PORK ROLLED: Phil Murphy's Fiscal Year Budget Filled with Funding Democrat Pet Projects and Other Wasteful Spending
The governor gave his final budget address this past Tuesday, and its not pretty
After spending a week in our beautiful nation’s capitol, I finally found the time to write about this. And yes, I would want to pass up on the opportunity to write about another horrible and reckless budget address.
When I first saw the Governor was planning to reduce the budget to 56.6 billion per ROI-NJ, I knew something was up. I sent the piece to my former American Legislative Exchange Council colleague, Tom Savidge, an expert on state budgets and pensions. Savidge immediately told me what I was thinking “Holy cow! Thanks for flagging this! These spending cuts are definitely worth a look under the hood.” So let’s take a look inside this budget. But first, the timeline on how we got here:
Under the Christie administration, the budget remained balanced for all eight years of his governorship despite the Democrats' control of the legislature. This is an extremely underrated accomplishment that needs to be talked about more. Enter the Murphy administration, which, like the majority of Democrats, loves to spend more and tax more.
“Though the budget I present to you today is the final budget of our administration, it is one that reflects our ongoing — and unrelenting — commitment to building a state that is stronger, fairer, and more prepared for the future," he said.
Murphy loves to talk about being stronger, fairer, and forward. Believe me, there is nothing stronger, fairer, and forward about this budget.
First, this budget includes $1.2 billion in new taxes and fees, many of which include home sales over $1 million, sports betting, e-cigs, and alcohol. New Jersey also looks to rake in an additional $277 million by taxing leisure activities such as go-cart racing, laser tag, bowling, and horse training. What’s next? A tax for throwing a football in the backyard? There is no rationale for why these activities are getting taxed.
New Jersey is already the most unaffordable state in the country. If the current administration wants New Jersey residents to continue to live here, they need to provide incentives to keep them here. Otherwise, the Garden State will continue losing residents to North Carolina and Florida.
Next, the budget will give an additional $436.8 million to public schools. However, in last year’s budget, municipalities controlled by Republicans received a slash in funding, which led to criticism by the GOP. The Murphy administration later said the school districts that faced budget cuts were due to the rising costs of homes and inflation. Back in January, the Senate Education Committee passed a resolution in a party-line vote that would rewrite NJ’s school funding formula. The bill has not been voted on in the legislature.
The NJ school funding formula is broken. This was a major issue in the 2021 gubernatorial race and will be again in 2025. The leading Republican gubernatorial candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, who was the nominee in 2021, vowed to restore the formula pre-Christie when he ran 4 years ago.
The budget also includes another full pension payment of $7.2 billion for the fifth straight year. No other governor has put more money in the pension fund than Murphy, who has put in a total of $47 billion for pensioners, more than any other governor in NJ history.
Lastly, the budget includes $1.23 billion for maintaining roads and highways. Plus, an additional $767 million for NJ Transit projects. Also, a new corporate transit fee would double state aid for NJ Transit starting July 1. The big question remains for this new fee; will it result in getting better service or will the service remain lackluster? NJ Transit never fails to disappoint. Between old infrastructure, late arrivals, and funds not being used properly, this has resulted in NJ Transit being an absolute mess. Not even your NJ Transit fares are being used properly.
All NJ Transit fare is put into a general fund, meaning the funds collected can be used for political pet projects and other wasteful initiatives. Fares will be increasing AGAIN on July 1. Throwing money at a problem is not going to solve anything. Recently, the PATH train operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, raised its fare from $2.75 one way to $3. Despite the fare increase, the money was put forth to upgrade the Hoboken PATH Station, which was desperately needed. How does PATH get it right but not NJ Transit? Fix the problems that exist now so commuters can have stress-free travel.
However, there is some good news, NJ Transit will be receiving new rail cars called the Multi Level Coach III by Bombardier in 2026. These revolutionary passenger coaches will be the first in NJ to have USB in between seats so passengers can charge their phone while riding the train; a massive boon for commuters. These new coaches will replace the Arrow III EMU coaches (the ones with the brown leather seats), which have been in service since 1977.
The budget will now go through committee before both the Senate and the Assembly, where they will take the vote to enact the budget, it is projected to pass. For more information on the budget, click here.
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