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Associated Press - ‘Legislative leaders say agreement reached on $29.3 billion state budget after tens of millions are restored to programs’
Statehouse Bureau ‘N.J. Assembly fails to override Christie veto of millionaires tax’
Associated Press - ‘Legislative leaders say agreement reached on $29.3 billion state budget after tens of millions are restored to programs’
Statehouse Bureau ‘N.J. Assembly fails to override Christie veto of millionaires tax’
Associated Press - ‘Legislative leaders say agreement reached on $29.3 billion state budget after tens of millions are restored to programs’
TRENTON - A compromise deal on a $29.3 billion New Jersey budget that averts a government shutdown and restores tens of millions to programs for needy residents has been reached by the Republican governor's office and Democrats who control the Legislature.
Democratic legislative leaders announced the agreement Monday evening after word of a tentative accord leaked. Officials from the governor's office held a briefing on the budget deal Monday night.
Rich Bagger, Gov. Chris Christie's chief of staff, said budget bills sponsored by Republican lawmakers would be introduced Monday night.
"That legislation is based on, and consistent with, the governor's budget proposal made on March 16," Bagger said.
The final budget is indeed similar to what Christie proposed three months ago amid skyrocketing state debt and a dismal revenue picture. The budget agreed to in principle cuts school aid by $820 million, sheds 1,000 state workers and assumes $50 million in savings from privatization. It skips a $3 billion contribution to the state pension system and leaves about $300 million in surplus.
Democrats negotiated about $74 million in restorations to programs and services for the poor and disabled and needy students in exchange for the votes needed to pass the budget bill. The money comes from items that were overbudgeted.
Among the funding that will be restored:
- Welfare for adults, $22 million
- Care for the homebound elderly, $9.7 million
- Workshops for the disabled, $3 million
- Tuition scholarships, $1 million
"This budget stays true to the principles I originally outlined, keeping spending within our means and restoring fiscal order without raising taxes," Christie said in a statement released Monday night. "This budget lays the foundation for necessary long-term reforms that will help New Jersey recover from today's economic and fiscal crisis."
The budget provides $6.4 million to keep the Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital open. However, 58 family planning centers will lose their entire state allocation of $7.5 million, about a quarter of their budgets.
The final budget also removes an unpopular proposal to realize $65 million in sales tax revenue by repealing Bergen County's "blue laws" restricting Sunday shopping. Proponents of the laws say the shopping restriction keeps traffic down. Treasurer Andrew Eristoff said a more aggressive tax collection and auditing system will make up the revenue.
Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said Democrats did what they could to restore funding to programs and services for New Jersey's most vulnerable residents.
"The improvements we've made make this budget plan the best it can possibly be amid this difficult economy," Oliver said. "No one is excited about what this budget does, but it at least has taken several steps toward protecting working-class New Jerseyans."
The agre ement between the two parties and the two branches of government set the stage for hearings on the bills later in the week.
Final votes on the budget bills are expected next Monday, two days ahead of the June 30 deadline to pass a balanced budget.
A balanced budget must be in place by July 1 to avoid a government shutdown.
A 2006 budget impasse shuttered government for eight days.
On his first day in office in January, Christie signed an executive order exempting Atlantic City casinos from any future shutdown. The casinos lost about $55 million when they were closed over the July 4 holiday four years ago.
Word of a tentative budget agreement came after Democrats in the Assembly attempted - and failed - to override Christie's veto of an additional tax on millionaires. The party-line vote had 47 Democrats favoring the override and 33 Republicans opposed.
The one-year surcharge would have raised about $600 million by increasing income taxes ne arly 2 percent on the state's 16,000 highest wage earners.
Christie vetoed the tax last month after the Legislature passed it along party lines.
Democrats wanted to use the money to restore property tax rebates to senior citizens and the disabled. They also wanted to put Republicans on the record for voting against the proposal.
Statehouse Bureau ‘N.J. Assembly fails to override Christie veto of millionaires tax’
Monday, June 21, 2010
Last updated: Monday June 21, 2010, 5:01 PM
BY MATT FRIEDMAN
TRENTON -- Democrats have failed to override Governor Christie’s veto of a tax that would increase taxes on income more than $1 million.
The bills, which would devote the proceeds to restoring property tax rebates for seniors and the disabled, died on the Assembly floor Monday when Democrats could not convert any Republicans who voted against it last month, when it passed strictly along partisan lines.
Although a majority of Assembly members (47 to 33) voted for the bill, Democrats did not reach the two-thirds majority needed to override it. The override would have required flipping seven Republican votes. Because the override attempt failed in the Assembly, where the bill originated, the Senate will not attempt it.
The Assembly and Senate both passed the millionaires tax last month strictly along partisan lines, only to see it vetoed by Christie minutes later.
The bill would have raised the tax rate on income over $1 million for approximately 16,000 households. A companion bill, also vetoed by Christie, would have devoted the funds to restoring property tax rebates for the seniors and disabled as well as cuts to state-supplemented senior drug programs that have since been reversed.
The Assembly first took up the companion bill, which Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-Monmouth) said would not help seniors because there is no money to restore rebates.
"What can help (seniors) is a hard 2.5 percent cap on property taxes," she said.
TRENTON -- Democrats have failed to override Governor Christie’s veto of a tax that would increase taxes on income more than $1 million.
The bills, which would devote the proceeds to restoring property tax rebates for seniors and the disabled, died on the Assembly floor Monday when Democrats could not convert any Republicans who voted against it last month, when it passed strictly along partisan lines.
Although a majority of Assembly members (47 to 33) voted for the bill, Democrats did not reach the two-thirds majority needed to override it. The override would have required flipping seven Republican votes. Because the override attempt failed in the Assembly, where the bill originated, the Senate will not attempt it.
The Assembly and Senate both passed the millionaires tax last month strictly along partisan lines, only to see it vetoed by Christie minutes later.
The bill would have raised the tax rate on income over $1 million for approximately 16,000 households. A companion bill, also vetoed by Christie, would have devoted the funds to restoring property tax rebates for the seniors and disabled as well as cuts to state-supplemented senior drug programs that have since been reversed.
The Assembly first took up the companion bill, which Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-Monmouth) said would not help seniors because there is no money to restore rebates.
"What can help (seniors) is a hard 2.5 percent cap on property taxes," she said.
