TRENTON
-- Acting Governor Richard J. Codey and State Treasurer John E. McCormac
announced today that eligible senior and disabled residents will soon
receive their 2004 Property Tax Reimbursement (PTR) checks. The Division
of Taxation began the statewide mailing of reimbursement checks today.
This year, checks issued under the PTR Program, which is also referred
to as the “Senior Freeze”, average $578.
“The Senior Freeze program is fully funded in this year’s
budget as part of our commitment to easing the property tax burden in
New Jersey, particularly for seniors and the disabled residents on fixed
incomes,” said Acting Governor Codey. “In order to ensure
that all eligible residents get the chance to apply, we also extended
the deadline for submitting an application to August 15,” Codey
said.
Under the Senior Freeze, eligible applicants are directly reimbursed
by the State for the difference between the amount of local property
taxes paid in the “base year” (the year they became eligible
and first filed for the program) and the amount of property taxes paid
for the reimbursement year.
Treasurer McCormac noted that funding for the Senior Freeze program
rose from $73.4 million last year to $98.4 million this year. “Governor
Codey made the Senior Freeze program a top funding priority for FY 2006,”
noted Treasurer McCormac. The Governor’s commitment means that
more than 100,000 low-income senior and disabled residents will receive
much-needed relief from rising property taxes,” he said.
Starting today, the Division will mail approximately 100,350 checks,
which will average $578. At this time last year, 80,319 checks were
mailed, which averaged $415.
With the extended deadline and the time it takes to process applications,
the number of checks issued to eligible participants will rise. Last
year, there were 64,000 additional applications processed after the
July 15 initial mailing, bringing the total number of 2003 PTR checks
issued to date to 145,016.
Each year, the Division of Taxation receives thousands of applications
for which a reimbursement cannot be issued because necessary information
or required documentation was omitted. Applicants who filed incomplete
applications will receive information on how to correct the problem,
according to Taxation Director Robert K. Thompson. “The Division
will be sending notices requesting the required information from these
applicants. The sooner they return the requested information to us,
the sooner we can process their application and send them the benefits
for which they are eligible.”
Applicants with questions or who want to check the status of their reimbursement
checks may call the Property Tax Reimbursement Hotline at 1-800-882-6597.
Information about the Program is also available on the Division of Taxation’s
Web site at www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/propfrez.htm.
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