These articles were found in varies places which we felt needed to be put all in one spot so New Jersey Taxpayers could see how unorganized and unaccountable our State Government really is with our money.
9/15/06 - Sharpe James Spent $48,000 on Travel in Last 3 Months
7/15/06 - UMDNJ Stopped From $2.5 Million Ad Campaign
6/15/06 - California State Budget $131 Billion – New Jersey Budget $32 Billion
7/18/08 - BUT WE HAVE OUR STADIUM!
Well, if we ever had any doubts, we understand now why Rutgers is the state university.
It’s because the apple doesn’t fall far from the state government tree.
Yes, our state university, which can find millions to pay the $200,000-plus salaries of some of its staff – not to mention tens of millions to fund a new super-duper football stadium, is once again wailing the “I don’t get enough tax dollars blues.”
And so, they lament, they have no choice but to raise tuition by 8.5 percent, and overall, they hiked tuition, fees and board by a whopping 6.5 percent.
And that means that if you’re a New Jersey resident, you will now pay $21,482 to attend Rutgers, making it one of the costliest public colleges in the nation.
$21,482 to attend Rutgers? Seriously, has the world gone mad?
“The university has unavoidable obligations for our faculty and staff," McCormick said. "Like everybody else we are facing the inflation of fuel and other costs. And as an institution we are determined to continue forward progress."
Notice he talked about “unavoidable obligations for faculty and staff.” In other words, Rutgers’ bloated salaries can’t be touched. But asking students – and their families – to pay more? Not a problem.
Any one think that might be a reason why Gov. Corzine and Sen. Ray Lesniak are having such a hard time finding donors to come up with that $30 million they promised? That the rest of the world sees the absurdity of a university that has no problem spending more than $100 million on the House that Greg Built, at the expense of student fees, tuition and board?
There are 77 employees at Rutgers University who make more than $200,000. That alone is absurd. This is a state university, not a Wall Street bank.
But Rutgers will ask its customers – its students – pay more. University President Richard L. McCormick was lamenting how the state cut state aid by $36 million.
But $102 million for a football stadium? Not a problem.
The only rationale person on Rutgers board seems to be George Zoffinger.
"When is enough enough? We must do more on the board to constrain our spending," Zoffinger said.
Where is the outrage in Trenton? Or has everyone there drunk the Scarlet Kool-Aid?
By the way, Rutgers officials are warning that there will likely be additional cuts in courses, staffing and services.
But the football stadium will open on time and on budget!
We keep forgetting: Is Rutgers supposed to be an institution of higher learning, or a booster club? The way they’re acting lately, it’s hard to tell.
It’s because the apple doesn’t fall far from the state government tree.
Yes, our state university, which can find millions to pay the $200,000-plus salaries of some of its staff – not to mention tens of millions to fund a new super-duper football stadium, is once again wailing the “I don’t get enough tax dollars blues.”
And so, they lament, they have no choice but to raise tuition by 8.5 percent, and overall, they hiked tuition, fees and board by a whopping 6.5 percent.
And that means that if you’re a New Jersey resident, you will now pay $21,482 to attend Rutgers, making it one of the costliest public colleges in the nation.
$21,482 to attend Rutgers? Seriously, has the world gone mad?
“The university has unavoidable obligations for our faculty and staff," McCormick said. "Like everybody else we are facing the inflation of fuel and other costs. And as an institution we are determined to continue forward progress."
Notice he talked about “unavoidable obligations for faculty and staff.” In other words, Rutgers’ bloated salaries can’t be touched. But asking students – and their families – to pay more? Not a problem.
Any one think that might be a reason why Gov. Corzine and Sen. Ray Lesniak are having such a hard time finding donors to come up with that $30 million they promised? That the rest of the world sees the absurdity of a university that has no problem spending more than $100 million on the House that Greg Built, at the expense of student fees, tuition and board?
There are 77 employees at Rutgers University who make more than $200,000. That alone is absurd. This is a state university, not a Wall Street bank.
But Rutgers will ask its customers – its students – pay more. University President Richard L. McCormick was lamenting how the state cut state aid by $36 million.
But $102 million for a football stadium? Not a problem.
The only rationale person on Rutgers board seems to be George Zoffinger.
"When is enough enough? We must do more on the board to constrain our spending," Zoffinger said.
Where is the outrage in Trenton? Or has everyone there drunk the Scarlet Kool-Aid?
By the way, Rutgers officials are warning that there will likely be additional cuts in courses, staffing and services.
But the football stadium will open on time and on budget!
We keep forgetting: Is Rutgers supposed to be an institution of higher learning, or a booster club? The way they’re acting lately, it’s hard to tell.
7/16/08 - Teachers' pension fund loses billions in stocks
BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL
Star-Ledger Staff
The fund that bankrolls pensions for 700,000 New Jersey teachers and government workers lost billions on Wall Street over the past year, leaving taxpayers facing the prospect of higher contributions to make up the difference.
Battered by declines in domestic and international stocks, the pension fund lost 3.1 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30, the state Treasury Department announced yesterday. The losses left the fund with $77.7 billion in assets, almost $5 billion less than the fund contained at the start of the fiscal year."This has just been a tremendously difficult market," said Bill Clark, director of the State's Division of Investment.
The performance ends a five-year run of positive investment returns for the fund. Over the past five years, the fund's returns had averaged 10.5 percent, capped by a 17.1 percent gain between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2007.
Clark emphasized the fund had outperformed other major pension funds, and said even with the year's losses, the fund's average investment performance for the past five years is still above the 8.25 percent actuaries assume it will earn when they calculate how much taxpayers should contribute to the retirement system each year.
The year's subpar investment performance is bad news for taxpayers and workers enrolled in the pension system. Stung by years of skipped taxpayer contributions, the funds started the budget year with $28 billion less than experts calculated they needed to met the long-term costs of benefits promised to current and retired workers.
The new losses pushed the value of the fund below the total in the account in June 2000. But while the fund's value has been running in place for eight years, the cost of the pensions has raced ahead. In 2000, annual pension payments totaled about $3.4 billion. Today, the annual pension payments exceed $6 billion a year -- or 7 percent of the fund's total value. Without investment returns to cover the bills, the task falls to taxpayers and to the employees who are members of the retirement system.
Between 2000 and 2008, employee payments into the retirement accounts jumped from $922 million to $1.5 billion a year. Taxpayer contributions, meanwhile, rose from $218 million in 2000, when state and local governments were taking a "holiday" from pension contributions, to $2.2 billion this year.
Dunstan McNichol may be reached at (609) 989-0341 or dmcnichol@starledger.com.
Star-Ledger Staff
The fund that bankrolls pensions for 700,000 New Jersey teachers and government workers lost billions on Wall Street over the past year, leaving taxpayers facing the prospect of higher contributions to make up the difference.
Battered by declines in domestic and international stocks, the pension fund lost 3.1 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30, the state Treasury Department announced yesterday. The losses left the fund with $77.7 billion in assets, almost $5 billion less than the fund contained at the start of the fiscal year."This has just been a tremendously difficult market," said Bill Clark, director of the State's Division of Investment.
The performance ends a five-year run of positive investment returns for the fund. Over the past five years, the fund's returns had averaged 10.5 percent, capped by a 17.1 percent gain between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2007.
Clark emphasized the fund had outperformed other major pension funds, and said even with the year's losses, the fund's average investment performance for the past five years is still above the 8.25 percent actuaries assume it will earn when they calculate how much taxpayers should contribute to the retirement system each year.
The year's subpar investment performance is bad news for taxpayers and workers enrolled in the pension system. Stung by years of skipped taxpayer contributions, the funds started the budget year with $28 billion less than experts calculated they needed to met the long-term costs of benefits promised to current and retired workers.
The new losses pushed the value of the fund below the total in the account in June 2000. But while the fund's value has been running in place for eight years, the cost of the pensions has raced ahead. In 2000, annual pension payments totaled about $3.4 billion. Today, the annual pension payments exceed $6 billion a year -- or 7 percent of the fund's total value. Without investment returns to cover the bills, the task falls to taxpayers and to the employees who are members of the retirement system.
Between 2000 and 2008, employee payments into the retirement accounts jumped from $922 million to $1.5 billion a year. Taxpayer contributions, meanwhile, rose from $218 million in 2000, when state and local governments were taking a "holiday" from pension contributions, to $2.2 billion this year.
Dunstan McNichol may be reached at (609) 989-0341 or dmcnichol@starledger.com.
7/15/08 - WHAT ARE THE FEDS UP TO NOW?
Bergen County seems to be the place to be for the feds these days.
The Record (Bergen County) quotes Bergen County Freeholder Director David Ganz as saying that he was questioned by FBI agents for three hours Monday about Government Grants Consulting, which had a contract with Fair Lawn from 1997 to 2005, when Ganz was mayor.
Three Bergen County heavyweights— Democrat County Chair Joseph Ferriero; Dennis Oury, Bergen Democrats’ counsel, and Leonard Kaiser, the executive director of the Bergen County Utilities Authority, all had a financial interest in Governmental Grants Consulting, according to The Record.
Meanwhile, the Star Ledger is reporting that investigators from U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie's office delivered two subpoenas to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, which operates one of the country's largest sewage treatment plants.
One subpoena sought billing records and all other documents pertaining to Scarinci Hollenbeck, which is Ferriero’s law firm, while the other asked for “all records related to Ferriero and two other entities: a consulting firm he established in 2001 called SVC Consulting LLC, and Vision Media Marketing, a Secaucus-based public relations firm that has a contract with the commission,” according to the Ledger.
All this activity comes on top of what happened in May, when feds issued several subpoenas to several Bergen County towns asking for information about Government Grants Consulting and Oury.
We have ideas — but no hard facts, as to what the feds are doing in Bergen County. But depending on the outcome, the impact of this probe may be felt well beyond the county boundaries, especially given the role that Bergen has played in statewide politics of late.
Remember, Monmouth County was Republican-dominated on the county level until U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and the boys got done rolling through there, and today, the GOP holds a slim 3-2 majority. Could the same thing happen in Bergen?
7/15/08 - HAS HE GOT A PLAN FOR THEM!
OK, we'll admit that this one had us scratching our heads.
Gov. Corzine has been named chairman of the National Governors Association's Economic Development and Commerce Committee, according to Gannett New Jersey.
Chairman of the Economic Development and Commerce Committee.
We just have one question. Why?
It sure can’t be because of boffo results like these:
Since Corzine became governor in January 2006, the state has had a net increase of 8,500 jobs. Only four other states are doing worse, according to Gannett.
New Jersey has lost 10,900 jobs since the end of 2007. Only nine states have lost more.
There are 6,500 fewer private sector jobs in New Jersey today than there were in December 2000, according to NJBIA.
New Jersey ranked 49th in nation in its business tax climate, according to the National Tax Foundation.
We could go on, but you get the point.
