StayNJ is a regressive senior property tax relief program that will cost $1.2 billion this year alone. The leaders of New Jersey's legislature want to keep it as is: give up to $6,500 to households earning up to $500,000. For context, $250,000 puts your household in the top 10% of earners nationally; $352k puts you in the top 5%. Our new governor, Mikie Sherrill, wants to lower the income cap to $250,000 and the maximum benefit to $4,000, but that's still too generous. A household earning that much does not need such relief from the state—even in New Jersey.

Urge your legislators to reform StayNJ and enact other measures that will actually help seniors and the public at large. Namely:

• Set StayNJ's income cap to something closer to NJ's median household income: that was $104,294 in 2025.

• Pass State Senator Troy Singleton's Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) bill, S1786/A3567. Abundant ADUs will give seniors affordable options to downsize and remain in their communities. They can stop overpaying for a home that's become too large for their needs, unwilling or unable to move due to a lack of affordable options, and sell it to families who need the space.

• Address the root causes of rapidly rising property taxes: the public worker health plan "death spiral", wasteful land use, an overabundance of small municipalities, poor assessment practices overtaxing newer buyers, and I’m sure there are more

• Allow denser development near public transit to bring more rateables that are cheaper to provide with public services and which yield more property tax revenue per acre.