From Bloomberg via the APP:
Gov: State faces $2B shortfall
Gov. Corzine said a plan to give homeowners a 20 percent reduction in their property-tax bills would lead to an increase in the state’s budget deficit and force cuts in government spending.
The state will need to close a shortfall of about $2 billion to balance its budget for the next fiscal year, Corzine said in an interview Friday. “That will grow a little bit in and of itself if we implement the plan we have in place,” he said.
Corzine, a Democrat, earlier this week delivered his first State of the State speech since he was sworn into office a year ago. He ran for governor pledging to find a way to cut homeowners property taxes which, at an average of almost $6,000 per year, are the highest in the nation.
The governor plans to propose his budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, at the end of next month. Passing a package of property-tax measures “better get done in the next four or five weeks, because I have to do a little arithmetic to put that budget together,” Corzine said.
“We have some cutting we have to do on expenditures,” he said. “We are working on that in negotiations on our collective bargaining agreement with public employees.”
…
One of the issues still being discussed, the governor said, is what kind of caps on future increases in property taxes would be put in place. Corzine has proposed a 4 percent cap; property taxes in New Jersey have increased by at least 6 percent a year for the past 20 years, and climbed 6.8 percent last year.
From the Star Ledger:
Property tax fight KOs attempt to end dual office holding
Legislative leaders have abandoned an effort to stop elected officials from holding more than one office simultaneously, one of several government reform proposals that have been jettisoned from property tax relief bills to make them more palatable to lawmakers.
The proposal to ban “dual office holding” had drawn the ire of lawmakers from Hudson County, where four of the nine representatives in the Legislature hold at least two public posts. In all, 20 state legislators hold more than one elective office.
“It’s amazing,” said Sen. William Gormley (R-Atlantic), a member of a special legislative committee that recommended abolishing dual office holding as part of a package of public worker pension and benefits reforms. “The Hudson County version of government is now controlling reform in New Jersey.”
Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) dropped the ban on dual office holding when he introduced revised pension reform legislation (S16) this week. Yesterday, he promised the ban will be revisited later this year.
“That’s an issue that we’ve got to talk about more,” Codey said, adding that it’s “going to get done.”
The decision to set it aside is one of several moves made this week to delete controversial provisions from bills meant to cut government costs that drive up property taxes.
“It’s disappointing, to say the least,” said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex).
Buono withdrew as a co-sponsor of legislation (S15) to set up a new state comptroller’s office to monitor government spending, after reviewing last-minute changes that she said turned it into “a watered down, emasculated bill.”
End welfare now.
Its time to cut the cord.
SAS
“New Jersey’s course is set straight for the ice fields, and I no longer have any desire to be a crew member of the Titanic. The state is simply taxing people out” with that Len Connors a Rep will NOT run for office again …..looks like the crew is starting to jump ship faster than the passengers .I think If you are intending to leave the state you had better do it fast…I see a lot of for sale signs going up
Len Connors is 78 which may be helping his decision to retire.
So do you give up when you grow old?…Lautenberg is 86
no you retire and enjoy your rension before its taken away
Red what’s “rension”? is that a some kind of Malt Liquor for old folks ?