Capital City Line Item Advances Through the Legislature

TRENTON, N.J. – Mayor Reed Gusciora on Monday testified before the New Jersey Assembly Appropriations Committee in support of A5210, the return of the Capital City Aid Program, which would bring $10 million to the City from the State. The program is meant to compensate Trenton for State-owned buildings that are exempt from property tax, which amounts to about $45 million annually.

The committee voted to approve the bill, which is sponsored by Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson and Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli.

“As the Capital City, more than one third of all that land in Trenton is owned by the State of New Jersey,” said Gusciora. “This land is all tax-exempt, and much of it is in prime development areas in or around our downtown. When the Christie Administration cut the program and put Trenton on transitional aid, it started a years-long pattern of gutting Trenton’s aid by tens of millions of dollars. The return of the program means we will start to see Trenton receive its fair share of the investment the State should make in our Capital City infrastructure, which 20,000 state employees use daily.”

An identical bill in the Senate was sponsored by Senator Shirley Turner and was passed by the Senate on March 25. The bill will next move out of Committee for a vote before the Assembly.