Maybe these other governors are hoping to keep Corzine busy, so they can replicate Ed Rendell’s success in poaching jobs from New Jersey.
But our governor has a plan for the nation, even if it’s not working so well for the folks back home.
Corzine, according to Gannett, said “the association's top priority is fixing a poor economy that has increased the costs of energy, health care, food and all services government provides. He said he will push Congress and President Bush to approve another economic stimulus package that would send more aid to states for Medicaid or infrastructure.”
Yes, that’s the Corzine model. More of our tax dollars to stimulate government.
And he seemed to lament that other states seem more receptive to asset monetization plans than New Jersey.
"There certainly is more support for user fee-driven means of revenue raising outside of the state of New Jersey than there is within it," Corzine said. "There are certainly those that would advocate partnerships, public-private partnerships, as a means of coming up with some of the revenues for some of the major large-scale projects that need to be taken on."
We feel it only fair to point out that no other state had proposed jacking up tolls by 800 percent over 14 years and that residents in a few counties would be disproportionately expected to pay for the rest of the state.
But perhaps, in his new role, the governor hopes that he can sell his plan to some other unsuspecting state, so he can see his grand vision at work.
Which is fine with us. As long as he keeps it away from New Jersey.
Gov. Corzine has been named chairman of the National Governors Association's Economic Development and Commerce Committee, according to Gannett New Jersey.
Chairman of the Economic Development and Commerce Committee.
We just have one question. Why?
It sure can’t be because of boffo results like these:
Since Corzine became governor in January 2006, the state has had a net increase of 8,500 jobs. Only four other states are doing worse, according to Gannett.
New Jersey has lost 10,900 jobs since the end of 2007. Only nine states have lost more.
There are 6,500 fewer private sector jobs in New Jersey today than there were in December 2000, according to NJBIA.
New Jersey ranked 49th in nation in its business tax climate, according to the National Tax Foundation.
We could go on, but you get the point.
Maybe these other governors are hoping to keep Corzine busy, so they can replicate Ed Rendell’s success in poaching jobs from New Jersey.
But our governor has a plan for the nation, even if it’s not working so well for the folks back home.
Corzine, according to Gannett, said “the association's top priority is fixing a poor economy that has increased the costs of energy, health care, food and all services government provides. He said he will push Congress and President Bush to approve another economic stimulus package that would send more aid to states for Medicaid or infrastructure.”
Yes, that’s the Corzine model. More of our tax dollars to stimulate government.
And he seemed to lament that other states seem more receptive to asset monetization plans than New Jersey.
"There certainly is more support for user fee-driven means of revenue raising outside of the state of New Jersey than there is within it," Corzine said. "There are certainly those that would advocate partnerships, public-private partnerships, as a means of coming up with some of the revenues for some of the major large-scale projects that need to be taken on."
We feel it only fair to point out that no other state had proposed jacking up tolls by 800 percent over 14 years and that residents in a few counties would be disproportionately expected to pay for the rest of the state.
But perhaps, in his new role, the governor hopes that he can sell his plan to some other unsuspecting state, so he can see his grand vision at work.
Which is fine with us. As long as he keeps it away from New Jersey.
7/14/08 - TOLL AND TROUBLE
Round and round the Statehouse goes;
How to pay for roads in woe.
Shall we let rich drivers zoom,
In special lanes, while others fume?
Should they pay, on roads once free,
Or should we sell, in one big lease?
How much more can drivers pay;
And still forget by Election Day?
Higher, higher tolls shall double
A gas tax rise may spell trouble.
Sometimes we get these visions of what goes on behind closed doors at the Statehouse.
Truth is, it’s not always pretty.
Take for example, the newest monetization brew that the governor is cooking up in his office. Once again, he won’t let any of us in on his plans, preferring instead to do so in secret.
You think, given that his last spectacular flameout, he’d have learned that secrecy was not an ingredient he would want to add to his concoction.
Apparently not.
Anyway, any time we think of the governor huddled in his office, working on his plan, we keep thinking of the opening scene of MacBeth, with the governor, Chief of Staff Bradley Abelow, and Transportation Czar Kris Kolluri, putting together ingredients to bring about their desired result.
So far, the ideas that have been floated are each scarier than the next. Leasing out a lane or 2 on the Turnpike, to create reserve – and higher toll lanes for truckers. Rich-only lanes for drivers willing to pay more. Putting tolls on fee free interstates like Interstates 78 or 80. Hiking the gas tax by 18 cents. And of courses, jacking up the tolls by a number somewhere between 50 and 800 percent.
"We're collecting a lot of good ideas that are being generated by folks that know that we have to come to grips with the need to invest in our infrastructure," Corzine told The Associated Press.
Those “good ideas,” however, apparently only include ways to raise money on drivers. Corzine’s rejected Republican calls to hold a special session to cut the state budget to come up with the necessary $500 million, rather than raise taxes, tolls or fees.
The GOP also wants to amend the state Constitution to require $500 million in motor vehicle fees annually be used for transportation projects.
"A special session should be convened this summer to identify $500 million of savings that can be used immediately to shore up the transportation fund without increasing taxes or tolls," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr., R-Union.
But the governor doesn’t want to do so, content instead to keep working in secret. At the risk of repeating ourselves, traffic studies have shown that $4-a-gallon gas has resulted in fewer drivers on the road. That means less of a need to widen roads. We also don’t know what transportation will look like 50 years from now. Who’s to say that gasoline-fueled cars will still be our primary form of transportation?
Is the governor afraid a special session might show the public that higher tolls or taxes might not be needed after all? That whatever bond scheme he has in mind might not be necessary? That the budget could really be cut by $500 million, without much pain, as long as “pain” was not the goal?
You think Corzine would leap on the idea of a special session, if for no other reason that it might give him cover, or at least, give the Legislature a share of the pain. But apparently, it's his way, or the toll highway. So, the governor goes it alone. And in secret. And promises that he’ll let us know later this summer what he has in mind.
My critics, they may moan and whine;
But I’ll serve no monetization brew before its time.
Source - inthelobby.net
How to pay for roads in woe.
Shall we let rich drivers zoom,
In special lanes, while others fume?
Should they pay, on roads once free,
Or should we sell, in one big lease?
How much more can drivers pay;
And still forget by Election Day?
Higher, higher tolls shall double
A gas tax rise may spell trouble.
Sometimes we get these visions of what goes on behind closed doors at the Statehouse.
Truth is, it’s not always pretty.
Take for example, the newest monetization brew that the governor is cooking up in his office. Once again, he won’t let any of us in on his plans, preferring instead to do so in secret.
You think, given that his last spectacular flameout, he’d have learned that secrecy was not an ingredient he would want to add to his concoction.
Apparently not.
Anyway, any time we think of the governor huddled in his office, working on his plan, we keep thinking of the opening scene of MacBeth, with the governor, Chief of Staff Bradley Abelow, and Transportation Czar Kris Kolluri, putting together ingredients to bring about their desired result.
So far, the ideas that have been floated are each scarier than the next. Leasing out a lane or 2 on the Turnpike, to create reserve – and higher toll lanes for truckers. Rich-only lanes for drivers willing to pay more. Putting tolls on fee free interstates like Interstates 78 or 80. Hiking the gas tax by 18 cents. And of courses, jacking up the tolls by a number somewhere between 50 and 800 percent.
"We're collecting a lot of good ideas that are being generated by folks that know that we have to come to grips with the need to invest in our infrastructure," Corzine told The Associated Press.
Those “good ideas,” however, apparently only include ways to raise money on drivers. Corzine’s rejected Republican calls to hold a special session to cut the state budget to come up with the necessary $500 million, rather than raise taxes, tolls or fees.
The GOP also wants to amend the state Constitution to require $500 million in motor vehicle fees annually be used for transportation projects.
"A special session should be convened this summer to identify $500 million of savings that can be used immediately to shore up the transportation fund without increasing taxes or tolls," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr., R-Union.
But the governor doesn’t want to do so, content instead to keep working in secret. At the risk of repeating ourselves, traffic studies have shown that $4-a-gallon gas has resulted in fewer drivers on the road. That means less of a need to widen roads. We also don’t know what transportation will look like 50 years from now. Who’s to say that gasoline-fueled cars will still be our primary form of transportation?
Is the governor afraid a special session might show the public that higher tolls or taxes might not be needed after all? That whatever bond scheme he has in mind might not be necessary? That the budget could really be cut by $500 million, without much pain, as long as “pain” was not the goal?
You think Corzine would leap on the idea of a special session, if for no other reason that it might give him cover, or at least, give the Legislature a share of the pain. But apparently, it's his way, or the toll highway. So, the governor goes it alone. And in secret. And promises that he’ll let us know later this summer what he has in mind.
My critics, they may moan and whine;
But I’ll serve no monetization brew before its time.
Source - inthelobby.net
7/14/08 - A TROUBLING SIGN FOR NEW JERSEY’S ECONOMIC FUTURE
By MICHAEL M. SHAPIRO
The New Jersey Policy Research Organization, the think tank of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA), recently released a Study of New Jersey’s business climate. The Study included a telephone poll of 249 business leaders as well as interviews of 29 New Jersey and out-of-state business and government leaders. It also provided 37 policy recommendations for New Jersey based on other states’ best practices. The results of the Study are a troubling sign for New Jersey’s economic future.
(To read the rest of Mike Shapiro's take on what this report says about the state of the New Jersey economy, read his guest column here.)
The New Jersey Policy Research Organization, the think tank of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA), recently released a Study of New Jersey’s business climate. The Study included a telephone poll of 249 business leaders as well as interviews of 29 New Jersey and out-of-state business and government leaders. It also provided 37 policy recommendations for New Jersey based on other states’ best practices. The results of the Study are a troubling sign for New Jersey’s economic future.
(To read the rest of Mike Shapiro's take on what this report says about the state of the New Jersey economy, read his guest column here.)
7/13/08 - Millville, Phillipsburg, Trenton projects biggest of 53 approved by state
BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL
Star-Ledger Staff
A few projects stood out last week as state officials detailed plans to dole out $2.9 billion for school construction in the state's poorest districts, the first round of spending since a similar initiative collapsed three years ago.
In Millville, administrators who once hoped for $43 million to renovate their overcrowded high school instead landed $164 million for a whole new building, thanks to lobbying by a key legislator.Phillipsburg and Trenton were winners, too. Each will receive at least $150 million more from the Schools Development Authority for new high schools -- more than three times the average cost nationwide. That's on top of $28 million already spent on their sites.
Together, building the three schools will cost taxpayers nearly a half-billion dollars.
They were the biggest ticket items among 53 projects approved last week as the state restarted its bungled attempt to repair or replace hundreds of dilapidated schools. With them came fresh warning signs and memories of the exorbitant costs and political manipulation that doomed the Schools Construction Corp.
Millville won the money despite lacking a budget for the project or even a location for its new school. Phillipsburg officials have detailed plans for their school, but the bottom line continues to grow, almost tripling since first proposed in 2004.
