Some N.J. Democrats not ready to stop spending, despite $1B budget gap

By Claire Heininger/Star Ledger/Record,Statehouse Bureau

December 03, 2009, 5:10AM

With New Jersey facing a $1 billion hole in the budget and Gov.-elect Chris Christie demanding lawmakers "stop spending" during the lame-duck session, top Democrats who control both houses of the Legislature are waging a behind-the-scenes standoff about exactly what the state can afford.

Some Democrats agree with Christie that there should be no added spending, while others argue for a case-by-case approach on what they say are worthy initiatives — some of which will be aired during committee hearings at the Statehouse today.

Among the ideas on the table are proposals to provide money for food banks, the victims of Bernie Madoff, drug testing for caretakers of military veterans and the mentally ill, and rehab to keep prison inmates from repeating their crimes.

"There’s balance in life," said Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who favors some extra spending. "There’s people who say, ‘We can’t afford the money.’ There’s other people who are saying, ‘No, aren’t we a compassionate society?’"

Codey recently sparred with Senate Budget and Appropriations chair Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) after she said her panel would not consider any bills today requiring additional cash — including measures he backs to refund some taxes paid by victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and increase training and drug-screening for staff at state psychiatric hospitals and other facilities.

While Codey agreed to table the more expensive bills — the Madoff repayment would have cost the state at least $48 million — he says he is not backing down on the drug testing bill after whittling its cost to $39,000 a year, which "is not going to tip us into bankruptcy."

But Buono, who will become Senate Majority Leader when current Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) replaces Codey in January, said no amount of new spending is appropriate as the state considers cutbacks to municipal and school aid that help hold down property taxes.

"How do you differentiate between that and food for the homeless? It’s an impossible decision to make," Buono said. "So I think that we just have to remain steadfast in not spending any money that we don’t have."

The situation is also complex in the Assembly, where a package of bills aimed at improving prisoner rehabilitation and re-entry is up for debate today. Proponents, like Assembly Appropriations chair Nellie Pou (D-Passaic), say the bills have "some minimal cost" but "will have significant taxpayer savings in the future" by reducing the number of repeat offenders.

"You can’t just look at one side of the ledger, you have to look at both," said Assembly Budget chair Louis Greenwald (D-Camden), who added: "I don’t think we should be in a spending mode."

There is no official estimate for the prison bills’ cost or savings, but one bill’s cost was pegged at $4.8 million. Buono said she supports them "100 percent" but will not take them up this session because of the price tag. Christie, who favors some rehabilitation reforms, singled out the package as "reckless" during a Tuesday news conference.

"There are a number of things that this state government does that I’m sure you can find a constituency around the state who will say that it’s laudable and necessary," Christie said. "But we’re broke.”