Mayor Pasquale Menna says the loss of taxable property to nonprofits is an unfair burden on taxpayers in regional centers like Red Bank. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
It’s become a familiar refrain of Red Bank officials: the borough is choking on nonprofits that provide services to a wide swath of Monmouth County’s citizenry but return nothing to the town’s coffers.
For all the societal good they do, a sprawling medical center, various churches and other do-good institutions occupy land that might otherwise generate tax revenue and they increase the load carried by borough taxpayers each time they expand, says Mayor Pasquale Menna.
“Our residents have to pay for the deficiency,” he said. “That societal good is borne by those who are the least able to pay for it.”
Menna says that this year, he’ll be dialing up efforts to address what he considers a fundamental unfairness. But having gotten nowhere with earlier efforts, he’s retooled, and is now pitching a provocative idea: Make nonprofits pay when they acquire property now on the tax rolls.
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January 5, 2012 - 11:59 am
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