"Why is it that similar states can build the same schools for $30 million?" asked Assemblyman Gary Chiusano (R-Sussex). "Given the rampant waste and abuse in the first school construction program, taxpayers have every right to take a close look at these numbers and raise questions."
The infusion of money followed a two-year legislative battle after the downfall of the Schools Construction Corp. Authority officials say they have learned from the mistakes of that scandal-plagued agency, which plowed through $8 billion in tax money and left behind 378 unfinished projects before folding.
The SCC, the biggest capital construction undertaking in state history, left behind a blueprint of how not to handle a project of its magnitude. The agency favored politically connected firms, ignored cost-saving safeguards and paid contractors and designers premium fees.
Scott Weiner, chief executive officer of the new authority, said the latest project appropriations were estimates and could be cut as plans take shape. He said the authority is better prepared, managed and monitored than its predecessor."This is a different agency than it was," Weiner said.
Ordered by the state Supreme Court to fix the crumbling schools in 31 needy districts, the state built 42 schools, completed 39 major additions or renovations and finished 576 repair projects in districts since 2002.he plan to rebuild Newark's Central High School was emblematic. Central started six years ago with an estimated budget of $40 million and ended up costing more than $109 million, or about $91,000 per student.
That's more than four times the median per-student cost for a new high school nationwide, according to the latest Education Construction Report by American School & University.
Hundreds of projects were still on the to-do list when the agency ran out of money. Together, those unfinished jobs would cost $17 billion, officials estimate.
Last month, the Legislature agreed to a more modest beginning -- $2.9 billion for 53 projects in the needy districts, with conditions attached. Lawmakers also approved $950 million for suburban districts.
The new high schools for Millville and Phillipsburg will rank as two of the most expensive projects the state has undertaken, ranking only behind a $187 million school already being built in New Brunswick.
But they joined the list from wildly different directions.
Phillipsburg had been in the running for a new school for years. It had already shelled out more than $12 million in state funds for architect fees and site preparation work when the money ran dry. That initial investment made it a likely candidate when the school financing program resumed.
This time, officials are using a more realistic assessment of the high school's cost. So the price tag swelled from $64 million in 2004 to $174 million.By contrast, the money for the Millville school was almost a surprise.
Administrators had initially sought $43 million to renovate the current undersized school. But newly elected Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), who last year captured a seat long held by Republicans, said he helped the district win support for the larger project among the Democrats who control Trenton. He said he was distressed by the conditions of the school, including overcrowding.Millville officials aren't sure how big, how well-equipped or even where their new school will be, said superintendent Shelly Schneider. But the money is expected to allow students in all four grades to attend a single school, instead of splitting them at two locations, as they do now.
The $164 million estimate is a projection by the schools authority based on the district's basic needs: a 351,000-square-foot building to house more than 2,200 high schoolers. The figure almost will certainly change as the details are worked out, Weiner said.
Van Drew agreed the state needs to keep an eye on costs.
"Let's take a look at it and make sure we are spending all the dollars efficiently," he said. "We're going to run out of money. We just can't keep doing it."
The Trenton Central High School project has been debated for years. Plans for a $123 million renovation were approved in 2004, then canceled when only one contractor submitted a bid -- and it was $23 million too high. The proposal approved by the authority last week calls for $160 million to be spent on a new school.
Officials from the Schools Development Authority say they are managing the projects more closely than ever and the costs could decrease as plans are refined. Legislators also mandated that they use cost-cutting strategies.
By April, the authority must prepare a report analyzing whether money could be saved by developing standardized cafeterias, media centers, gyms and other common features in future projects. The agency also must consider bulk purchases for items such as doors, windows and hardware.
"What's here is really the antithesis of the school construction program that began eight or 10 years ago, when there really was not attempt at capital planning," Barry Zubrow, chairman of the Schools Development Authority, said last week.
For many communities, however, the new frugality is coming too late.
Newark still features three barren blocks along Dewey Street where an entire neighborhood was dismantled to make way for a high school.
And Perth Amboy launched an international search for an architect and cleared 200 residents out of a public housing project about three years ago to make way for a new high school. Its request for $253 million wasn't approved.
Now the housing project is a collection of vacant, boarded-up buildings. And, with the school enrollment running nearly 25 percent over capacity, superintendent John Rodecker is preparing to install five trailer classrooms and is negotiating the rental of a nearby Catholic elementary school to accommodate students this fall.
Rodecker says he would have welcomed the chance to scale back the project back to fit into the state's budget.
"They definitely could have said 'Redesign the building; get another architect,'" said Rodecker, whose district received no new projects in the additional $2.9 billion round of funding approved last week. "We're not standing on appearances just to get the biggest building on the block."
Dunstan McNichol may be reached at dmcnichol@starledger.com or (609) 989-0341.
Star-Ledger Staff
A few projects stood out last week as state officials detailed plans to dole out $2.9 billion for school construction in the state's poorest districts, the first round of spending since a similar initiative collapsed three years ago.
In Millville, administrators who once hoped for $43 million to renovate their overcrowded high school instead landed $164 million for a whole new building, thanks to lobbying by a key legislator.Phillipsburg and Trenton were winners, too. Each will receive at least $150 million more from the Schools Development Authority for new high schools -- more than three times the average cost nationwide. That's on top of $28 million already spent on their sites.
Together, building the three schools will cost taxpayers nearly a half-billion dollars.
They were the biggest ticket items among 53 projects approved last week as the state restarted its bungled attempt to repair or replace hundreds of dilapidated schools. With them came fresh warning signs and memories of the exorbitant costs and political manipulation that doomed the Schools Construction Corp.
Millville won the money despite lacking a budget for the project or even a location for its new school. Phillipsburg officials have detailed plans for their school, but the bottom line continues to grow, almost tripling since first proposed in 2004.
"Why is it that similar states can build the same schools for $30 million?" asked Assemblyman Gary Chiusano (R-Sussex). "Given the rampant waste and abuse in the first school construction program, taxpayers have every right to take a close look at these numbers and raise questions."
The infusion of money followed a two-year legislative battle after the downfall of the Schools Construction Corp. Authority officials say they have learned from the mistakes of that scandal-plagued agency, which plowed through $8 billion in tax money and left behind 378 unfinished projects before folding.
The SCC, the biggest capital construction undertaking in state history, left behind a blueprint of how not to handle a project of its magnitude. The agency favored politically connected firms, ignored cost-saving safeguards and paid contractors and designers premium fees.
Scott Weiner, chief executive officer of the new authority, said the latest project appropriations were estimates and could be cut as plans take shape. He said the authority is better prepared, managed and monitored than its predecessor."This is a different agency than it was," Weiner said.
Ordered by the state Supreme Court to fix the crumbling schools in 31 needy districts, the state built 42 schools, completed 39 major additions or renovations and finished 576 repair projects in districts since 2002.he plan to rebuild Newark's Central High School was emblematic. Central started six years ago with an estimated budget of $40 million and ended up costing more than $109 million, or about $91,000 per student.
That's more than four times the median per-student cost for a new high school nationwide, according to the latest Education Construction Report by American School & University.
Hundreds of projects were still on the to-do list when the agency ran out of money. Together, those unfinished jobs would cost $17 billion, officials estimate.
Last month, the Legislature agreed to a more modest beginning -- $2.9 billion for 53 projects in the needy districts, with conditions attached. Lawmakers also approved $950 million for suburban districts.
The new high schools for Millville and Phillipsburg will rank as two of the most expensive projects the state has undertaken, ranking only behind a $187 million school already being built in New Brunswick.
But they joined the list from wildly different directions.
Phillipsburg had been in the running for a new school for years. It had already shelled out more than $12 million in state funds for architect fees and site preparation work when the money ran dry. That initial investment made it a likely candidate when the school financing program resumed.
This time, officials are using a more realistic assessment of the high school's cost. So the price tag swelled from $64 million in 2004 to $174 million.By contrast, the money for the Millville school was almost a surprise.
Administrators had initially sought $43 million to renovate the current undersized school. But newly elected Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), who last year captured a seat long held by Republicans, said he helped the district win support for the larger project among the Democrats who control Trenton. He said he was distressed by the conditions of the school, including overcrowding.Millville officials aren't sure how big, how well-equipped or even where their new school will be, said superintendent Shelly Schneider. But the money is expected to allow students in all four grades to attend a single school, instead of splitting them at two locations, as they do now.
The $164 million estimate is a projection by the schools authority based on the district's basic needs: a 351,000-square-foot building to house more than 2,200 high schoolers. The figure almost will certainly change as the details are worked out, Weiner said.
Van Drew agreed the state needs to keep an eye on costs.
"Let's take a look at it and make sure we are spending all the dollars efficiently," he said. "We're going to run out of money. We just can't keep doing it."
The Trenton Central High School project has been debated for years. Plans for a $123 million renovation were approved in 2004, then canceled when only one contractor submitted a bid -- and it was $23 million too high. The proposal approved by the authority last week calls for $160 million to be spent on a new school.
Officials from the Schools Development Authority say they are managing the projects more closely than ever and the costs could decrease as plans are refined. Legislators also mandated that they use cost-cutting strategies.
By April, the authority must prepare a report analyzing whether money could be saved by developing standardized cafeterias, media centers, gyms and other common features in future projects. The agency also must consider bulk purchases for items such as doors, windows and hardware.
"What's here is really the antithesis of the school construction program that began eight or 10 years ago, when there really was not attempt at capital planning," Barry Zubrow, chairman of the Schools Development Authority, said last week.
For many communities, however, the new frugality is coming too late.
Newark still features three barren blocks along Dewey Street where an entire neighborhood was dismantled to make way for a high school.
And Perth Amboy launched an international search for an architect and cleared 200 residents out of a public housing project about three years ago to make way for a new high school. Its request for $253 million wasn't approved.
Now the housing project is a collection of vacant, boarded-up buildings. And, with the school enrollment running nearly 25 percent over capacity, superintendent John Rodecker is preparing to install five trailer classrooms and is negotiating the rental of a nearby Catholic elementary school to accommodate students this fall.
Rodecker says he would have welcomed the chance to scale back the project back to fit into the state's budget.
"They definitely could have said 'Redesign the building; get another architect,'" said Rodecker, whose district received no new projects in the additional $2.9 billion round of funding approved last week. "We're not standing on appearances just to get the biggest building on the block."
Dunstan McNichol may be reached at dmcnichol@starledger.com or (609) 989-0341.
7/10/08 - BUDGET LESSONS
Since Gov. Corzine spent so much time at school districts Wednesday, patting himself and lawmakers on the back for approving a $3.9 billion bond issue without asking the voters first, we thought it might be instructive to go back to budget class.
Seven years ago, New Jersey was $15 billion in debt. Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce says that number is now more than $40 billion. That’s $25 billion in just seven years, or about $3.5 billion a year in new debt.
