Hopatcong Seniors: You Can Still Freeze Your Property Taxes

HOPATCONG, NJ - This year has been challenging for many reasons, and due to COVID-19 pushing back the adoption of the state budget it also pushed the deadline to apply until the end of the year.

And officials in Hopatcong want their residents to know that Senior Freeze program has been extended to Dec. 31.

The Senior Freeze Program reimburses eligible senior citizens and disabled persons for property tax or mobile home park site fee increases on their principal residence. To qualify, you must meet all the eligibility requirements for each year from the base year through the application year (the current application year is 2019).

Eligibility notes:

Age/Disability
You (or your spouse/civil union partner) were:
65 or older on December 31, 2018; or
Actually receiving federal Social Security disability benefit payments (not benefit payments received on behalf of someone else) on or before December 31, 2018.

Residency
You lived in New Jersey continuously since December 31, 2008, or earlier, as either a homeowner or a renter.

Home Ownership
Homeowners. You owned and lived in your home since December 31, 2015, or earlier (and you still owned and lived in that home on December 31, 2019).

Mobile Home Owners
You leased a site in a mobile home park where you placed a manufactured or mobile home that you owned since December 31, 2015, or earlier (and still lived in that home/leased the site on December 31, 2019).

If you moved from one New Jersey property to another and received a reimbursement for your previous residence for the last full year you lived there, you may qualify for an exception to re-applying to the Senior Freeze Program. Visit Requirements for Resuming Eligibility for more information.

Property Taxes/ Site Fees
Homeowners. The 2018 property taxes due on your home must have been paid by June 1, 2019, and the 2019 property taxes must be paid by June 1, 2020.
Mobile Home Owners. Your site fees must have been paid by December 31 of each year respectively.

Income Limit
Your total annual income (combined if you were married or in a civil union and lived in the same home) was:

• 2018 – $89,013 or less; and
• 2019 – $91,505 or less

Applications were mailed in February to the last address you filed with. If you did not receive your booklet, contact our Senior Freeze Property Tax Reimbursement Information Line for assistance at 1-800-882-6597.

The US Postal Service does not forward application booklets.

Thanks for reading! Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Have a news tip you'd like to share? Or maybe you have a press release you would like to submit or a correction you'd like to request? Send an email to russ.crespolini@patch.com

Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter. You can also have them delivered to your phone screen by downloading, or by visiting the Google Play store.