Hurricane Sandy could have an effect on property taxes and the tourism industry in New Jersey.

Rutgers economist Joe Seneca says the damage caused by the storm will have a significant negative impact on property tax collections, especially in coastal communities.

 “For municipalities that have a lot of structures damaged, there’s likely to be a short-term property tax loss either through people not being able to pay or that they don’t want to pay on damaged structures and will appeal.”

Seneca says that might mean bigger tax bills for owners of property that escaped storm damage.

“That’s certainly possible going forward depending what happened with the expenditures. There may be some special programs that might compensate the municipal governments for revenue losses in the short run. That’s to be determined.”

Seneca anticipates there will be a lot of demand for summer rentals at the shore next year, but there are constraints that may limit the number of rental units that will be available.

 “You’re rebuilding in New Jersey in winter and whether you can have decent building time them it’s probably not as likely certainly and then you get shortages. You get demand for labor in a short period of time, a huge demand for materials, drywall, plumbing supplies.”