MONROE TOWNSHIP, August 21, 2023 – New Jersey’s 14th legislative district is home to more than 46,000 residents over the age of 65, making up 20% of the district’s population. Monroe Township, leading the district with the highest senior population, is where Trenton Democrats have decided to host their first town hall on the StayNJ senior tax relief program this Wednesday, August 23 at the Monroe Township Senior Center.

On this National Senior Citizens Day, State Senate candidate Patricia Johnson and State Assembly running mates Adam Elias and Skye Gilmartin introduced their proposed plan “StayNJ Today,” to sponsor legislation making senior tax relief effective for the 2024 fiscal year if successful in their quest to flip the fourteenth district in November.

“Senator Greenstein and her Democrat colleagues have cobbled together the most pathetic, disingenuous legislation in this State’s history,” said Senate Candidate Johnson. “Senate President Scutari and Assembly Speaker Coughlin claim they reached a ‘compromise’ with Governor Murphy, who only agreed to sign the bill if it would take effect in 2026, when he can no longer be held accountable to our most vulnerable residents in New Jersey. That is not compromise; that is failed leadership and the voters need representatives committed to taking action now while we have a $10 billion surplus, rather than making promises for a day that may never come.”

Assembly Candidate Elias, a practicing attorney who resides in Monroe Township, agrees. “Scutari and Coughlin are both lawyers who have been in Trenton long enough to know that it is unlawful for them to make future appropriations of taxpayer funds. Republicans in both the Senate and Assembly moved to amend the bill to take effect now and the Democrats rejected the amendment because they were never serious about helping our seniors in the first place.”

“We have spent all summer speaking to seniors in our district about the alleged tax relief plan and they are just not buying it,” said Assembly Candidate Gilmartin. “Many feel that the plan is an insult to their intelligence and further proof that our incumbent legislators are taking their votes for granted. Some have even expressed that StayNJ is only making them want to ‘leave NJ’ even more now.”

The three candidates are united in their commitment to bring honest representation to the district’s senior population and will continue to spread awareness of the program’s flaws and how they plan to fix it if given the opportunity to serve in the next State Legislature.

For more information on the truth about the StayNJ program, visit StayNJtoday.com and sign the petition demanding the Legislature move up the effective date of StayNJ from 2026 to 2024.

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