"Today we fulfill an important obligation to our children by making a down payment on the future of their education," Corzine said.
Question: What about the obligation to our children to not ask to not pay for our debts?
That was, to coin a phrase, an inconvenient truth not evident between the backslapping and self-congratulations that was flowing at Wednesday’s bill signing ceremony. Corzine did a victory tour around the state, stopping in Newark, Camden, Jersey City and Bloomfield.
And before any one has any illusions that this will be the last time the governor intends to borrow money without asking the voters, read this quote carefully:
"Whether it's a second-term Corzine administration or another governor, they will have to take this on," he told the Star Ledger. "We're going to authorize bite-sized chunks, and we'll continue to do it over a period of time."
Notice he said “authorize” bite-sized chunks. He did not say ask the voters to approve bite-sized chunks.
So what exactly are the teeth behind this new law that we’re going to be voting on in November, you know the one, where the state can’t borrow any money unless we the voters approve it?
We don’t think there is a Corzine exemptions built into the language, although the governor certainly acts as thought there were.
Here’s the thing: The governor said he didn’t have to ask the voters for this $3.9 billion because a) it was being paid for by a dedicated fund of income tax collections, and b) the courts made him do it.
Both are fallacies. He’s not talking about dedicating a new source of income tax money – he’s talking about just paying it out of the same income tax pot. Second, the court didn’t order the state not to bond without asking the voters. What Corzine and company feared is that it would go to the voters, the voters would say no, and then the state would have to pay for the schools out of existing revenues. That's why they went around the voters.
Which sends us back to budget class. The state budget has doubled – doubled! -- in just seven years. Some 10,000 employees have been added to the executive branch from 2000 to 2006, and 13,000 more to the state’s independent authorities and agencies. Spending increase at the rate of 6 percent a year from 2000 to 2008.s
And let’s not forget that the state has spent $8.6 billion in school construction, with precious little to show for it.
So, explain to us again why we had to go deeper in debt to pay for new schools? Explain to us why you don’t trust the voters of New Jersey to do the right thing? And then maybe you can explain how come the voters of New Jersey have grown to distrust their government so much, that they refused to allow you to have any more of their money.
It couldn't have anything to do with how you've spent their money in the past, could it?
( Source - inthelobby.net)
Seven years ago, New Jersey was $15 billion in debt. Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce says that number is now more than $40 billion. That’s $25 billion in just seven years, or about $3.5 billion a year in new debt.
"Today we fulfill an important obligation to our children by making a down payment on the future of their education," Corzine said.
Question: What about the obligation to our children to not ask to not pay for our debts?
That was, to coin a phrase, an inconvenient truth not evident between the backslapping and self-congratulations that was flowing at Wednesday’s bill signing ceremony. Corzine did a victory tour around the state, stopping in Newark, Camden, Jersey City and Bloomfield.
And before any one has any illusions that this will be the last time the governor intends to borrow money without asking the voters, read this quote carefully:
"Whether it's a second-term Corzine administration or another governor, they will have to take this on," he told the Star Ledger. "We're going to authorize bite-sized chunks, and we'll continue to do it over a period of time."
Notice he said “authorize” bite-sized chunks. He did not say ask the voters to approve bite-sized chunks.
So what exactly are the teeth behind this new law that we’re going to be voting on in November, you know the one, where the state can’t borrow any money unless we the voters approve it?
We don’t think there is a Corzine exemptions built into the language, although the governor certainly acts as thought there were.
Here’s the thing: The governor said he didn’t have to ask the voters for this $3.9 billion because a) it was being paid for by a dedicated fund of income tax collections, and b) the courts made him do it.
Both are fallacies. He’s not talking about dedicating a new source of income tax money – he’s talking about just paying it out of the same income tax pot. Second, the court didn’t order the state not to bond without asking the voters. What Corzine and company feared is that it would go to the voters, the voters would say no, and then the state would have to pay for the schools out of existing revenues. That's why they went around the voters.
Which sends us back to budget class. The state budget has doubled – doubled! -- in just seven years. Some 10,000 employees have been added to the executive branch from 2000 to 2006, and 13,000 more to the state’s independent authorities and agencies. Spending increase at the rate of 6 percent a year from 2000 to 2008.s
And let’s not forget that the state has spent $8.6 billion in school construction, with precious little to show for it.
So, explain to us again why we had to go deeper in debt to pay for new schools? Explain to us why you don’t trust the voters of New Jersey to do the right thing? And then maybe you can explain how come the voters of New Jersey have grown to distrust their government so much, that they refused to allow you to have any more of their money.
It couldn't have anything to do with how you've spent their money in the past, could it?
( Source - inthelobby.net)
6/27/08 - Darn Those Statistics!
As the governor busily sharpens his pencil, figuring out how much of a toll and/or gas tax hike he should ask for this summer, he might want to ponder this.
High gasoline prices, and rising tolls, means fewer drivers on the road.
Which makes us ask this:
If there are fewer drivers, then why do we need to widen roadways?
And why, oh why, would we then need to dramatically hike the tolls, or raise the price of gasoline, on struggling New Jersey families?
The newest statistics from the Port Authority beg these and other questions. In May, just as gasoline prices started to skyrocket – and tolls increase – 425,000 fewer drivers used the Hudson River and Staten Island crossings, according to the Star Ledger.
Four hundred and twenty five thousand fewer drivers.
Even the Port Authority concedes it was due to skyrocketing gasoline prices, and the fact that they just pushed through whopping toll hikes of their own.
Recent statistics from the Turnpike Authority also showed that from April 2005 to April 2008, that rather than increase – as the Authority had projected – the number of drivers on the roadway has stayed about the same over that three-year span. And that’s before the most recent round of gas hikes kicked in.
Now why is this relevant, you ask?
The Turnpike Authority plans to spend $2 billion to widen the Turnpike between Interchanges 6 and 9. They justify the expense by saying that traffic northbound will increase by 67 percent and southbound by a whopping 92 percent between 2005 and 2032.
Except, the traffic didn’t live up to its expectations from 2005 to 2008.
Kris Kolluri, Corzine’s transportation czar, has said that tolls would have to increase by 25 percent just to pay for that widening project alone.
That widening project, among others, was one of the key drivers why the governor first proposed his 800 percent toll hike plan, and why he has said that he will soon come out with a new Son of Toll Hike monetization scheme
Kolluri argues that the expansion is still needed.
"Yes, the traffic volume is down, but it is a temporary situation based on the economy," Kolluri said earlier this month. "That doesn't mean you shelve a worthy congestion-relief project."
But here’s the thing. Four-dollar-a-gallon gas changes everything. Not only is ridership on NJ Transit and the PATH trains up, but people are changing their habits. They’re also changing their minds on formerly taboo topics like offshore drilling for oil; recent polls have shown that more Americans favor offshore drilling than oppose.
When people have to start calculating between fuel and food, fuel is going to take a backseat.
So what Kolluri sees as a blip may actually be the start of a new trend. Either way, now doesn’t seem to be the best time to undergo a road widening project. If ridership does increase, then the roads can be widened.
If not, then we’ll have a six-lane road to nowhere, paid for in large part by the New Jersey commuter. And we keep thinking: Isn’t it somewhat arrogant of us to assume what mode of travel people will be using 25 or 50 years from now? Henry Ford’s Model T first rolled off the factory in September 1908 – in 100 years, we went from horse travel to automobile. Who are we to say what the future will bring?
A few days ago, the governor had expressed some leeriness when it came to the idea of hiking the gasoline tax, as some lawmakers had proposed.
"I'm not precluding anything," Corzine said. "We haven't crossed those bridges. I just have this real sympathy for people who are having difficulty making ends meet at a time when energy prices are pressing against their disposable income."
If that’s how he feels, then he should feel the same way about toll hikes. Those same families who are having difficulty making ends meet now will have an even greater difficulty if he raises the tolls.
He owes it to those families he says he has sympathy for to make sure that those projects he wants on the roadways are actually going to be needed, before he asks them to scrape by with less.
(Source: www.inthelobby.net)
High gasoline prices, and rising tolls, means fewer drivers on the road.
Which makes us ask this:
If there are fewer drivers, then why do we need to widen roadways?
And why, oh why, would we then need to dramatically hike the tolls, or raise the price of gasoline, on struggling New Jersey families?
The newest statistics from the Port Authority beg these and other questions. In May, just as gasoline prices started to skyrocket – and tolls increase – 425,000 fewer drivers used the Hudson River and Staten Island crossings, according to the Star Ledger.
Four hundred and twenty five thousand fewer drivers.
Even the Port Authority concedes it was due to skyrocketing gasoline prices, and the fact that they just pushed through whopping toll hikes of their own.
Recent statistics from the Turnpike Authority also showed that from April 2005 to April 2008, that rather than increase – as the Authority had projected – the number of drivers on the roadway has stayed about the same over that three-year span. And that’s before the most recent round of gas hikes kicked in.
Now why is this relevant, you ask?
The Turnpike Authority plans to spend $2 billion to widen the Turnpike between Interchanges 6 and 9. They justify the expense by saying that traffic northbound will increase by 67 percent and southbound by a whopping 92 percent between 2005 and 2032.
Except, the traffic didn’t live up to its expectations from 2005 to 2008.
Kris Kolluri, Corzine’s transportation czar, has said that tolls would have to increase by 25 percent just to pay for that widening project alone.
That widening project, among others, was one of the key drivers why the governor first proposed his 800 percent toll hike plan, and why he has said that he will soon come out with a new Son of Toll Hike monetization scheme
Kolluri argues that the expansion is still needed.
"Yes, the traffic volume is down, but it is a temporary situation based on the economy," Kolluri said earlier this month. "That doesn't mean you shelve a worthy congestion-relief project."
But here’s the thing. Four-dollar-a-gallon gas changes everything. Not only is ridership on NJ Transit and the PATH trains up, but people are changing their habits. They’re also changing their minds on formerly taboo topics like offshore drilling for oil; recent polls have shown that more Americans favor offshore drilling than oppose.
When people have to start calculating between fuel and food, fuel is going to take a backseat.
So what Kolluri sees as a blip may actually be the start of a new trend. Either way, now doesn’t seem to be the best time to undergo a road widening project. If ridership does increase, then the roads can be widened.
If not, then we’ll have a six-lane road to nowhere, paid for in large part by the New Jersey commuter. And we keep thinking: Isn’t it somewhat arrogant of us to assume what mode of travel people will be using 25 or 50 years from now? Henry Ford’s Model T first rolled off the factory in September 1908 – in 100 years, we went from horse travel to automobile. Who are we to say what the future will bring?
A few days ago, the governor had expressed some leeriness when it came to the idea of hiking the gasoline tax, as some lawmakers had proposed.
"I'm not precluding anything," Corzine said. "We haven't crossed those bridges. I just have this real sympathy for people who are having difficulty making ends meet at a time when energy prices are pressing against their disposable income."
