New Jersey's already-sky high residential property taxes set a new record in 2017, with the average tax bill ringing up at $8,690.

That tax bill is $141 -- or 1.6 percent -- over the $8,549 homeowners paid, on average, in 2016.

The burden falls hardest in Bergen, Essex and Union counties, where the average bill exceeded $11,000. Counties with the highest property taxes tend to be concentrated in the northern and central parts of the state.

The new figures released Friday by the Department of Community Affairs closes the books on property taxes during former Gov. Chris Christie's eight years in office.

Click to see the latest property tax numbers for your town

The average tax bill was $7,281 when Christie came into office. During the two terms of his administration they rose a total of just over 19 percent, representing a significant slowdown in the rate of property tax growth from previous governors.

The Department of Community Affairs releases town-by-town property tax data each winter, each year's average predictably setting a new record for a state with the highest property taxes in the nation.

But this year, homeowners are facing uncertainty in their property tax bills on several fronts, prompting worry that they could grow at a faster rate.

Officials from counties and municipalities warn they may be forced to raise property taxes in the aftermath of the expiration of a 2 percent cap on the raises police and firefighters can win in arbitration.

While the number of contract disputes that land in interest arbitration are few, local government officials say those raises inform contract negotiations across the state.

In the decades before the cap was installed, arbitration awards ranged from 2 percent to nearly 6 percent.

While they're still hemmed in by a 2 percent cap on annual increases in government spending, officials say higher arbitration awards would force them to cut programs or take advantage of the exceptions to the 2 percent cap for things like employee retirement benefit costs and debt service.

An analysis of the cap released this fall found it saved taxpayers $530 million on police and firefighter salaries and more broadly found the duo of caps saved taxpayers $2.9 billion.

In his final State of the State address, Christie urged lawmakers to renew the cap he signed into law, saying New Jerseyans can't afford big jumps in their bills each year.

"Seven days, I'm just another property taxpayer," he said last month. "And as another property taxpayer, I am begging you. Stand up to these interests. Pass the arbitration cap like you've done twice before. And do not return the citizens of our state to 7 percent annual property tax increases."

Gov. Phil Murphy notably has not released a specific plan to lower property taxes, but he's said he wants to put an additional $1 billion a year into education funding that could relieve the burden on local school districts to raise more revenue.

And Republicans in Washington installed a $10,000 cap on the state and local taxes that will hit hard homeowners in such high-tax states as New Jersey, where property tax bills alone can easily exceed $10,000.

The property tax break took the edge off the state's notoriously high property taxes, but the truncated version will leave New Jersey homeowners feeling every dollar of their tax bill.

Murphy announced last month he's joining with New York and Connecticut in a federal action against the GOP tax law that caps the deduction and raises taxes on wealthy blue state residents.

He's spoken in support of allowing local governments to construct support funds that would allow taxpayers to classify their property tax payments as donations that are fully deductible, and he said he's taken interest in a proposal made by Cuomo to shift from personal income taxes to payroll taxes, which can be deducted fully.

Lawmakers introduced a charitable bill fund in the Senate, which would allow municipalities, counties and school districts to offer property tax credits worth 90 percent of donations made to these accounts.

Tax experts, however, are skeptical these schemes will stand up to IRS scrutiny.

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Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Carla Astudillo may be reached at castudillo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @carla_astudi. Find her on Facebook.