New Jersey’s 2 percent arbitration cap has been implemented by the sitting governor every year since 2010, but legislators now say Gov. Phil Murphy’s lack of commitment to it has caused them to act.“It’s a failure of [Gov. Murphy] and failure of the Legislature leadership to recognize the unquestionable mathematical reality that without this reform in place you will eviscerate the property tax cap,” said state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-13th District.



The arbitration cap limits the arbitration process for raising salaries of public safety workers in local municipalities, although towns are still free to raise salaries without going through arbitration. The cap was first enacted in 2010 and renewed through 2014. Murphy has yet not committed to keeping the cap.



“To anyone who [keeping the arbitration cap] is not a priority, those people don’t care about property taxes,” O’Scanlon said.



Assemblywomen BettyLou DeCroce, R-26th District, and Holly Schepisi, R-39th District, introduced similar legislation that would also limit the arbitration cap to 2 percent.