If that’s how he feels, then he should feel the same way about toll hikes. Those same families who are having difficulty making ends meet now will have an even greater difficulty if he raises the tolls.
He owes it to those families he says he has sympathy for to make sure that those projects he wants on the roadways are actually going to be needed, before he asks them to scrape by with less.
(Source: www.inthelobby.net)
6/24/08 - $32.9B spending plan clears state Legislature
by Robert Schwaneberg and Joe Donohue/The Star-Ledger
A $32.9 billion state budget that cuts spending and imposes no new taxes won approval Monday evening in the Legislature, which also passed legislation to borrow $3.9 billion to build schools without seeking permission from voters.
Democrats hailed the budget, which is $600 million less than the one approved last year, as a "historic" step toward fiscal stability. Republicans called it "a missed opportunity" to cut wasteful spending that will hit taxpayers in the wallet.
It is a budget that will inflict some short-term pain in the hope of fixing the state's troubled finances in the long run.
Critics predict reduced state aid could mean layoffs of police and firefighters, higher property taxes and hospital closings. Wealthier taxpayers will see their homestead rebates shrink or disappear.
But the budget also takes steps to shrink the size and cost of state government, both next year and into the future. The Personnel Department and Commerce Commission will be abolished. Senior state workers will be offered early retirement, a move expected to increase the state's pension obligations by $255 million but yield recurring payroll savings of $77 million in the first year and $93.5 million thereafter.
A separate bill -- which nearly died in the Assembly -- makes it harder to qualify for public pensions and eliminates Lincoln's Birthday as a state holiday. It took Assembly leaders more than three hours to line up the 41 votes needed to pass it as Republicans initially balked, calling the bill too weak, and some Democrats objected that such changes should be made at the bargaining table.
It finally passed at 11:06 p.m. by a vote of 54-13 and is projected to save $300 million over 15 years.
"We have crossed a threshold into fiscal sanity," said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), who chaired the Senate Budget Committee.
The budget goes to Gov. Jon Corzine, who last night called it "truly unprecedented."
"By its actions, the Legislature provided the means to build decent schools for New Jersey's children, offered quality health care for children and those who are without access to health insurance and made a $650 million payment toward reducing the state's debt," Corzine said. "It was, all things considered, an important day's work for the future of New Jersey."
He said he would "closely review" the final version in the coming week. The budget must be signed by July 1.
Buono said the budget contains no new taxes, no fiscal gimmicks and no "Christmas tree add-ons," or spending on lawmakers' pet projects.
At the same time, she said, it increases state aid to education by $600 million and expands a program that subsidizes health insurance for middle-income families.
Buono admitted some of the cuts the budget makes are painful, but said: "My hope is the difficult decisions we have made this year will translate next year into more needs being met."
But Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) said he fears the $3.9 billion in additional state debt for school construction "will crowd out other programs."
Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington) called it "a budget of lost opportunities" while Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Hunterdon) pronounced it "a sham." Both said it fails to curb wasteful spending while shifting costs onto local property taxpayers.
Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (R-Sussex) said that by cutting state aid to towns, "this budget guarantees that property taxes will continue to rise."
Assembly Budget Committee chairman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden) said the budget contains "historic" cuts. He noted it is $600 million less than the one approved a year ago, "only the fourth time in 57 years that spending from one year to the next has been reduced."
Greenwald said the original budget proposal in February had "pain on every page" and that lawmakers managed to alleviate much of it, even while they cut $100 million from Corzine's spending plan.
In response to complaints from mayors, physicians and citizens, Greenwald said, the Legislature restored some of Corzine's proposed cuts in aid to municipalities and hospitals and found $9 million to keep state parks open.
"We listened, and we took action," Greenwald said, repeating it like a mantra.
Republicans took a unified position against both the budget and the $3.9 billion in borrowing for schools, which they insisted should have been submitted to voters for their approval.
Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Morris) noted the Legislature also was scheduled to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voter approval for all future state borrowing; it later passed by votes of 29-0 in the Senate and 61-15 in the Assembly. Merkt said it was "somewhat hypocritical" to support that proposal while bypassing voter approval for $3.9 billion of new debt.
"The cost to the people of New Jersey is more on the order of $7 billion when you get done with interest payments," Merkt said. "There is no good excuse not to send it to the people."
Staff writers Dunstan McNichol, Josh Margolin, Claire Heininger and Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.
A $32.9 billion state budget that cuts spending and imposes no new taxes won approval Monday evening in the Legislature, which also passed legislation to borrow $3.9 billion to build schools without seeking permission from voters.
Democrats hailed the budget, which is $600 million less than the one approved last year, as a "historic" step toward fiscal stability. Republicans called it "a missed opportunity" to cut wasteful spending that will hit taxpayers in the wallet.
It is a budget that will inflict some short-term pain in the hope of fixing the state's troubled finances in the long run.
Critics predict reduced state aid could mean layoffs of police and firefighters, higher property taxes and hospital closings. Wealthier taxpayers will see their homestead rebates shrink or disappear.
But the budget also takes steps to shrink the size and cost of state government, both next year and into the future. The Personnel Department and Commerce Commission will be abolished. Senior state workers will be offered early retirement, a move expected to increase the state's pension obligations by $255 million but yield recurring payroll savings of $77 million in the first year and $93.5 million thereafter.
A separate bill -- which nearly died in the Assembly -- makes it harder to qualify for public pensions and eliminates Lincoln's Birthday as a state holiday. It took Assembly leaders more than three hours to line up the 41 votes needed to pass it as Republicans initially balked, calling the bill too weak, and some Democrats objected that such changes should be made at the bargaining table.
It finally passed at 11:06 p.m. by a vote of 54-13 and is projected to save $300 million over 15 years.
"We have crossed a threshold into fiscal sanity," said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), who chaired the Senate Budget Committee.
The budget goes to Gov. Jon Corzine, who last night called it "truly unprecedented."
"By its actions, the Legislature provided the means to build decent schools for New Jersey's children, offered quality health care for children and those who are without access to health insurance and made a $650 million payment toward reducing the state's debt," Corzine said. "It was, all things considered, an important day's work for the future of New Jersey."
He said he would "closely review" the final version in the coming week. The budget must be signed by July 1.
Buono said the budget contains no new taxes, no fiscal gimmicks and no "Christmas tree add-ons," or spending on lawmakers' pet projects.
At the same time, she said, it increases state aid to education by $600 million and expands a program that subsidizes health insurance for middle-income families.
Buono admitted some of the cuts the budget makes are painful, but said: "My hope is the difficult decisions we have made this year will translate next year into more needs being met."
But Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) said he fears the $3.9 billion in additional state debt for school construction "will crowd out other programs."
Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington) called it "a budget of lost opportunities" while Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Hunterdon) pronounced it "a sham." Both said it fails to curb wasteful spending while shifting costs onto local property taxpayers.
Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (R-Sussex) said that by cutting state aid to towns, "this budget guarantees that property taxes will continue to rise."
Assembly Budget Committee chairman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden) said the budget contains "historic" cuts. He noted it is $600 million less than the one approved a year ago, "only the fourth time in 57 years that spending from one year to the next has been reduced."
Greenwald said the original budget proposal in February had "pain on every page" and that lawmakers managed to alleviate much of it, even while they cut $100 million from Corzine's spending plan.
In response to complaints from mayors, physicians and citizens, Greenwald said, the Legislature restored some of Corzine's proposed cuts in aid to municipalities and hospitals and found $9 million to keep state parks open.
"We listened, and we took action," Greenwald said, repeating it like a mantra.
Republicans took a unified position against both the budget and the $3.9 billion in borrowing for schools, which they insisted should have been submitted to voters for their approval.
Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Morris) noted the Legislature also was scheduled to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voter approval for all future state borrowing; it later passed by votes of 29-0 in the Senate and 61-15 in the Assembly. Merkt said it was "somewhat hypocritical" to support that proposal while bypassing voter approval for $3.9 billion of new debt.
"The cost to the people of New Jersey is more on the order of $7 billion when you get done with interest payments," Merkt said. "There is no good excuse not to send it to the people."
Staff writers Dunstan McNichol, Josh Margolin, Claire Heininger and Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.
6/23/08 - Taxpayer In Wonderland
Consider this:
On the same day that lawmakers are set to vote on a constitutional ban that would forbid state borrowing except by voter approval, they also plan to vote to approve $3.9 billion in new borrowing without voter approval.
And thus we have summed up the nature of the beast that is Trenton.
“Do as I say, except when I say I should do otherwise.”
Actually, Lewis Carroll summed it up best with this quote from Alice in Wonderland:
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise, what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
After an all-day session on Friday, lawmakers finally reached compromise on the budget and pension reform bills. The pension bills were watered down somewhat, although they still put in some reforms: increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 for new workers; limiting the number of part-time workers who would be eligible for pension credits, to those earning $7,500 a year (up from $500 for teachers and $1,500 for government workers; offering incentives for employees not to take taxpayer-funded coverage if they are eligible elsewhere; and reducing the number of paid state holidays from 13 to 12.
Gov. Corzine came flying home (wonder what his carbon footprint was?) from his meeting with Barack Obama on Friday, in order to save the day on the budget.
When, of course, what he did was save the day for the unions.
"There might be a moment when I can be helpful," Corzine told reporters as he returned to Trenton. "It's not a specific moment that I've identified but there may very well be. There might be a compromise that has to be made."
And what was that specific moment that Corzine ultimately identified?
Well, even before lawmakers get a chance today to vote on the pension reform compromise, and reduce government holidays from 13 to 12, there was our governor, pulling the rug out from another legislative initiative.
In an interview with the Associated Press and Millennium News Radio, Corzine said he would prefer holidays be negotiated at the bargaining table, but that he could support reducing the number to 12 through legislation. Doing so, he said, could sway him to giving workers off the day after Thanksgiving – in other words, keeping their paid state holidays at 13, rather than 12.
"I think I could probably get myself to be supportive of reducing that just because I think it's the right thing," he said, about cutting state holidays. "Then I might have a different attitude about post-Thanksgiving."
In other words, what the Legislature taketh away, the governor giveth back.
Seriously, can someone in his inner circle remind him that he’s the governor of all of New Jersey, and not just public employee union members?
But with the same zeal that school children approach the last day of the school, lawmakers will be busy today, voting on the state budget, pension reform, the borrowing bills, and dozens of other pieces of legislation in a dash to get out of Dodge before the next heat wave strikes.
With the compromises having been struck on the pension reform bills, lawmakers are expected to vote to approve all the contentious items on the agenda today. That doesn’t mean, however, that there won’t be some holdups: urban lawmakers want the school bonding approved; others will want to see the pension reform package OK’d, so don’t be surprised if both of those bills get voted on before the budget.
The biggest travesty today will be the polar opposite votes on borrowing. The governor insists there is no choice, citing the court order, and the fact that some Newark students were being taught in a hallway and other poor conditions.
