Jeffrey Grayson was born and raised in Montclair. For the past 67 years, he has witnessed firsthand the changes in his community, the shift in demographics, the rise in housing prices and taxes, and an influx of new residents from New York City.
According to Grayson, Montclair has progressively become less affordable to live in, making it harder and harder to continue living in his hometown…
Will the tax vote influence whether residents stay or leave?
Marc Pfeiffer, a senior policy fellow and faculty researcher at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, said the potential tax increase from the special election is not likely to make most Montclair residents either stay or leave in town. Rather, it is one part of a larger conversation about affordability in Montclair, and the way in which the township is trending.
“Yes, there is reason for concern, but not just because of the school tax problem. It is a bigger picture issue that places like Montclair are really starting to wrestle with,” Pfeiffer said.
Additionally, because property values in Montclair continue to rise, this can change the way the community looks over time.
“When some property values go up they eventually affect everybody, and that can result in gentrification and the loss of middle income homeowners,” Pfeiffer said.
Although one isolated factor is unlikely to cause significant change in the community, a compounding effect can occur due to multiple factors, such as property value increases and the overall cost of living, Pfeiffer said.
“This is a moment where things are coming together, your regular increases in property taxes because of the issue of gentrification, middle class minority families looking to leave because it’s become too expensive. That was an issue before the school tax issue happened. The school tax issue basically makes it harder to do it, particularly for folks who are on the margin,” Pfeiffer said.