budget

GREENWALD: CHRISTIENOMICS WOULD 'BLOW UP' STATE BUDGET

(Trenton) – Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Louis D. Greenwald today warned that the economic policies not tossed aside by Chris Christie not only would blow up the state's budget but also turn the clock back on nearly a decade's worth of efforts to position New Jersey on a permanently firm fiscal footing.

Senator Marcia Karrow, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, said the Corzine administration has quietly taken $850, 356 from shellfish protection funds as the state's budget crisis has worsened. The transfer of these dedicated funds was not authorized in the budget passed by the Legislature and threatens to shut down an industry that provides jobs well beyond the Jersey Shore, Karrow said.

Four Republican senators held a news conference today to express their growing unease at the failure of Governor Jon Corzine to honestly address plunging tax collections.

The state treasurer said today that revenues have come in 3.1 percent below projections so far this year. If collections continue at that pace, the state will have a $1 billion deficit this year. The estimated budget deficit for next year is $8 billion to $10 billion. The governor is again doing too little. too late, then calling himself a man of action.

Senator Steve Oroho, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, said that given the news that New York state faces a growing fiscal crisis, it is alarming that Governor Jon Corzine stubbornly refuses to regularly update revenue collection numbers for New Jersey, as other governors have done in the past.

Senate Republican Budget Officer Anthony Bucco and Senator Steve Oroho, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, criticize Governor Corzine for refusing to regularly update revenue numbers despite repeated requests for openness and transparency.

The governor Isn't Disclosing Fiscal Problems to Investing Public.

VOSS, WAGNER: RAMAPO MUST RETHINK FEE HIKE
OR LOSE FEDERAL STIMULUS AID
Unapproved 12 Percent Increase Violates State Budget

(38th Legislative District) - Assemblywomen Joan Voss and Connie Wagner (both D-Bergen) today blasted Ramapo College officials for passing an excessive and ill-conceived 12 percent increase in tuition and fees, saying the college must either go back to the drawing board or lose any federal stimulus aid.

The six Republican members of the Senate Budget Committee have sent a letter to Chairwoman Barbara Buono that asks her to call the committee into session this summer. The committee's task would be to develop a plan to close an unprecedented $8 billion structural deficit and a more than $2 billion deficit in the unemployment fund. The letter points out that Governor Corzine is avoiding questions about how he plans to do to deal with this $10 billion crisis. "When there is a gap in leadership at the top, others must step in to fill the void, " said Senator Anthony Bucco, senior Republican member on the budget committee and Republican budget officer.

Despite his 2005 campaign vow of transparency, the governor now thinks it's better if the public doesn't hear about the coming fiscal crisis for a few months. So much for campaign promises that he would insist on two-year budgets instead of one-year spending plans.