Borough of Point Pleasant – At the June 22nd meeting of the Borough Council, Mayor Robert A. Sabosik and Council President Pamela Snyder asked the Borough Council to pass two resolutions in order to stand up for Point Pleasant’s Senior Citizen population and homeowners in general. Sources from Trenton say that these programs need to have cuts to their funding because of revenue shortfalls due to COVID-19, but there is still plenty of funding available for other programs.
The first of the two resolutions is to implore Governor Murphy not to reduce funding to the New Jersey Senior Tax Freeze Program. According to Mayor Sabosik, “The State of New Jersey offers tax reimbursements for qualifying senior citizens called the New Jersey Property Tax Reimbursement Program, also known as the Senior Freeze Program. This program is designed to protect senior citizens from escalating property taxes by locking in a fixed base property tax amount. The Governor has proposed his supplemental budget and at the moment, it includes a significant reduction in funding to this vital program.”
The second resolution was urging the Governor to reinstate the Homestead Benefit Program. Mayor Sabosik added that “This program provides property tax relief in the form of a credit to eligible homeowners. Our community has a number of residents who benefit from this and in Governor Murphy’s proposed supplemental budget, while he has plenty of funding for other programs, he has decided to remove this program.”
Mayor Sabosik continued by discussing the fact that “The Borough Council and I have been in constant contact with our State Senator and Assemblymen from the 30th Legislative District that represent us in New Jersey and I am happy that our local legislators are also fighting to reinstate these programs to their fullest. Our seniors have a hard-enough time as it is making ends meet, why the State of New Jersey thinks it’s a good idea to cut corners and supplement other programs by hurting senior citizens is beyond me. I am hoping other towns join us and urge the Governor not to touch these programs that our residents here in Point Pleasant benefit greatly from. I am hoping he takes our opinion into consideration and ultimately reinstates them to their originally intended capacity.”