation Committee.
Officer DeShazo was the first Dover Police Officer in the town’s history to be killed in the line of duty. In 1930, Officer DeShazo sustained terminal injuries from a motorcycle accident while escorting a member of Charles Lindbergh’s family.
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