Joseph Kyrillos

“I can’t go on, I’ll go on,” wrote Samuel Beckett, a slogan the GOP would have likely found heartening Thursday, but searching for a metaphor amid the archives of absurdist 20th century drama to apply to the state budget process, Republican Sen. Leonard Lance instead selected Beckett’s most famous – and disturbing - play.

Seven Republican legislators will be the targets of ethics complaints to be filed tomorrow by two Democratic party leaders.  Three of them are State Senators Joseph Kyrillos and Bob Singer, and Assemblyman David Wolfe.  Democrats are alleging that a federal probe of how legislators might personally profit off specific state budget items is unfairly targeting just one party by looking only at actions since 2004, when Democrats first had complete control of both houses of the Legislature.

February 26, 2007
Senator Joseph Kyrillos
Contact: Courtney A. Fagan (732) 671-3206

Schools Continue to Get Short Changed in State Budget

Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth/Middlesex), issued the following statement in response to the school funding plan issued today by the New Jersey Department of Education.

During the past five years aid to most school districts remained frozen, accelerating the state’s skyrocketing property tax crisis. New Jersey needs to change its school finance formula in a comprehensive way.

While I am happy that towns in my district will see an aid increase this year, it is a mere nibble. For too long the middle-income schools haves watched their Abbott counterparts receive millions in aid while they had to make due with diminished resources.

It is time to stop presenting these ‘press-release’ reforms that look good on paper and instead make the tough decisions that will benefit all New Jersey families.

.

The New York Times has reported that Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance will support Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination. He would become the second State Senator to back Romney, joining Joseph Kyrillos, a former GOP State Chairman.

January 22, 2007 S-12

Contact: Michelle Peal

Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R-13)
(732) 671-3206

Kyrillos: Bill to Consolidate Municipalities Advances in Senate

Senator Joe Kyrillos, (R-13), issued the following statement today after the Senate approved his bill that would establish the Local Unit Alignment Reorganization and Consolidation Commission.

I had hoped a far more aggressive approach would be adopted that would require the Legislature to give an up or down vote on a package of recommendations to compel and enforce mergers, which is why despite voting yes, I opted not to remain the prime bill sponsor.

New Jersey has 566 municipalities, 616 school districts, and 186 fire districts each with its own layer of bureaucracy. This bureaucratic beast is among the many causes of the state’s property tax problem, and municipal consolidation must be a part of the solution.

That is why I introduced legislation to establish a commission modeled after the successful Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) created by the federal government. In my original proposal the commission’s recommendations could be vetoed by the Legislature, but if no action was taken, would be passed on to the towns for local voter approval. Municipalities that agreed to a recommended merger would be rewarded with state aid, and those that rejected a positive shared services attitude would be penalized.

Clinging to the idea of 19th century town borders is pricing seniors out of their homes and putting the dream of home ownership out of the reach of many young families. It is unfortunate, but this legislation in its present form is not nearly as aggressive as it needs to be.

REMARKS ON PLAN TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Senator Joseph M. Kyrillos, Jr. (R-Monmouth/Middlesex) issued the following statement regarding the recommendation of the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission to abolish capital punishment in this State, and commute the sentences of those presently convicted of capital murder to life imprisonment.

"Capital punishment in New Jersey is narrowly applied to the worst of all murderers. Defendants are given professional counsel and their cases are appealed directly to the Supreme Court where they are subject to vigorous review for trial faults and evidence of racial bias. It is appropriate that it be applied in the case of terrorism, murders of law enforcement officers, and murders arising from sex crimes, and I hope that a bi-partisan group of Senators prevents this dangerous and unwise recommendation from becoming law."
# # #
For more information, please contact Courtney Fagan at 732-671-3206.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ...
LEGISLATURE BATS .000 ON REFORMS

Editorial, Asbury Park Press, December 17, 2006

Back in the summer, the two most powerful men in the Legislature, Senate President Richard J. Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr., pledged to enact "significant" property tax reforms by Jan. 1. Gov. Corzine pledged to call a citizens' convention if action wasn't taken by year's end.

Well, the Legislature held its last voting session of the year Thursday, and nothing of any substance took place - again. No pension or health benefit reforms for public employees. No revised school funding formula. No action on even voluntary school or municipal consolidation. No concrete plan for tax relief. No property tax cap.

"The people have gotten coal in their Christmas stockings," Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon, aptly observed.

The four special legislative committees formed to study property tax reform came up with 98 recommendations. The year will end with none of them having been implemented. Five key reforms first posted Monday went nowhere in the Senate. Three of the proposals advanced in the Assembly. But there was no further action in either house Thursday. Among the casualties: a bill that would have forced politicians convicted of corruption to give up their public pensions.

