Urban Diagnosis
By Albert B. Kelly
Sometimes when I think about the Bridgeton community through
my “mayor eyes”, it almost comes about in the same way that a doctor might
think about his or her patient. That is to say clinical, dispassionate, and
businesslike- patient presented with complaint of abdominal pain x 3days, BP
180/130, pulse 99, Temp 101.3- or something along those lines.
This clinical thing doesn’t happen often because Bridgeton
is filled with people I know and care deeply about, but it happens enough that
I pay attention to it when it occurs. What prompted the latest bout of clinical
“mayor eyes” was a report on urban poverty from the John S. Watson Institute
for Public Policy at Thomas Edison State University.
The report; entitled “The Cost of Poverty: The Perpetuating
Cycle of Concentrated Poverty in New Jersey Cities”, looked at four urban
communities: Trenton, Perth Amboy, Passaic, and Bridgeton to understand the
chronic nature of urban poverty in our state. We tend to think of South Jersey
as exclusively rural, but that’s not quite accurate.
Bridgeton, like many other urban communities, struggles to
overcome problems that can only be understood in the same way we understand a
patient with systemic problems- things that are foundational-less a symptom than
a cause. Maybe understanding this difference is part of treatment.
One systemic or foundational thing in the report is New
Jersey’s ongoing reliance on the local property tax as being the only real way
municipalities have to fund their budgets; this dependence means distress when
the property tax base erodes- as has been the case here. The burden gets placed
on the shrinking base.
Another issue is the number of tax exempt properties in
urban communities and the impact they have on the base. In Bridgeton, some
exempt properties come from being a county seat and having certain State and
County facilities. But a lot of exempt properties in cities exist in response
to helping the poor- it’s no surprise that nonprofit, social service, and
faith-based agencies “cluster” where they are most needed.
Nonprofits do a lot of good in other ways; but it’s
forgotten when it comes to tax revenue. That’s a big part of why Gateway, my nonprofit
agency, and Complete Care run by Council President Edwards, willingly pays
property tax- so as not to burden a communities’ ratable base.
Cities do receive State funding known as “CMPTRA” or Consolidated
Municipal Property Tax Relief Aid along with the Energy Receipts tax; but this
aid has been reduced a lot over the past 10-15 years. Less revenue means more
distress and unlike funding for schools, the money is not necessarily given out
based on need.
One possible answer might be a non-resident or “commuter”
tax. Unfortunately, New Jersey does not let cities charge non-resident taxes as
happens with those commuting into Philadelphia to work. This would be a way to
ease the property tax burden for urban cities where a lot of the jobs are
located.
What would that mean for a city like Bridgeton? It would
mean an inflow of revenue from those commuting in to work at places like the county
court/jail complex, state prison, school system, hospital, City Hall, and some
of our larger factories and businesses. What gets spent at local stores helps
local business, but it’s not enough to lessen the burden in urban cities.
The report included a number of other recommendations-
everything from tax credits and nutrition programs to minimum wage increases, affordable
housing, child care subsidies, literacy programs, pay equity, and paid family
leave. While important, these are larger issues that get played out on a larger
stage if at all.
Until then, we still have an obligation to provide services for
residents, including a unique labor force that works almost exclusively in the
surrounding townships- the opposite of the commuter. The difference here is
that the bulk of this group is outside the financial mainstream so they can’t
easily be a part of growing the base.
What is needed are some new tools on the state level, tools
that will allow for new and creative ways to ease the burden of urban cities;
whether a commuter tax, a new set of tax incentives that are user-friendly for
small businesses in urban areas, ways to mitigate the exempt inventory, or a
needs-based formula for handing out state aid.
Whatever it is, my hope is that the state will work with
urban cities to come up with creative tools that can help leverage what is unique
to the states’ urban cities.