Fine Print: New Jersey Property Tax Assessment Municipal Financing Program

Primary sponsors: Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-Somerset) and Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex).

Summary: The bill is designed to promote the development of new solar systems in New Jersey by allowing local governments to help property owners or a group of property owners install renewable energy systems or energy efficiency projects by loaning them money and having it repaid though a special property tax assessment.

What it would do: The legislation would direct the state Economic Development Authority to create low-cost sources of financing that towns participating in the program could tap. An identical bill, sponsored by Smith, cleared the Senate before lawmakers broke for their summer recess

Why it would help: If approved and signed into law, the bill would remove one of the biggest barriers to the cost of installing solar—the large upfront capital costs, which can run into tens of thousands of dollars, depending upon the size of the project. Under the bill, a homeowner or group of homeowners could borrow the money at low interest rates and pay it back over 10 years.

And you thought property taxes were high now: Under the bill, a town participating in the program would borrow funds from the EDA to install the solar system or finance the energy efficiency project. Payment on the loan would be collected quarterly by the municipality, with interest at a rate to be determined by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and the EDA.

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