"It's clear today the majority doesn't want to produce reform," said Sen. Joseph Kyrillos Jr., R-Monmouth.

Corzine, who last week put the kibosh on any attempts by the Legislature to enact significant pension and benefit reforms, has now reneged on his promise to hold lawmakers to his year-end deadline to get something major done.

Corzine said Thursday that the Legislature had made a "good-faith effort" on reform and warned against judging the reform process until it is complete. "People are calling the horse race when they have rounded the first bend, as far as I can see," Corzine said.

Corzine needs to get his vision checked. And when it comes to horse races, don't put your money on the Legislature or Corzine to cross the finish line. Odds are, you'll lose it.

# # # # #

PROPERTY TAX REFORM MUST BE SUSTAINABLE

Senator Joseph Kyrillos, (R-13), and Assemblyman Joseph Malone, (R-30), members of the Joint Legislative Committee on Consolidation and Shared Services, voted today to release the committee's recommendations, but issued a minority report explaining their reservations about the proposals in their current form.

In their report the two leaders concluded that the committee will have failed if the proposed reforms do not include mandated consolidation and shared services, pension and benefits reform, and a school funding formula that provides funding fairness for non-Abbott districts.

November 13, 2006
Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R-13)

Contact: Michelle Peal
(609) 292-5199

New Jersey Must Change Worst in Nation Business Climate

Senator Joe Kyrillos, (R-Monmouth/Middlesex), issued the following statement regarding a report by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council ranking New Jersey as the worst state in the nation to operate a small business. The state ranked 50th in the council’s Small Business Survival Index.

We don’t need another study to point out what everyone already knows. Our business climate is among the worst in the country, but this newest ranking solidifies the fact that we need revolutionary reform now.

It is imperative we reinvigorate our dangerous business climate by enacting business tax cuts, incentives, regulatory relief, and key one-on-one communication between the Governor and CEOs. There needs to be a complete overhaul in the state’s economic strategy if we are to attract businesses, create jobs, and sustain our quality of life.

It is not enough for the governor to talk about a new economic policy. There must be real action. The stakes could not be higher. We are not only competing with other states to bring jobs to New Jersey, but with the global economy there is now international competition for jobs. This is a race New Jersey cannot afford to lose.

New Jersey is at a tipping point. Now is the time for the Governor and Legislature to make tough, smart decisions to encourage business growth, or our state will continue to fall.

Dear Governor Corzine:

We want to commend you for making property tax relief and reform a top priority this year. Service on the four special legislative committees formed to address the property tax dilemma is an obligation that we take seriously and we are committed to bold, innovative and far reaching action that will provide sustainable property tax reform.

Aside from some clear examples of bipartisan teamwork and leadership, we are increasingly concerned that the special committees will not produce the “comprehensive and transformative action� you spoke of in July. For the most part, the past 10 weeks have largely been consumed by discussing the problem rather than solving the problem. It is now less than a month until the November 15 deadline and your mandate for “action, action, action� to provide relief and reform seems to have been abandoned.

Successful relief means reduced property tax bills and reform means adopting substantive adjustments in the way local services, including education, are provided and financed. History has shown that shifting taxes by raising the sales or income tax with the pledge of lower property taxes won’t solve the problem. It has been tried repeatedly and failed every time. Our property taxes are not too high because our income and sales taxes are too low. New Jersey is the nation’s third most heavily taxed state with high tax rates across the board. We do not have a revenue problem we have a spending problem and it is driving middle income families, seniors and businesses out of New Jersey.

Property tax reform must include a new school funding formula that is fair to our state’s fastest growing districts where the property tax crisis is most acute due to years of inadequate state aid; measures to increase the percentage of educational expenditures spent in the classroom; modifications that reduce the long-term pension and health care costs; the streamlining of government operations, including sensible consolidation and shared services; amend the state budget process to prevent state aid to schools and local governments from being redirected to other programs; stricter accountability at all levels of government; and comprehensive ethics reform that puts a stop to the use of public funds for the support of political patronage and that prohibits pay-to-play.

The benchmark for success in tackling the property tax problem means reducing expenditures to a level New Jersey’s working families can afford. We urge that potential solutions are unveiled by the Administration and our legislative colleagues on the other side of the aisle immediately. We must achieve tangible solutions to the property tax crises in New Jersey this autumn.

Sincerely,

Senator Leonard Lance Senator Gerald Cardinale

Senator William Gormley Senator Joseph Kyrillos