The Story Behind The Story: Pay More for What?
Monday, March 20, 2023
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (March 20, 2023)(CNBNews)--After tonight's City Council Meeting (Monday, March 20, 2023) you will again pay more just for the privilege of living in one of the state's poorest, yet highest-taxed cities. Technically, your taxes won't increase (yet) because these new costs are fees. Shakespeare said that a rose by any other name smells just as sweet. For generation after generation Gloucester City and the State of New Jersey politicians have felt that a tax by any other name spends just the same. Call it a fee, license, surcharge, or make up your own name. They are all taxes and Gloucester City residents will be paying more of them.
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The first new tax applies to residences built before 1978, probably 95% in Gloucester City. These rental homes, now mostly apartments, MAY HAVE lead paint in them. Lead paint can be dangerous but if you ask senior citizens how many ate paint chips from walls or woodwork, the answer would be "none, we weren't idiots. Our parents watched us and if we were to pick up a paint chip, our parents would have stopped us." That isn't good enough for the nanny state. The government needs to protect us from ourselves and then charge us to do it.
The new law is called Lead Paint Abatement and involves someone certified by the state to come into your residence for "Dust Wipe Sampling." This will happen every three years or every time the tenant changes. Here are the new charges/taxes:
One bedroom $250 Two Bedrooms $275 Three bedrooms $300
For this cost, the landlord gets one free re-inspection. If any problem(s) are not remedied and a second reinspection is required it will cost $50 just to come out plus $20 for each dust swipe.
We're still not finished paying for someone to "dust swipe" your house. There is a $50 Lead-Free Safety Certification. If a landlord neglects to have his apartment "dusted" there is a $1,000/week fine (another word for tax.)
Is there anyone out there who doesn't think the landlord is going to pass on these costs in higher rents? Think of all those homes on the west side of town which are now apartments. There is a ton of money to be made between the railroad and the river. But fear not, all this money is not going to be co-mingled with the rest of the city's/state's money and just disappeared. It is going into a separate "pot" for the purpose of helping people alleviate the cost of reducing or eliminating lead paint.
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This information was taken directly from the Gloucester City Council Meeting's agenda notes.