Senate GOP’s stance on StayNJ: We don’t like it, but we’d probably vote for it

With Democratic leaders apparently coming to a resolution on the new “StayNJ” senior property tax proposal, legislative Republicans are presented with a tough decision: back a Democratic program they believe to be wildly flawed, or vote against it even though it provides substantial property tax relief, something they’ve long supported?

The State Senate’s top-ranking Republican, Senate Minority Leader Steve Oroho (R-Franklin), told the New Jersey Globe yesterday that most of his caucus seems to be leaning toward the former.

“I think, mostly, people would vote for it,” Oroho said. “We’ve always advocated for giving money back to taxpayers. We haven’t seen the bill, so we don’t know what kind of things might be inside the bill. But the idea of giving money back to the residents, particularly our seniors – we’ve advocated for that [for years].”

Under the StayNJ deal negotiated by Gov. Phil Murphy and legislative leaders, which will be officially unveiled later today, New Jerseyans over 65 will receive an annual tax credit worth 50% of their property tax bill, capped at $6,500 and with an income cap of $500,000. The money for the program would be steadily set aside in future budgets, with the program itself launching in early 2026.

The built-in delay in payments drew scorn from Oroho and Senate Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver), who said that taxpayers should get concrete relief now rather than years-off promises.

“StayNJ has all the markings of smoke-and-mirrors that’s never going to turn into real tax relief,” O’Scanlon said. “The way it’s written now, no one will see a dime until 2026. That may as well be 2046 in the world of budgeting, in the world of our economy. You can easily have a retrenchment in the economy, and no one will ever see anything.”

O’Scanlon was more skeptical than Oroho of the possibility of eventually supporting the proposal.

“We’re not interested in misleading voters for the sake of claiming that we’re providing some sort of relief when it’s all garbage,” he said. “No one should be bullshitting the taxpayers of New Jersey with garbage promises that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. If this program looks like that, we won’t vote for it.”

Both O’Scanlon and Oroho pointed to Republicans’ own tax relief proposals, such as last year’s “Give It Back” initiative, as far more effective and responsible ways to return money to taxpayers.

Since Democrats control the governor’s office and both houses of the legislature, though, any discussions within the minority caucus may be moot. A few progressive Democrats in the Assembly, most notably Assemblywoman Sadaf Jaffer (D-Montgomery), raised issues with the original StayNJ proposal, but Senate President Nick Scutari (D-Linden) said that hasn’t heard similar grumblings from his own Senate caucus, meaning he likely has the votes to pass the bill without Republican support.

Asked if he was actively trying to get support from Republicans for StayNJ, and for the state budget writ large, Scutari said that he was always interested in bipartisanship when possible.

“I want everybody’s vote,” he said in a press gaggle after yesterday’s Senate voting session. “I try to operate this place in a bipartisan manner. If we can consider our counterparts on the Republican side’s input, and get them to vote for things, I’m happy to do that.”