"I'm not B.S.ing about seeing kids going to classes in hallways, three classes being run in a gymnasium simultaneously or special needs kids in closets,” Corzine told NJ101.5 radio.
But if Newark schools were that bad, the state – which runs the district – ought to have known it. And assuming they did know it, how were the Newark schools not at the top of the list to be built the last time around, when the school construction agency blew through $8.6 billion?
Where was the state oversight then? Where was prioritizing of tax dollars? If those schools are as bad as Corzine says, then they should have been on the top of the list. The fact that they weren’t speaks volume of the mishandling of tax dollars by the now-defunct Schools Construction Corp., and we have seen nothing that makes us think the reinvented-with-a-new-name Schools Development Agency is going to do any better.
None of this is a reason to ram this vote through without a vote by the taxpayer.
The truth is, even the governor appears to recognize the hypocrisy of school construction vote.
"It's not the easiest decision to defend, but it's the right decision," he said. "It's the right decision constitutionally. It's the right decision morally to protect our children, and it's most emphatically the right decision in trying to provide real stimulus for the economy today.”
That’s all lovely, but it misses the point.
Sen. Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon, estimates that state borrowing has grown to $40 billion. The governor keeps saying how our debt is strangling. It was the reason he wanted to jack up the tolls by 800 percent over 14 years. It’s the reason he’s been working behind the scenes, on Son of Toll Hike, another supersecret plan to pay for road repairs and pay down the debt. He won’t tell us about it of course, he’s too busy doing it in secret. Lawmakers have been talking about the need for a modified toll hike, and possibly a gasoline hike – both of which make perfect sense in the upside down world of Trenton when motorists are struggling to pay $4-a-gallon gas.
The only reason Corzine and his fellow Democrats won’t put the school construction vote on the ballot is because they fear it will be shot down by voters, just like stem cell research was. But here’s the thing: the state Supreme Court isn’t more powerful than Corzine or the Legislature. He could ignore their court order, or go to court to block it; but he won’t, because he agrees with the order. He wants to borrow the money. And he's afraid the voters won't go along.
But the governor keeps forgetting that he wasn’t elected to substitute his will for ours. Corzine wasn’t elected king; he was elected governor. If voters turned down this referendum, he could still build new schools -- but then he would have to find money within existing state revenues. Like New Jersey families do, when they're struggling to make ends meet.
If debt was so critical that in January he wanted us to pay 800 percent more in tolls to pay it down, how does it become less critical in June? The short answer is, it doesn’t. What changed was Corzine’s priority.
He wants us to do as he says, not as he does. The bottom line: if Corzine signs this $3.9 billion school construction bill, then he forfeits all rights to lecture us about the importance of paying down the debt.
By ramming this bill through, by not asking the voters’ approval, Corzine and those who vote for the bill have shown that nothing really changes in Trenton. They’ll do what they have to, to bypass the voters, and then they’ll leave town, and ask the taxpayers to pick up the bill.
(Source: www.inthelobby.net)
On the same day that lawmakers are set to vote on a constitutional ban that would forbid state borrowing except by voter approval, they also plan to vote to approve $3.9 billion in new borrowing without voter approval.
And thus we have summed up the nature of the beast that is Trenton.
“Do as I say, except when I say I should do otherwise.”
Actually, Lewis Carroll summed it up best with this quote from Alice in Wonderland:
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise, what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
After an all-day session on Friday, lawmakers finally reached compromise on the budget and pension reform bills. The pension bills were watered down somewhat, although they still put in some reforms: increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 for new workers; limiting the number of part-time workers who would be eligible for pension credits, to those earning $7,500 a year (up from $500 for teachers and $1,500 for government workers; offering incentives for employees not to take taxpayer-funded coverage if they are eligible elsewhere; and reducing the number of paid state holidays from 13 to 12.
Gov. Corzine came flying home (wonder what his carbon footprint was?) from his meeting with Barack Obama on Friday, in order to save the day on the budget.
When, of course, what he did was save the day for the unions.
"There might be a moment when I can be helpful," Corzine told reporters as he returned to Trenton. "It's not a specific moment that I've identified but there may very well be. There might be a compromise that has to be made."
And what was that specific moment that Corzine ultimately identified?
Well, even before lawmakers get a chance today to vote on the pension reform compromise, and reduce government holidays from 13 to 12, there was our governor, pulling the rug out from another legislative initiative.
In an interview with the Associated Press and Millennium News Radio, Corzine said he would prefer holidays be negotiated at the bargaining table, but that he could support reducing the number to 12 through legislation. Doing so, he said, could sway him to giving workers off the day after Thanksgiving – in other words, keeping their paid state holidays at 13, rather than 12.
"I think I could probably get myself to be supportive of reducing that just because I think it's the right thing," he said, about cutting state holidays. "Then I might have a different attitude about post-Thanksgiving."
In other words, what the Legislature taketh away, the governor giveth back.
Seriously, can someone in his inner circle remind him that he’s the governor of all of New Jersey, and not just public employee union members?
But with the same zeal that school children approach the last day of the school, lawmakers will be busy today, voting on the state budget, pension reform, the borrowing bills, and dozens of other pieces of legislation in a dash to get out of Dodge before the next heat wave strikes.
With the compromises having been struck on the pension reform bills, lawmakers are expected to vote to approve all the contentious items on the agenda today. That doesn’t mean, however, that there won’t be some holdups: urban lawmakers want the school bonding approved; others will want to see the pension reform package OK’d, so don’t be surprised if both of those bills get voted on before the budget.
The biggest travesty today will be the polar opposite votes on borrowing. The governor insists there is no choice, citing the court order, and the fact that some Newark students were being taught in a hallway and other poor conditions.
"I'm not B.S.ing about seeing kids going to classes in hallways, three classes being run in a gymnasium simultaneously or special needs kids in closets,” Corzine told NJ101.5 radio.
But if Newark schools were that bad, the state – which runs the district – ought to have known it. And assuming they did know it, how were the Newark schools not at the top of the list to be built the last time around, when the school construction agency blew through $8.6 billion?
Where was the state oversight then? Where was prioritizing of tax dollars? If those schools are as bad as Corzine says, then they should have been on the top of the list. The fact that they weren’t speaks volume of the mishandling of tax dollars by the now-defunct Schools Construction Corp., and we have seen nothing that makes us think the reinvented-with-a-new-name Schools Development Agency is going to do any better.
None of this is a reason to ram this vote through without a vote by the taxpayer.
The truth is, even the governor appears to recognize the hypocrisy of school construction vote.
"It's not the easiest decision to defend, but it's the right decision," he said. "It's the right decision constitutionally. It's the right decision morally to protect our children, and it's most emphatically the right decision in trying to provide real stimulus for the economy today.”
That’s all lovely, but it misses the point.
Sen. Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon, estimates that state borrowing has grown to $40 billion. The governor keeps saying how our debt is strangling. It was the reason he wanted to jack up the tolls by 800 percent over 14 years. It’s the reason he’s been working behind the scenes, on Son of Toll Hike, another supersecret plan to pay for road repairs and pay down the debt. He won’t tell us about it of course, he’s too busy doing it in secret. Lawmakers have been talking about the need for a modified toll hike, and possibly a gasoline hike – both of which make perfect sense in the upside down world of Trenton when motorists are struggling to pay $4-a-gallon gas.
The only reason Corzine and his fellow Democrats won’t put the school construction vote on the ballot is because they fear it will be shot down by voters, just like stem cell research was. But here’s the thing: the state Supreme Court isn’t more powerful than Corzine or the Legislature. He could ignore their court order, or go to court to block it; but he won’t, because he agrees with the order. He wants to borrow the money. And he's afraid the voters won't go along.
But the governor keeps forgetting that he wasn’t elected to substitute his will for ours. Corzine wasn’t elected king; he was elected governor. If voters turned down this referendum, he could still build new schools -- but then he would have to find money within existing state revenues. Like New Jersey families do, when they're struggling to make ends meet.
If debt was so critical that in January he wanted us to pay 800 percent more in tolls to pay it down, how does it become less critical in June? The short answer is, it doesn’t. What changed was Corzine’s priority.
He wants us to do as he says, not as he does. The bottom line: if Corzine signs this $3.9 billion school construction bill, then he forfeits all rights to lecture us about the importance of paying down the debt.
By ramming this bill through, by not asking the voters’ approval, Corzine and those who vote for the bill have shown that nothing really changes in Trenton. They’ll do what they have to, to bypass the voters, and then they’ll leave town, and ask the taxpayers to pick up the bill.
(Source: www.inthelobby.net)
3/3/08 - Over $6,000,000.00 Spent YTD!
Assemblymen Prieto (D- Hudson) and Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) have introduced an Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR83) which would designate May 24th as “Aviation Maintenance Technician Day”. Now no disrespect to those that keep the planes flying. However, it is estimated that each bill that is introduced costs conservatively $1,500.00. Since the start of the new session on January 8, 2008, over 4,000 bills have been introduced. That means over $6,000,000.00 of taxpayers money has been expended on just the introduction of these bills.
(Source: www.inthelobby.net)
(Source: www.inthelobby.net)
1/15/07 - Where Did The $15 Million Go
Accounting firm KPMG conducts audits of the school systems for New Jersey. They found unexplained expenditures of $15 million in four districts – Newark, Jersey City, Paterson and Camden. What do all of these school districts have in common? If you answered that they are all Abbott Districts you win the pink elephant. Yes, they are those same school districts that on average receive twice as much money as non-Abbott districts.
Camden by itself had more than $13 million in unexplained expenses. The auditors found few uniform procedures or controls were in place to safeguard taxpayer money. Out of a random sample of 330 expenses examined, 260 were questionable. Most appeared to be for services and supplies that weren’t properly documented or documented at all.
A few of these questionable expenses were itemized in the report prepared by the auditors:
· Expenses for catered food.
· $5,000 to lease a Volkswagen for the former superintendent
· $800,000 for mechanical work when the school board only approved $400,000
· Overseas trips for Jersey City administrators
· Purchase of figurines, decorations and a $1,795 jukebox
2,000 purchase orders exceeded their stated amounts by a combined total of $6 million.
Camden by itself had more than $13 million in unexplained expenses. The auditors found few uniform procedures or controls were in place to safeguard taxpayer money. Out of a random sample of 330 expenses examined, 260 were questionable. Most appeared to be for services and supplies that weren’t properly documented or documented at all.
A few of these questionable expenses were itemized in the report prepared by the auditors:
· Expenses for catered food.
· $5,000 to lease a Volkswagen for the former superintendent
· $800,000 for mechanical work when the school board only approved $400,000
· Overseas trips for Jersey City administrators
· Purchase of figurines, decorations and a $1,795 jukebox
2,000 purchase orders exceeded their stated amounts by a combined total of $6 million.
