A819

An Act concerning State aid to certain municipalities and supplementing chapter 27D of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. The State Treasurer shall establish a program to provide impact aid to municipalities wherein disproportionately high numbers of inmates are housed in State correctional facilities.

2. As used in this act:

"Calculated year amount" means a dollar amount of $321 multiplied by the number of inmates in an eligible facility, as calculated annually by the Department of Corrections;

“Cost-of-living adjustment” for any calendar year means the factor calculated by dividing the consumer price index for all urban consumers for the nation, as prepared by the United States Department of Labor as of the close of the 12-month period ending on December 31 of the calendar year, by that index as of the close of the 12-month period ending on December 31 of the calendar year preceding the calendar year in which the recomputation of the State aid payment is

made.

“Municipality population” means the population of a municipality, as determined in the most recent decennial United States Census, exclusive of the State inmate population;

“State correctional facility” means a correctional facility operated by the Department of Corrections; and

“State inmate population” means the population of State prison inmates housed in a municipality.

3. a. A municipality wherein a State correctional facility is located shall be eligible for inmate impact aid if its State inmate population exceeds 75 percent of the municipality population.

b. The Commissioner of Corrections shall certify to the State Treasurer, no later than March 31 of each year, the average number of State inmates housed in each municipality of this State in the previous year.

c. The State Treasurer shall certify which facilities are eligible under the provisions of this act by comparing the State inmate population in each municipality to the municipality population to determine those municipalities eligible for inmate impact aid under this act. No later than July 31 of each year, the State Treasurer shall provide each eligible municipality with a State aid payment pursuant to the schedule set forth in section 5 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

4. A year following the enactment of this bill and each calendar year thereafter, the State Treasurer shall annually recompute the State aid payment by multiplying the dollar value of the inmate impact aid in the prior calendar year by the cost-of-living adjustment, and recomputing the new dollar value of the State aid payment for the current calendar year. The State Treasurer shall round the recomputed dollar value of the inmate impact aid to the next highest multiple of $5.

5. The State shall reimburse each eligible municipality according to the following schedule:

(a) 2015..... 20% of the calculated year amount;

(b) 2016..... 40% of the calculated year amount;

(d) 2018..... 80% of the calculated year amount;

(f) 2019 and thereon 100% of the calculated year amount.

6. An annual report detailing the expenditure of inmate impact aid funds shall be provided to the State Treasurer by each municipality which receives economic impact aid under this act.

7. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

Certain State correctional facilities have been sited in rural municipalities which have relatively small populations and limited tax bases. Playing host to such a facility may place inordinate demands on local government services and adversely affect the municipality's ability to fund these services. For example, the tax-exempt correctional facility may occupy land that would otherwise generate municipal tax retables in a municipality where environmental regulations already limit development.

This bill is intended to provide a small measure of relief in these

situations by establishing a program of municipal impact aid which is gradually phased in over a five year period. It would provide the payment of inmate impact aid to municipalities where the State inmate population in State prisons operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections exceeds 75 percent of the municipal population. The initial municipal impact aid would be phased in at an increase of 20 percent over a five year period and then remain at 100 percent.

The bill further provides that the base State aid payment rate be recomputed annually to reflect changes in the cost of living. The Department of Corrections is responsible for eleven adult male correctional facilities, one adult women’s correctional facility, and a central reception/intake unit.