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S E P T E M B E R , 2 0 1 6
NEW JERSEY MUNICIPAL SERVICES ACT —
BACK TO THE FUTURE
By Paul Leodori, Esq.
Law Offices of Paul Leodori, P.C.
© iStockphoto.com
Mr. Leodori is the managing attorney of the Law
Offices of Paul Leodori, P.C. in Medford, New Jersey
and he has been representing both community
association boards and individual members throughout
New Jersey for many years. He is Vice Chair of the
CAI-NJ Legislative Action Committee and frequently
lectures on community association issues and topics.
Courtesy CAI-NJ.
O
n January 3, 1990, an article in the Trenton Times
was captioned “Double Payments Scratched for
Condo Owners” claiming that “New Jersey
condominium owners tallied a huge victory yesterday
when legislation eliminating double payment for certain
municipal services was signed into law by Gov. Thomas
H. Kean.” And so the Municipal Services Act, N.J.S.A.
40:67-23-2 et seq. became law in New Jersey.
For the first time, the law required New Jersey municipali-
ties to reimburse qualified private communities for the costs
of certain municipal services not provided to the communi-
ties by the municipality, or alternatively, to actually provide
those services to the private communities.
The New Jersey League of Municipalities opposed this
bill claiming that local governments would be burdened
with additional costs. Additionally, other opponents of the
law, argued that community associations were intended to
be “self-sufficient” and thereby they exclusively responsible
to provide their own maintenance. Conversely, owners
in community associations claimed that the municipal tax
structure was discriminatory because the homeowners
were paying for services such as garbage pick-up and
street cleaning through municipal property taxes and again
through association maintenance fees.
Although the battle line was drawn in the legislature in
the 1980’s, with community associations on one side and
municipalities on the other, the war is not over. Many of
the initial issues debated more than twenty-five years ago
remain contentious today. The Municipal Services Act now
requires that the municipality provide the following service
or reimburse private communities for: (1) removal of snow,
ice and other obstructions from the roads and streets; (2)
lighting of the roads and streets, to the extent of payment
for the electricity required, but not including the installation
or maintenance of lamps, standards, wiring of or other
equipment; and (3) collection of leaves and recyclable
materials along the roads and streets and the collection or
disposal of solid waste along the roads and streets. See
N.J.S.A. 40:67-23.3.