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Hey buddy, wanna lease a big road? Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/1/07 GANNETT STATE BUREAU.....
Corzine: New school funding formula needed in 2 months
1/31/2007, 10:06 p.m. ET
The Associated Press
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/1/07
BY GREGORY J. VOLPE
GANNETT STATE BUREAU
TRENTON — State officials could be shopping the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and the PNC Bank Arts Center this year under legislation to be introduced next week by state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union.
The measure, the strongest step yet toward handing over control of the state's major toll roads, would not mandate a lease but authorizes state Treasurer Bradley Abelow to solicit bids for a 75-year-lease of the three state assets. It would also allow the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to bid.
The deal could provide the state $10 billion to $15 billion for debt reduction, while the new lessee would profit from the roads' toll revenues, which could be increased every year — a clause that drew sharp criticism from fellow lawmakers.
"This bill will be a certain non-starter in the General Assembly unless it contains stronger protections against prospective runaway toll increases," Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-Mercer, said.
Lesniak and a public policy group that has been leery of an asset sale, however, said the hikes are capped by inflation figures and predictable — a key difference from other states that have seen drastic toll hikes since leasing their roads.
"People can plan their budgets," Lesniak said. "It's a limited, small, incremental increase that they can handle."
Abigail Field, a lobbyist for the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, which had feared unfettered toll increases among other issues in a potential deal, said this was good protection for New Jersey drivers.
"Lesniak's bill not only limits it to inflation, but it also says if you're making money off of these ancillary activities, you have to use that money to reduce tolls, you just can't pocket it," Field said.
Administration officials did not indicate Wednesday whether they will support the measure. In last month's State of the State, Gov. Jon S. Corzine said these sort of deals represent the "greatest potential" to pay down debt, but officials are still studying whether a deal, such as the one Lesniak proposes, will make sense.
"Privatization is neither good, nor bad," said Abelow, the treasurer, who hadn't yet reviewed Lesniak's bill. "... The question is what do we do and how do we do it."
Abelow later added, "We're not afraid to reach the conclusion that things are fine the way they are."
Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, issued a similar response: "We shouldn't reject out of hand any ideas that could lead to a $15 billion reduction in our debt obligations."
Lesniak said he would not strike a deal unless proceeds went to reduce state debt and a lease were for at least $10 billion. That minimum amount would represent an $800 million reduction in the state's annual debt payments at a time when debt eats more than $2 billion, or about 7 to 8 percent of the state's roughly $30 billion budget.
Reducing debt would give lawmakers more flexibility to spend on things like property tax relief, preserving open space and education.
"It's a major change in the way government operates," Lesniak said. "I think we have to take a look at major changes in the way government operates because what we've been doing in the past is not working."
The proposal will likely meet reluctance among unions, whose toll and road maintainence members would have their jobs protected for the first six years of the deal.
"While we're encouraged by the six-year safeguard, what happens after that?" said Kevin Frechette, a contract lobbyist for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 196. "These are folks who have dedicated their lives to these jobs. They're supporting families, paying for mortgages and paying for their kids' education."
Several lawmakers panned the notion of giving up state assets.
"It's not free money," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, chairman of the transportation committee. "It's money that has to be paid back. And it gets paid back by the people of this state who use our transportation infrastructure. It gets paid back over an extraordinarily long time."
Some Republicans used the proposal to announce their own pieces of legislation that would ban the sale of state assets to foreign-owned companies or governments and another that would require a vote by the public on asset sales worth more than $100 million.
Next Monday, the Senate Tourism and Wagering Committee will hold a hearing on the potential sale or lease of another state asset, the New Jersey Lottery.
Gregory J. Volpe: gvolpe@gannett.com
Corzine: New school funding formula needed in 2 months 1/31/2007, 10:06 p.m. ET By TOM HESTER JR. The Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The state will need to have a widely accepted new public school funding formula in place within two months if it's to be used for next school year, Gov. Jon S. Corzine said Wednesday night. Corzine's administration has been working to devise a new school funding formula as part of ongoing efforts to cut the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes, but the plan remains incomplete and officials are uncertain when it might be ready. The plan is viewed as vital to tax reform efforts, since about 55 percent of property taxes collected in the state go to schools and the state also provides significant financial aid. Corzine and lawmakers hoped to have a plan ready by now. "If we cannot get a school funding formula through the Legislature and on my desk that has wide support in the next six to eight weeks, we're going to have to back away from the time schedule and come up with Plan B, which would be an interim situation," Corzine said, taking calls on New Jersey Network public television. It seems unlikely a school funding plan that hasn't been introduced yet can get approved within two months, since lawmakers are expected to scrutinize the plan, particularly to see how it would impact their own districts. Corzine said the state could use the framework of the new plan to fund schools next fiscal year. "We're thinking about that as a proposition," Corzine said. While incomplete, the plan is expected to be based largely on the number of special needs children in each school district rather than community wealth. The state currently provides heavy funding help to 31 poor, urban schools and hasn't increased aid to most other districts for five years. That has forced suburban and rural districts to rely increasingly on property taxes that are twice the national average and have been increasing 7 percent per year. "We're trying our level-best to try to come up something that improves achievement, improves performance, sustains our great school system, which produces good output, but makes sure we do that on a fair basis," Corzine said. The governor is slated to unveil his budget plan for next fiscal year on Feb. 27. That plan typically gives schools an idea of how to plan for the next school year, but school officials and legislators have expressed concern in recent weeks that the lack of a new formula has made planning difficult. "We're going to do it right," Corzine said, "not fast." School reforms cut back in Senate Elections to stay put under third revision Thursday, February 01, 2007 BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL Star-Ledger Staff State senators nearing the end of their seven-month effort to rein in property taxes have stripped down a plan to require greater accountability by local school officials. The new bill (S19) abandons plans to move school board elections to November and gives local officials the chance to appeal budget cuts imposed by a newly created executive county superintendent. The bill was introduced yesterday and is scheduled for final Senate consideration on Monday. It is the third version of this reform bill to be proposed in the Senate since December. Two previous versions have been bottled up by the Senate Democratic caucus, where some members -- who also hold local government jobs -- have opposed the broad oversight powers the bill gives the new executive county superintendents. The proposed bill is among the last elements of a package of tax reform measures working their way through the Legislature. Along with the revised school finance bill, senators on Monday are scheduled to consider final legislative approval of a $2 billion tax credit and property tax cap bill (S20), plus a controversial plan to eliminate pension benefits for future elected officials and bar officials elected after next February from holding more than one office (S17). Since convening a special session last summer to devise ways to rein in local government spending and property taxes, the Legislature has grappled with dozens of versions of reform measures. Most, like S19, have emerged weaker than when first introduced. Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, who proposed the reforms included in S19 months before the Legislature's special session began, said he could accept the scaled-down version awaiting Senate consideration as long as it ends up creating the new county superintendent's post. "The centerpiece of this bill has always been creating newly empowered county superintendents so they can be agents of change and really allow us to save money," Roberts said. "That's preserved in the legislation, and I think that's the element I consider most important." Under the revised bill, the new executive county superintendents will still have authority to comb through local school budgets and trim out excessive administrative spending. A new provision in the bill would let local officials appeal those budget changes to the state education commissioner, who would have 15 days to overrule the county superintendent. The new Senate version of the reform bill also abandons earlier attempts to move school and fire district elections to November, a change supporters said would increase participation in school board elections and budget votes. Dunstan McNichol may be reached at (609) 989-0341 or dmcnichol@starledger.com.