They said he didn’t qualify for $5K Stay NJ property tax break. But they were wrong.
The Stay NJ property tax benefit was welcomed by New Jersey senior citizens desperate to blunt the ever-rising cost of property taxes.
The underlying idea? To cut property tax bills in half — capped at $6,500 — to encourage seniors to stay in the state rather than move to lower-tax states during their golden years.
But in its first year, as is common for new programs, there’s more than a little confusion. Indeed, not everyone interprets the Stay NJ statue the same way, NJ Advance Media has learned.
It could have cost Frank Richardi, a Jersey guy through and through, around $5,000. And it’s unclear how many other seniors are in the same position.
The Newark-born Richardi, 73, was raised in Bloomfield, and then got his first apartment with his wife — who he calls “the love of my life” — in Edison.
In 1986, they bought a house in West Milford, where they raised three children. Richardi stayed in the family home after he lost his wife of 30 years to cancer in 2009. In 2024, the grandfather of five finally decided to downsize, buying a condo in Pompton Plains.
He fully bought into the “stay” idea. Really, Richardi is pretty much the poster child for what Stay NJ is intended to do.
“My primary reason for staying (in New Jersey) was to be near my kids and grandchildren,” the retired automotive aftermarket executive said. “I qualified for ANCHOR and I was expecting the Stay NJ rebate also, simply because I stayed in New Jersey.”
The program was the brainchild of Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, who touted Stay NJ earlier this month as “a truly transformative program that will bring property tax relief to our seniors and keep them right here in New Jersey where they belong.”
RELATED: How much will my Stay NJ property tax benefit be? Use our calculator to find out.
Richardi met the eligibility requirements of being 65 or older by Dec. 31 of the calendar year and his gross income from a pension and Social Security was far less than the $500,000 income limit.
But he had owned two different New Jersey homes, both primary residences, during the calendar year.
The statute says one must be an owner “for at least one full tax year of a homestead in this State.” (That’s where language matters, but we’ll come back to that in a moment.)
The Division of Taxation and the staff of two state lawmakers — including the one who spearheaded the property tax relief program — said Richardi didn’t qualify because he didn’t own the same home for the full calendar year.
“Had I known how the law was written I would have closed on January 1, 2025, instead of November of 2024,” Richardi said. “I feel frustration and disappointment.”
But they were all wrong.
MONEY ON THE LINE
Questioning the intent of the law and how it was being implemented, Richardi had an email exchange with a staffer in Coughlin’s office. The staffer explained that the law was crafted under the guidance of the Stay NJ Task Force.
One of the task force’s jobs was to figure out how to develop one application for all the state’s property tax breaks — ANCHOR, Senior Freeze and Stay NJ.
The task force decided the residency cut-off date should be Dec. 31 so all three benefits would be aligned with the calendar year, and with each other, the staffer said in the email exchange.
Also, it makes the math easier and “reduces ambiguity” if someone is only a resident for part of the year, ensuring that only full-time New Jerseyans get the benefit, the staffer said.
“The thinking was that without a requirement of full‐year residency, someone could move into New Jersey or into a home very late in the year simply to claim the benefit,” the staffer said.
The staffer said Coughlin’s office has received similar complaints from other residents.
“All of that being said, the Task Force clearly missed the boat on not recognizing specific scenarios such as yours and others who have lived in the state for many years, stayed in the state, and simply wanted to change homes,” the staffer said, adding they are “hopeful that there will be attention given to rectifying these clearly unfair situations in the upcoming legislative session.”
For the record, Richardi was very appreciative of the staffer taking time to answer his questions.
Richardi also contacted Sen. Jon Bramnick, R-Union, whose office contacted Taxation on his behalf.
Taxation said in an email response, shared by Bramnick’s office with Richardi, that Richardi didn’t qualify because “you must have owned and lived in the same home for the full 12 months of 2024.”
Richardi reached out to NJ Advance Media for help.
THE FUTURE OF STAY NJ?
Eligibility requirements for the state’s property tax benefits will certainly be on the table when officials in Trenton consider the next state budget. Gov. Mikie Sherrill will pitch her spending plan for the state in a big speech on March 10, and then the wrangling over spending begins in Trenton.
The final budget is due on July 1.
It’s a heavy lift. New Jersey is simply spending more than it receives in tax revenue. That means it needs to dip into its cash reserves — estimated to be less than $7 billion — to support the spending. But that strategy won’t be sustainable without new sources of revenue or cutting spending, according to a report by New Jersey Policy Perspective.
Stay NJ could be a target.
While ANCHOR and the Senior Freeze are geared to residents with moderate- and lower-income levels, Stay NJ’s income cutoff is much higher at $500,000. So even if a resident earns too much to get the first two benefits, they could still get up to $6,500 from Stay NJ.
Tightening eligibility by lowering the Stay NJ income cut-off was considered when the law was first negotiated. Because really, some argued, are retirees who earn close to half a million bucks going to decide to stay or leave the state because of property taxes?
Without any changes, Stay NJ will cost the state more in the next fiscal year. That’s because while Stay NJ covers the 2024 tax year, the state’s fiscal year runs from July through June and not by calendar year. So the current budget only had to fund half of the total Stay NJ benefit. The cost would double in the next budget.
“State spending on property tax relief programs has grown from less than $1 billion to more than $4 billion in FY 2026, with future increases in Stay NJ,” the New Jersey Policy Perspective report said, adding that the full cost for the Stay NJ program is $1.2 billion.
The state Treasury Department said an estimated 438,000 homeowners are approved to receive the first installment of Stay NJ, with payments delivered quarterly starting in mid-February. The average installment payment will be $639, spokeswoman Danielle Currie said.
Now let’s get back to the statute.
It says someone must be an owner “for at least one full tax year of a homestead in this State.”
It says “a” homestead. Not “the same” homestead.
“It should be noted that while the Stay NJ statute requires an applicant to own a home in New Jersey for an entire year, it does not explicitly state it must be the same home,” Currie, the Treasury spokeswoman, said. “If an owner moved from one residence to another in New Jersey during the year, the Division of Taxation would generally deem them eligible for Stay NJ.”
Currie arranged for an agency representative to contact Richardi about his specific situation.
Richardi got the call, and the representative confirmed that yes, he did indeed qualify.
He should expect his first installment in mid-February.
“The only way this happened was through the assistance that you gave me, and that’s not right,” Richardi said of NJ Advance Media’s help, adding that he wondered how many other eligible people may also have been declined the payment. “I’m just happy that it got squared away.”
We also notified Coughlin’s office of the issue. He didn’t answer directly, but a spokesperson for the Assembly Majority Office said like any major transition, it is not always smooth.
“That said, we are pleased that the statute provided for an official appeals process for applicants wrongfully denied benefits to receive a second look,” the spokesperson said. “The Speaker is pleased to learn of a favorable outcome for these constituents and is confident that Year 2 will yield an even smoother process for all.”
In response to our story, Bramnick told NJ Advance Media that he’s drafting legislation “to make it 100% clear who qualifies.”
”It’s unfortunate that the state Treasury gives one answer to a senator’s office but they change their mind when the media calls,” Bramnick said.
If you sold a home in New Jersey and purchased another one here, let us know if you’re getting Stay NJ or if you were denied. Email us at kpricemueller@njadvancemedia.com.
