40A:4-45.19. Increases in final appropriations or tax levies in years in which new service or program is funded; explanatory statement on ballot concerning amount of appropriation

a. In the first local budget year in which a county or municipality shall commence to fund a new service or program, which it is required to provide as a result of a binding referendum initiated and approved by the voters of the county or municipality, there shall be added to the final appropriations upon which the permissible municipal expenditures are calculated, or upon which the permissible county tax levy is calculated, the amount determined by the county or municipal governing body to be necessary to fund the service or program in that local budget year.

b. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, whenever, on or after the effective date of this act, a binding referendum question is required to be submitted in a county or municipality as a result of a petition initiated by the voters thereof, the approval of which by the voters would require the county or municipality to provide a new service or program, the governing body of the county or municipality shall cause to be set forth in an accompanying explanatory statement to the public question to appear on the ballot the amount of appropriations determined by the governing body to be necessary to fund the service or program in the first local budget year following approval of the question, and such other relevant information as the governing body may wish to include therein. The amount so set forth shall be the amount added to the county or municipal final appropriations pursuant to subsection a. of this section in the first local budget year in which the county or municipality shall commence to fund the service or program approved by the voters.

c. For the purposes of subsections a. and b. of this section, in determining the amount of appropriations necessary to fund the provision of a new service or program, the county or municipal governing body shall deduct an amount equal to the amount of any revenues anticipated to be derived from service fees to be imposed for the service or program in the first local budget year in which the county or municipality shall commence to fund the service or program. If in any local budget year thereafter, the county or municipality shall impose new service fees or increased service fees for the service or program, the amount of final appropriations upon which the permissible municipal expenditures are calculated, or upon which the permissible county tax levy is calculated, shall be reduced in the first full local budget year to which the new or increased service fees pertain, by the amount to be derived in that year from the new service fees or the increase in service fees.

L.1983, c. 312, s. 2, eff. Aug. 26, 1983.