TO THE EDITOR
August 3, 2019
Re: New property tax bill:
I just received my new property tax bill and I am outraged by the lack of understanding this Township and the State of New Jersey have shown on their current residents with almost a 20% increase in the tax for 2020 and just as much increase in the previous year.
I have lost several neighbors, just this year, selling their homes and moving south, as their income was going to just taxes; enough is enough.
Gouging retired people of their lifetime savings, with high taxes just can’t continue in this Township or the State. People live on fixed costs and these erratic tax increases must come to an end!
Why should senior citizens be responsible for school taxes?
When you compare the plus and negatives of living in Ocean Grove, the negatives win out by far. The only positive is living near the ocean, but the negatives include:
a. overcrowded congested living
b. horrible parking problems
c. high taxes with no representation
d. no longer a year round community with neighbors
e. poor police protection
f. high taxes force homeowners to rent to winter transients
g. difficulty getting code permits
h. Airbnb’s have become epidemic.
i. And there are more…..
These negatives are creating a poor standard of living in the Grove. If this trend continues, would you buy in Ocean Grove?
A LONG TIME OCEAN GROVE RESIDENT
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Here is a “plus” that our writer forgot:
Mt. HERMON WAY.. Monday, August 5, 2019. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net ©
AND ANOTHER:
ILLUMINATION NIGHT. OG summer 2016. Blogfinger photograph. ©
AND MANY MORE PLUSES.
blogfinger.net 
The writer seems to be a senior citizen. If so, may be eligible for Senior Freeze on taxes. Eligibility requirements include: over 65 on 12/31/17, lived in NJ since 12/31/07, owned current home (primary residence) since 12/31/14, have total income under 89k (increased this year).
Form PTR-1 is available at
NJ Division of Taxation
1828 West Lake Ave, 3rd Floor
Neptune, NJ 07753
Apply by 10/31/19.
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Good point from Lady Bird. The program is called the Senior Freeze Property Tax Reimbursement Program. Thanks to Assembly Members Eric Houghtaling and Joann Downey for promoting this.
Note that there is a deadline for applying.
And when you calculate your income, don’t forget to include Social Security.
You can request an application and get more information by contacting District 11 Legislative Office at 732 695 3371. Or you can email them at AsmHoughtaling@njleg.org or AswDowney@njleg.org.
Also, this letter writer seems to have lost his sense of proportion, having so many negatives and only one positive. The fact is that for all the problems in our little town, it is a marvelous place that people fall in love with for a variety of reasons.
If you are thinking badly of the town, make sure that you make your own list of positives, and don’t forget things that we love and seem like wall paper when we live here. Blogfinger enjoys identifying such factors that we might take for granted.
Some people criticize those who find issues in the Grove, but we at BF are always promoting quality of life, visual beauty, spiritual components, arts, music, our urban feel, our history, our gardens, our architecture, etc.—and this is a walking town, so stroll around near twilight or in the morning and experience the porch culture, boardwalk, ocean air and sights, evolving demographics, families,, tent city, Auditorium, parks, village streets, etc.
Some people say that if a person is critical of the town then they should leave, but that is a narrow-minded intolerant suggestion.
Those who like living here are encouraged to be critical in the interest of making things better. And identifying what is old, passé, and wrong is needed, because change is the natural order of things.
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