The NJEA and other interests have launched an effort to try to convince the Property Tax Reform Convention Task Force to recommend that the Legislature NOT allow the people of New Jersey the opportunity to reform property taxes through a special convention. Instead, they want the Task Force to recommend a “Special Legislative Session” for property tax reform.

The Legislature has had more than ample time to address the property tax crisis. It has not. So, those of us who truly support reform have come to embrace the call for a special property tax reform convention, composed of delegates elected by the people who pay the taxes, and focused solely on proposing meaningful reforms, that those same property tax burdened citizens would have to ratify, before those reforms took affect.

We have asked the Task Force to support the special convention approach and to recommend a property tax convention bill to the Legislature before the end of this year. That bill should include safeguards, designed to ensure all that the convention will remain focused on its reason for being – true property tax reform.

Incredibly, there are those who still believe that the Legislature, and the Legislature alone, should have the right to accomplish significant and lasting property tax reform. We would welcome that. But we do not believe that that is the surest route to true reform. And we do not believe that movement towards a property tax convention precludes the possibility of Legislative progress.

All action on a convention bill will do is set a time limit. The Legislature will have until Election Day 2005 to convince the people of New Jersey that they do not need a special convention to get true property tax reform. If they can do that, there will be no special convention. If they cannot, then there has to be one.

If you support a special property tax reform convention, the Task Force needs to hear from you. You can be certain that they are hearing from members of the teacher’s union.

You can e-mail the Task Force by visiting their Home Page at http://www.nj.gov/convention/. Once there, click on “Contact the Task Force” on the lower, right hand side and just enter your message. You can also write the Task Force c/o The Office of the Governor, State House, P. O. Box 001, Trenton, NJ 08625.

Thanks for your support.