Christie disillusioned "residents don’t want any reduction in services or change in the way things are being done"

“We know what to do to solve the problem,''' he said

Christie said new approaches met with: ‘No, no, no! Not in my town!'

Gov. Chris Christie says it's time for residents to step up and accept sacrifices in services if they want lower property taxes.

“We know what to do to solve the problem, but we are unwilling as a society to accept the medicine we need to accept to solve it,” Christie said during “Ask the Governor,” his monthly radio program on New Jersey 101.5.

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“I at times grow disillusioned by New Jerseyans who are always complaining about their property taxes but don’t want any reduction in services or change in the way things are being done,” he said.

The statewide total in tax collections under Christie has grown by $500 million annually since he took office in 2010. The average property tax bill entering 2017 was a highest-in-the-nation $8,549, up 2.35 percent from the previous year.

Half of the voters in a recent Monmouth University poll named property taxes as their most pressing concern.

Christie in the radio appearance acknowledged the discontent but said a 2 percent property tax cap has slowed the rate of increases.

He also said reforming civil service rules would help cut tax bills and extending the school day or school year would add value to school taxes.

Christie this year proposed a new way to distribute school aid, but the plan never advanced.

“All we want to do is complain about it,'' Christie said of school taxes, the largest segment of property tax bills, "but if I go to somebody’s town and say, hell, your property taxes are like this because look at how much your school taxes are ... we are going to take the steps that are necessary to do that.''

Christie said the response at that point is typically, " ‘No, no, no! Not in my town!' '

Christie earlier this month signed his final annual budget — a $34.7 billion spending plan he negotiated with Democrats that's projected to bump average property tax bills up another 2 percent or more. Christie's term in office ends in January.

Bob Jordan bjordan@gannettnj.com



