Corzine gives grim statistics at Shore forum

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/9/06

BY MICHELLE SAHN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

WEST LONG BRANCH — The state's use of one-time revenues to pay for recurring expenses is almost like "taking out a mortgage to buy this week's groceries,'' acting state Treasurer Bradley Abelow said.

Abelow and Gov. Corzine continued their public discussion of the state's "severe budget crisis'' Wednesday night in front of several hundred at Monmouth University. It was the second of three public mettings planned by Corzine before he presents his budget March 21. He has said the state is facing a $4.5 billion shortfall.

"We have a very big but very simple problem,'' Corzine said. "We spend more than we take in.''

On Wednesday, he said the state will look into buying generic drugs and prescription drugs in bulk for state Corrections Department inmates and other state programs, a move that could save the state millions.

On Tuesday, he warned that local schools and municipalities should not expect additional funding from the state this year.

Some 73 percent of the state's expenditures goes to state aid as well as grants for education and other programs at the county and local levels, Abelow said.

Abelow said the state's budget problems began in the late 1980s and continued under administrations of both political parties. In 1997, the state spent $16 billion, but in 2005 it spent $28 billion, he said.

Margaret Graf and Andrea Bakst, two school board members in Fair Haven, asked the governor about state law 1701, which forces districts to reduce surplus and give the balance to municipalities for property tax relief.

Corzine said that he will not ask for the repeal of that law but that exceptions for costs, such as energy, should be considered. He also suggested considering allowing districts to use reserve funds for capital improvements.

In Neptune, where officials expect to introduce a budget at the end of the month, Republican Mayor Thomas J. Catley said in a telephone interview that news of the state's financial outlook is disappointing. He said he hoped the governor would "turn his attention to slashing the bloated bureaucracy in Trenton.''

Catley said that not increasing state aid to municipalities will leave Neptune officials faced with the choice of cutting services or raising taxes. Neither is acceptable, he said.

"We depend on state aid to reduce the impact on our taxpayers,'' Catley said. "And obviously, if state aid is going to be frozen or reduced, we have to pass that along to our residents, who already feel they are already overtaxed.''

"We are looking at no increase in state aid to municipalities and no increase in state aid to public schools,'' Ocean County Freeholder Joseph Vicari said by phone. "If Trenton once again freezes aid to towns and school systems, it will amount to a tax increase on residents.''

Brick Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli said by phone that, like municipalities statewide, Brick will have to make difficult decisions. The most difficult, he said, will be how much the municipality should use from its surplus and how large the tax increase should be.

"After all is said and done, the burden is back on the town,'' Scarpelli said. "Pensions are up, gasoline and salaries are up, and because the state isn't helping to cover those costs, the burden is on the backs of Brick's residents.''

Tonight, Corzine will be at Rowan University in Glassboro to deliver his budget talk again.

Staff writers Naomi Mueller and Joseph Picard contributed to this story.