1/15/07 - When is the Company CEO Also a Champion Of The Unions
Only in New Jersey can basic economics become so topsy-turvy as to boggle the imagination. Who has ever heard of a company CEO rooting for the unions, which at times can bury a company with their demands. Yes, it could only happen in New Jersey when Governor Jon Corzine has sided with the unions more than once against the taxpayers of the state.
Last summer when the issue of cutting state worker’s princely benefits became a hot topic, Governor Corzine showed up at a rally of thousands of workers in Trenton and literally told them he would root for their cause.
In January 2007, the administrators at Rutgers University advanced a plan to organize about 3,000 administrative, supervisory and professional employees. Rutgers President Richard McCormick has the unenviable task of trying to stretch the billions of dollars the state gives the university each year, so he naturally fought the union idea, because he knows that would cost the institution considerably more money in the near and long-term.
Well Corzine and the Democrats blew a gasket. Some of Corzine's fellow Democrats in the state Legislature had gone as far as to threaten a cut in state funding to the public research university. In essence, Corzine told McCormick to “shut up.” Then Corzine committed the cardinal sin by showing up at a rally of 200 workers at the Labor Education Center so he could address the workers by saying “that Rutgers would not be diminished by the addition of 3,000 employees to the collective-bargaining table.” Corzine added, "I don't think that there is any reason to argue that ... the choice of being a part of collective bargaining agreements does somehow undermine the credibility and the excellence of the university.” Has this man lost his collective mind? Whose side is he on?
Fortunately, McCormick was able to carve out a neutrality agreement with organizers last week that quelled the level of what had been mounting distrust between the two sides, ending the impasse for the foreseeable future.
Last summer when the issue of cutting state worker’s princely benefits became a hot topic, Governor Corzine showed up at a rally of thousands of workers in Trenton and literally told them he would root for their cause.
In January 2007, the administrators at Rutgers University advanced a plan to organize about 3,000 administrative, supervisory and professional employees. Rutgers President Richard McCormick has the unenviable task of trying to stretch the billions of dollars the state gives the university each year, so he naturally fought the union idea, because he knows that would cost the institution considerably more money in the near and long-term.
Well Corzine and the Democrats blew a gasket. Some of Corzine's fellow Democrats in the state Legislature had gone as far as to threaten a cut in state funding to the public research university. In essence, Corzine told McCormick to “shut up.” Then Corzine committed the cardinal sin by showing up at a rally of 200 workers at the Labor Education Center so he could address the workers by saying “that Rutgers would not be diminished by the addition of 3,000 employees to the collective-bargaining table.” Corzine added, "I don't think that there is any reason to argue that ... the choice of being a part of collective bargaining agreements does somehow undermine the credibility and the excellence of the university.” Has this man lost his collective mind? Whose side is he on?
Fortunately, McCormick was able to carve out a neutrality agreement with organizers last week that quelled the level of what had been mounting distrust between the two sides, ending the impasse for the foreseeable future.
1/15/07 - Illegal Immigrant Healthcare Cost State $275-$300 Million A Year
According to the New Jersey Hospital Association, it estimates that the state’s 81 hospitals will spend between $275 and $300 million treating uninsured illegal immigrants this year.
Now when we examine the state’s $31 billion budget and the outlandish average of $6,000 homeowners pay in property taxes, this may seem to be a paltry sum. But wouldn’t we all love to have a small piece of that money in our pockets. What would you buy with the $75 each adult in the state would have available to spend if we weren’t forced to pay this bill mandated by the free spending liberals in Congress who create federal regulations?
Immigration opponents claim that caring for illegal immigrants is a massive financial drain that threatens to bankrupt hospitals from North Carolina to California.
Now when we examine the state’s $31 billion budget and the outlandish average of $6,000 homeowners pay in property taxes, this may seem to be a paltry sum. But wouldn’t we all love to have a small piece of that money in our pockets. What would you buy with the $75 each adult in the state would have available to spend if we weren’t forced to pay this bill mandated by the free spending liberals in Congress who create federal regulations?
Immigration opponents claim that caring for illegal immigrants is a massive financial drain that threatens to bankrupt hospitals from North Carolina to California.
1/15/08 - More Political Appointees in New Jersey
Governor Corzine was elected in part because he was the CEO of a financial services firm, thereby assuming he would be the best man to straighten out the disaster in Trenton. Well, that argument is nonsensical, because Wall Street firms generally make money hand over fist, and they rarely encounter the budget problems inherent is most small businesses, whereby they have to cut costs to show a profit. Corzine likely was more concerned with the size of the astronomical Christmas bonuses Wall Street hands out each year. Another reason Corzine was elected was he promised to change the politically corrupt culture and enforce a degree of discipline in state government.
We won’t have a final score card for a number of years but so far Corzine is failing all subjects.
As another example of how miserably he has performed, as Corzine negotiates with the all-powerful state workers unions to reduce their princely benefits, either Corzine or someone on his staff helped Carla Katz’s brother-in-law, Rocco Riccio, get a job with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority as an accountant at $75,000 per year. In case you forgot, Katz heads the most powerful state worker’s union and also dated Corzine.
After the Star-Ledge raised questions about Riccio’s political appointment, he was asked to resign. In fairness, we must ask was Riccio qualified for his new job? His work history is far from exemplary. He has been a state employee since 1994 starting with the Division of Taxation. He left that position and moved to the Department of Human Services in 2005, but transferred to another Treasury agency, the Division of Revenue, a few months later. He then applied to the Turnpike Authority this month. We don’t have any proof, but does he not sound like the guy who moves to another job just before the axe falls?
In an interview, Corzine confirmed his office forwarded Riccio’s resume to the Turnpike Authority. He acknowledged that “assertions that not everything was in order“ with Riccio’s performance.
Nothing has changed. The continuing saga of political appointees goes on unchecked.
We won’t have a final score card for a number of years but so far Corzine is failing all subjects.
As another example of how miserably he has performed, as Corzine negotiates with the all-powerful state workers unions to reduce their princely benefits, either Corzine or someone on his staff helped Carla Katz’s brother-in-law, Rocco Riccio, get a job with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority as an accountant at $75,000 per year. In case you forgot, Katz heads the most powerful state worker’s union and also dated Corzine.
After the Star-Ledge raised questions about Riccio’s political appointment, he was asked to resign. In fairness, we must ask was Riccio qualified for his new job? His work history is far from exemplary. He has been a state employee since 1994 starting with the Division of Taxation. He left that position and moved to the Department of Human Services in 2005, but transferred to another Treasury agency, the Division of Revenue, a few months later. He then applied to the Turnpike Authority this month. We don’t have any proof, but does he not sound like the guy who moves to another job just before the axe falls?
In an interview, Corzine confirmed his office forwarded Riccio’s resume to the Turnpike Authority. He acknowledged that “assertions that not everything was in order“ with Riccio’s performance.
Nothing has changed. The continuing saga of political appointees goes on unchecked.
12/15/06 - Morris County Tax Official Bags Huge Travel Bill
Morris County taxpayers wish they could live in the luxury their appointed officials seem to expect quite well.
As a member of the Morris County Board of Taxation, Anthony Crecco, a retired Newark fire captain and former East Hanover councilman, has run up a travel bill of more than $40,000 since 1998. In total, the board has spent $115,000.
Now let’s see if we have this right? He’s a member of a tax board so his responsibilities are limited to Morris County. Therefore, it appears perfectly justifiable that he should run up huge bills at The Flamingo in Las Vegas, the Plaza Chateau Lacombe in Edmonton, Canada, the Fontainebleau in Miami, Bally’s and Harrah’s in Atlantic City, and the Western Bonaventure in Los Angeles, to name a few – all important business-related trips we’re sure.
Crecco said, “Every time I go places, I bring back information to make our association better informed.” Now I’m sure that being aware of the price of an acre of real estate in Edmonton, Canada, exerts great pressure on how much the tax board fleeces the citizens of Morris County. Of course, Crecco ignores the normal learning process used by his peers to acquire knowledge through in-state educational seminars, forums and above all, the Internet.
Hudson County Tax Board Administrator Donald Kenny said, “We never leave the state. It’s not an official board policy but we keep things in house in New Jersey.”
Obviously, Crecco has been feeding at the public trough for far too long.
As a member of the Morris County Board of Taxation, Anthony Crecco, a retired Newark fire captain and former East Hanover councilman, has run up a travel bill of more than $40,000 since 1998. In total, the board has spent $115,000.
Now let’s see if we have this right? He’s a member of a tax board so his responsibilities are limited to Morris County. Therefore, it appears perfectly justifiable that he should run up huge bills at The Flamingo in Las Vegas, the Plaza Chateau Lacombe in Edmonton, Canada, the Fontainebleau in Miami, Bally’s and Harrah’s in Atlantic City, and the Western Bonaventure in Los Angeles, to name a few – all important business-related trips we’re sure.
Crecco said, “Every time I go places, I bring back information to make our association better informed.” Now I’m sure that being aware of the price of an acre of real estate in Edmonton, Canada, exerts great pressure on how much the tax board fleeces the citizens of Morris County. Of course, Crecco ignores the normal learning process used by his peers to acquire knowledge through in-state educational seminars, forums and above all, the Internet.
Hudson County Tax Board Administrator Donald Kenny said, “We never leave the state. It’s not an official board policy but we keep things in house in New Jersey.”
Obviously, Crecco has been feeding at the public trough for far too long.
11/15/06 - New Academic Rage – Degree in Pro Footbal
There must be something wrong with my thinking. I always thought that the purpose of college was to acquire an education. Because of budget cuts to education in the massive $31.8 billion state budget, schools like Rutgers have had to reduce or eliminate programs.
But their football program keeps rolling along. We’re told it’s all about prestige for the university because sure as hell this program doesn’t make any money for the university. In fact Rutgers will spend $13 million on the football program and only take in $10 million in gate receipts, merchandise sales, etc., for a net loss of $3 million. I wonder how many scholarships that would provide to needy students?
Is the purpose of a student’s education at Rutgers to earn a degree or as an incubator for a pro football career?
Now big time sports have always been a part of the academic life, but the attention to basketball and football programs are definitely out of kilter with the fundamental desire to produce citizens that will benefit society in the sciences or the arts.
But Rutgers is only one of fifty-six Division 1-A schools, and at that they’re in the middle of the pack on spending for their football programs.
The money spent on a few of these programs (from the highest to the lowest) is shown below:
But their football program keeps rolling along. We’re told it’s all about prestige for the university because sure as hell this program doesn’t make any money for the university. In fact Rutgers will spend $13 million on the football program and only take in $10 million in gate receipts, merchandise sales, etc., for a net loss of $3 million. I wonder how many scholarships that would provide to needy students?
Is the purpose of a student’s education at Rutgers to earn a degree or as an incubator for a pro football career?
Now big time sports have always been a part of the academic life, but the attention to basketball and football programs are definitely out of kilter with the fundamental desire to produce citizens that will benefit society in the sciences or the arts.
But Rutgers is only one of fifty-six Division 1-A schools, and at that they’re in the middle of the pack on spending for their football programs.
