Atlantic GOP Freeholders Say Spending Cuts most Effective Way to Property Tax Relief ATLANTIC COUNTY REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE

Release: Immediate, CONTACT: Atlantic County
July 20, 2006 Republican Hdqs.
609-677-0707

The three incumbent Republican Atlantic County freeholders seeking re-election said today that when the special session of the Legislature convenes later this month to consider property tax relief recommendations “a major component in its deliberations should be long term spending reductions and greater fiscal restraint on the part of government.�

Freeholders Frank Finnerty, Jim Curcio and Tom Russo said their own experiences in county government “demonstrate without question that the most effective path to reduced property taxes is through greater control of government spending.�

The three Republicans pointed out that during the recent legislative consideration of the state budget, Republicans in the Assembly recommended spending cuts of more than $2 billion, but Democrats in control of the Legislature refused to consider them.

“We suggest the Republican proposals as an excellent starting point as the Legislature moves into its special tax relief session,� they said.

“In Atlantic County, for instance, we have cut the county property tax rate five consecutive years and it now stands at the lowest rate in our history,� the freeholders said. “Our county government has one of the lowest ratios of indebtedness in the state and we have kept spending growth to the rate of inflation.�

“Moreover,� the Republicans said, “independent audits of county government finances have commended the county for outstanding financial performance, healthy levels of reserves, and sound financial policies.�

“While state government, obviously, is much larger and reaches farther than county government, the same principles of fiscal restraint, responsibility and concern for the taxpayers practiced in Atlantic County can be applied to state government as well,� they said.

Finnerty, Curcio and Russo pointed out that while the freeholders were able to cut the county tax rate five years running, “we maintained essential county services in programs involving assistance for senior citizens, road construction and maintenance, open space preservation, public safety, education and homeland security.�

“It can be done and the experience in Atlantic County demonstrates it can be done,� they said. “It requires political will to curb government’s appetite for money and, as the Legislatures moves forward in its summer deliberations, it is our hope they will exercise that will --- as we have.