An Act concerning assessments for local improvement to curbs and amending R.S.40:56-1.

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

1. R.S.40:56-1 is amended to read as follows:

40:56-1. A local improvement is one, the cost of which, or a portion thereof, may be assessed upon the lands in the vicinity thereof benefited thereby.

Any municipality may undertake any of the following works as a local improvement; and the governing body thereof may make, amend, repeal and enforce ordinances for carrying into effect all powers granted in this section:

a. The laying out, opening or establishing of a new street, alley, or other public highway, or portion thereof.

b. The widening, straightening, extension, alteration or changing in any manner of the location of a street, alley or other public highway, or portion thereof.

c. The grading or alteration of the grade of a street, alley or other public highway, or portion thereof.

d. The paving, repaving, or otherwise improving or reimproving a street, alley or other public highway, or portion thereof.

e. The curbing or recurbing, guttering or reguttering of a sidewalk in, upon, or along a street, alley or other public highway, or portion thereof, however, the municipality shall not impose an assessment on the land adjoining an improvement to repair a curb unless the municipality can show that the owner, occupant, resident, or invitee of the property on which the assessment is imposed was the cause of the damage requiring the assessment for its repair.

f. The construction, reconstruction, improvement and reimprovement of bridges and viaducts.

g. The construction, reconstruction, improvement, reimprovement or relocation of a public walk or driveway on any beach, or along the ocean or any river or other waterway.

h. The improvement or reimprovement of any beach or water front, and the providing of suitable protection to prevent damage to lands or property by the ocean or other waters, including the filing in and grading necessary for the protection of such improvements.

i. The construction, reconstruction, enlargement or extension of a sewer or drain in, under or along a street, alley or public highway, or portion thereof, or in, under or along any public or private lands; the construction, reconstruction, enlargement or extension of a system of sewerage or drainage or both combined; the construction, reconstruction, enlargement or extension of a system of drainage of the marshes and wet lowlands within the municipality; the construction, reconstruction, enlargement or alteration of a system of works for the sanitary disposal of sewage or drainage.

j. The installation of service connections to a system of water, gas, light, heat or power works owned by a municipality or otherwise, including all such works as may be necessary for supplying water, gas, light, heat or power to real estate for whose benefit such services are provided; service connections including the laying, construction or placing of mains, conduits or cables in, under or along a street, alley or other public highway or portion thereof.

k. The construction, reconstruction, enlargement or extension of any water main or other works for the distribution of water supplied by the State or any of its political subdivisions, or any public agency of any of the same.

l. The installation of such lighting standards, appliances and appurtenances as may be required for the brilliant illumination of the streets in those parts of the municipality where the governing body of the municipality may deem it necessary or proper to establish what is commonly called a "white way."

m. The widening, deepening or improvement of any stream, creek, river or other waterway.

n. The removal of obstructions in, and the constructing, reconstructing, enlarging or extending of any waterway, of enclosing walls, or of a pipe or conduit or any brook or watercourse, or part of same.

o. The defining of the location and the establishment of widths, grades and elevations of any stream, creek, river or other waterway, and the preventing of encroachments upon the same.

p. The reclaiming, filling and improving and bulkheading and filling in lands lying under tidal or other water, in whole or in part, within the municipality; the reclaiming or filling or bulkheading and filling those lands or lands adjacent to such reclaimed or filled lands; to dredge channels or improve harbor approaches in the waters abounding the lands to be reclaimed, filled and improved, or bulkheaded and filled; provided, the approval of the Planning and Development Council of the Division of Planning and Development in the Department of Conservation and Economic Development of the State of New Jersey, and when necessary, the permission of the Federal authorities in charge of the district port in which the improvements are proposed to be made, to improve and dredge channels and construct and improve the harbor approaches to those lands, shall be first had and obtained.

The governing body may enter into agreements with the Federal Government for reimbursement to the municipality for all or a portion of the cost of dredging channels or improving harbor approaches in waters under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government.

If any portion of the amount assessed against the lands within the municipality for the improvement shall be reimbursed to the municipality by the Federal Government after the assessment has been made, then a credit shall be made on each assessment levied in proportion to the amount so received from the Federal Government; provided, the amount received by the municipality from the Federal Government shall be in excess of the amount fixed in the assessment to be borne by the municipality at large.

If any portion of the land included within lands benefited or improved by any work done in connection with the reclaiming, filling or bulkheading and filling shall be riparian lands or lands under water, for which the riparian grant has not theretofore been made by the State, the municipal board or body authorized to make assessments for improvements in accordance with this subtitle may include in any such assessment a prospective assessment against the riparian lands or lands under water, and a copy of such prospective assessment shall be filed with the Planning and Development Council of the Division of Planning and Development in the Department of Conservation and Economic Development of the State of New Jersey and shall be a part of the records of that council. Upon the sale or grant by the State of the riparian rights to any such lands for which a prospective assessment has been filed with the council, the amount of such prospective assessment together with interest at the rate of five per centum (5%) per annum from the time of the confirmation of the assessment for the improvement shall be included by said Planning and Development Council in the purchase price fixed for such lands and made a part of the payment for the grant, and the amount of the assessment with interest, when paid, shall be turned over by said Planning and Development Council to the municipality making the assessment. Such prospective assessment shall also be included in the general assessment for and against any such riparian lands or lands under water for which an annual rental or fee is being charged or collected by said Planning and Development Council under any agreement by which the fee of any such riparian lands is passed, and when the fee does so pass by grant from the State the prospective assessment shall become immediately due and payable, together with interest thereon at the rate of five per centum (5%) per annum from the time of the confirmation of the assessment for the improvement and the assessment shall become a lien upon those lands until paid and shall be collectible as other liens for public improvements in the municipality. Should said Planning and Development Council lease for a term of years any such riparian lands or lands under water, included within lands benefited or improved by any work done in connection with the reclaiming, filling or bulkheading and filling, it shall include in the annual rental to be charged therefor one-tenth of the amount of the prospective assessment for each year of the term not exceeding ten years until the prospective assessment and the interest thereon at the rate of five per centum (5%) per annum from the time of confirmation of the assessment for the improvement, shall be paid. If the lease shall be for a period less than ten years, such provision shall be contained in any and all extensions and renewals thereof, or in any new leases until the full prospective assessment with such interest shall have been paid. Nothing contained in this subparagraph shall apply to lands owned by a company whose rates are subject to regulation by the Board of Public Utility Commissioners.

Whenever convenient more than one of the works provided for in this section may be carried on as one improvement. Any municipality may undertake any or all of the works mentioned in this section as a general improvement to be paid for by general taxation, and any municipality may provide for the maintenance, repair and operation of any or all of said works by taxation whether the same are undertaken as local or general improvements.

(cf: P.L.1951, c.175, s.1)

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would prohibit a municipality from imposing a special assessment for a local improvement to repair a damaged curb unless the municipality can prove that the damage to the curb was caused by the resident, or residents, occupying the property against which the special assessment was imposed. New Jersey residents are paying local property taxpayers to cover the costs of local services, including those that maintain the roadways across municipalities. It is inappropriate and inequitable for a municipality to impose an additional financial burden on the property taxpayers of the State to repair damages to the public improvement that were not caused by the taxpayer.