From the Times Trenton:
State can’t afford to drag feet on debt
The continuing barrage of numbers reflecting the amount of money New Jersey needs to meet its basic responsibilities has become mind-numbing.
Almost weekly, a new report arrives from a new sector with a new batch of figures. An estimated $69 billion to cover future health care costs for public employees, including $11 billion from municipal governments. $25 billion in unfunded pension liabilities for those employees. $3.25 billion to complete court-ordered school construction in the Abbott districts.
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U.S. Sen. Everett Dirksen used to say: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” It’s safe to say that New Jersey is in need of real money.The latest finding, from the state Department of Transportation, is that New Jersey’s bridges require $13.6 billion worth of work over the next decade. Some of that total would fix deteriorating spans like the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed suddenly last summer with tragic consequences. The rest would be used to improve structures that were designed by the grandparents and great-grandparents of today’s engineers to handle far smaller traffic loads.
The bill for bridges is on top of amounts needed for other infrastructure work, including $4 billion or more to relieve two notorious transportation choke points: the Turnpike north of Exit 8A and the century-old rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River.
A few of the state’s spending obligations can be deferred. But delays produce added costs in dollars and other currency. Lives aren’t endangered by roads and bridges that simply are inadequate rather than broken, but the economy takes a beating.
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The reality is that New Jersey is deep in a financial hole, and its government leaders should be devoting much of their waking time to figuring out how to climb out. We aren’t seeing much of that in the current election campaign.