The money spent on a few of these programs (from the highest to the lowest) is shown below:
School | Amount (millions $) | School | Amount (millions $) | School | Amount (millions $) | School | Amount (millions $) | School | Amount |
| Ohio State | $25.7 | USC | $16.7 | Texas | $14.5 | W. Virginia | $11.3 | Arkansas State | $3.0 |
Now Rutgers pays Coach Schiano $1 million a year (the state’s highest paid employee) plus certain incentives that can add a few hundred thousand dollars to fatten his paycheck.
Analysis of where Rutgers spends $13 million tends to raise a few eyebrows. A few of these very questionable expenditures that are paid directly from taxpayer’s wallets are shown below.
| Expense Category | Item | Amount | Comments |
| Food | Bill for football awards dinner at the Brunswick Hilton | $30,578 | How many awards were handed out – 10,000? More likely, there was a lot of booze consumed at the dinner. |
| Administrative Services | Staff cell phones | $48,605 | Where are these coaches calling, Outer Slobovia -- on a daily basis? |
| Recruiting | Taking recruits to the ESPN Zone in New York City | $38,261 | That’s a hell of a lot of trips on the New York City Subway system. |
| Rent/Other | Lease for Coach Schiano’s Cadillac Escalade | $11,976 | Even a 2 | Tents for entertaining at the spring game | $9,224 | How many tents could possibly fit in that small space? |
| Supplies | Nike uniforms, shoes, socks = $3,000 per player | $336,391 | We must assume these uniforms contain silk threads. | Coaches game pants (made by Ben Hogan) | $5,598 | Unless Rutgers has 500 coaches, that’s an awful lot of money for a couple of pairs of pants for each coach. |
| Professional Services | Motivational speaker Kevin Elko, including airline cost | $10,912 | I want his job. | Massages | $5,666 | Were these legitimate massages, or were extra services provided as well? |
| Repairs Vehicles and Equipment | Bulbs for a film projector | $5,777 | For that amount of money, the bulbs must burn out every 30 seconds. |
11/15/06 - Newark Must Spend $102 Million More for “White Elephant”
After enormous negative publicity as to the financial viability of the new Newark Hockey Arena for the New Jersey Devils, in which the City of Newark was contractually obligated to pay $210 million of the $365 million cost, it has been divulged that a few minor infrastructure needs somehow slipped through the cracks.
The pretense of the stadium from the beginning is that the arena would bring vitally needed jobs to the inner city although ample documentation is available that demonstrates that 1) public entities never recover their investment, and 2) the majority of the jobs are low-paid “hash slingers.”
As Gomer Pyle would say, “Surprise! Surprise!” now that it has been revealed that significant infrastructure improvements are the responsibility of the city of Newark. I guess they missed that little gem when they were selling the “White Elephant” to the citizens of Newark and the state of New Jersey. Its not as if Newark has other uses for the money with failing schools and public housing in dire need of repairs.
The infrastructure improvements include road upgrades, a pedestrian bridge, a plaza on Market Street, and a public park. So it looks like Newark’s share of the boondoggle will cost $312 million and not $210 million. But what difference does it make when people like Sharpe James, the former mayor of Newark, and his band of cutthroats walk away with millions as their share of the booty at the expense of the taxpayers of the state.
When Cory Booker took office as mayor, he initially seriously considered killing the project, but after it was revealed that $90 million of the city’s money had already been spent and Newark was able to renegotiate the contract between the city and the Devils, he reluctantly accepted the pact with the Devil’s owner. So what will the new kid on the political street do now?
The pretense of the stadium from the beginning is that the arena would bring vitally needed jobs to the inner city although ample documentation is available that demonstrates that 1) public entities never recover their investment, and 2) the majority of the jobs are low-paid “hash slingers.”
As Gomer Pyle would say, “Surprise! Surprise!” now that it has been revealed that significant infrastructure improvements are the responsibility of the city of Newark. I guess they missed that little gem when they were selling the “White Elephant” to the citizens of Newark and the state of New Jersey. Its not as if Newark has other uses for the money with failing schools and public housing in dire need of repairs.
The infrastructure improvements include road upgrades, a pedestrian bridge, a plaza on Market Street, and a public park. So it looks like Newark’s share of the boondoggle will cost $312 million and not $210 million. But what difference does it make when people like Sharpe James, the former mayor of Newark, and his band of cutthroats walk away with millions as their share of the booty at the expense of the taxpayers of the state.
When Cory Booker took office as mayor, he initially seriously considered killing the project, but after it was revealed that $90 million of the city’s money had already been spent and Newark was able to renegotiate the contract between the city and the Devils, he reluctantly accepted the pact with the Devil’s owner. So what will the new kid on the political street do now?
10/15/06 - Secretive Workings of the Port Authority
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a quasi government agency, spends their $5 billion budget on, for the most part, on whatever they want, for they operate behind closed doors.
The 12 commissioners meet 10 times a year to award consulting and construction projects for public transportation projects IN CLOSED SESSION. Open discussion about their expenditures rarely happens because they never notify the public or the media that a vote is going to be taken.
New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky said, “They operate without transparency or accountability.”
Mow a move is afoot to make the Port Authority subject to the same laws and legislative oversight that apply to most government bureaucracies.
Last December, the commissioners authorized a $1.1 billion construction project for Ground Zero’s permanent PATH train station. Two years ago, they awarded consulting contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each to two former high-ranking Port Authority executives who already were drawing large pensions. In 2001, the commissioners, who receive no pay themselves, gave top agency executives raises up to 22 percent. In 1999, they spent $331,000 on two parties to celebrate a major airport anniversary.
Why is this news important to you, the taxpayer? Because a few years ago, the Port Authority wanted to double the fees on all bridges and tunnels, taking the average $4 fee to $8, but they were forced to scale back to a 50 percent increase. If public accountability was permitted, then you and I would be able to assess whether those enormous commuter fare increases were somehow justified.
The 12 commissioners meet 10 times a year to award consulting and construction projects for public transportation projects IN CLOSED SESSION. Open discussion about their expenditures rarely happens because they never notify the public or the media that a vote is going to be taken.
New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky said, “They operate without transparency or accountability.”
Mow a move is afoot to make the Port Authority subject to the same laws and legislative oversight that apply to most government bureaucracies.
Last December, the commissioners authorized a $1.1 billion construction project for Ground Zero’s permanent PATH train station. Two years ago, they awarded consulting contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each to two former high-ranking Port Authority executives who already were drawing large pensions. In 2001, the commissioners, who receive no pay themselves, gave top agency executives raises up to 22 percent. In 1999, they spent $331,000 on two parties to celebrate a major airport anniversary.
Why is this news important to you, the taxpayer? Because a few years ago, the Port Authority wanted to double the fees on all bridges and tunnels, taking the average $4 fee to $8, but they were forced to scale back to a 50 percent increase. If public accountability was permitted, then you and I would be able to assess whether those enormous commuter fare increases were somehow justified.
9/15/06 - Plainfield Faces “Mandated” Tax Hikes
The city of Plainfield is considering a proposed 2007 municipal budget unveiled this week that includes an approximately $3.7 million mandated increase in city employee salaries, pension payouts and health-care costs, and an almost $6 million decrease from the 2006 budget in property tax ratables. The numbers mean an uphill battle for local officials who will spend the next few months working to find places where cuts to the proposed $64,679,577 budget can be made. If the budget is approved as is, a homeowner with a house assessed at the city's average of $113,000 would pay an additional $305 in municipal taxes this year.
"We're in a difficult situation and much of it is beyond our control," Councilman Rashid Burney said. "Our costs, such as health care and insurance, are escalating faster than the rate of inflation. Our pensions and salaries are a contractual obligation that we must meet. And it's all hitting us at a time when we're seeing dwindling assistance from the state and federal government."
Chief Financial Officer Peter Sepalya said that in addition to an average 4 percent "cost of living" increase factored into city employees salaries, union contracts -- including the police union contract settled last December -- are largely responsible for the $1.7 million salary expense increase in the proposed 2007 budget.
"We're in a difficult situation and much of it is beyond our control," Councilman Rashid Burney said. "Our costs, such as health care and insurance, are escalating faster than the rate of inflation. Our pensions and salaries are a contractual obligation that we must meet. And it's all hitting us at a time when we're seeing dwindling assistance from the state and federal government."
Chief Financial Officer Peter Sepalya said that in addition to an average 4 percent "cost of living" increase factored into city employees salaries, union contracts -- including the police union contract settled last December -- are largely responsible for the $1.7 million salary expense increase in the proposed 2007 budget.
9/15/06 - Jerseyans Leaving State in Droves
A national survey conducted by Mayflower Transit has ranked New Jersey as the second highest “outbound” state in America, with only North Dakota faring worse.
In the first 8 months of the year, 1,788 households moved out while 1,060 households moved in.
According to Mayflower the reasons for families leaving were:
· 45 percent moved because of a new job or a company transfer.
· 32 percent left because of retirement.
The Mayflower confirms the results of a survey conducted by Princeton University’s Policy Research Institute that showed that in 2005 the number of people departing the state exceeded arrivals by 56,989 residents. The total number of people who have left since 2000 is estimated at 194.901, the equivalent of the citizens of Paterson and New Brunswick leaving at once.
In the first 8 months of the year, 1,788 households moved out while 1,060 households moved in.
According to Mayflower the reasons for families leaving were:
· 45 percent moved because of a new job or a company transfer.
· 32 percent left because of retirement.
The Mayflower confirms the results of a survey conducted by Princeton University’s Policy Research Institute that showed that in 2005 the number of people departing the state exceeded arrivals by 56,989 residents. The total number of people who have left since 2000 is estimated at 194.901, the equivalent of the citizens of Paterson and New Brunswick leaving at once.
9/15/06 - Sharpe James Spent $48,000 on Travel in Last 3 Months
Last month we reported on Sharpe James $6,500 trip to Rio de Janeiro in his last month in office as mayor of Newark, New Jersey.
Now it has been revealed that his total tab for the last 3 months was $48,000 with trips to Rio, Puerto Rico, Martha’s Vineyard, and Detroit, all based on some ruse about collecting important data or one-hour meetings with “important” people.
Has the city of Newark ever questioned his undocumented expenses? OF course not – he’s the mayor. Has the state of New Jersey ever questioned how Newark spends money? Of course not – he’ll likely play the race card. Almost all corruption and waste has been exposed by the U. S. Attorney’s office.
If you think it doesn’t directly affect your taxes, think again. We must all remember that the citizens of New Jersey pick up 95 percent of the education expenses for the city.
Now it has been revealed that his total tab for the last 3 months was $48,000 with trips to Rio, Puerto Rico, Martha’s Vineyard, and Detroit, all based on some ruse about collecting important data or one-hour meetings with “important” people.
Has the city of Newark ever questioned his undocumented expenses? OF course not – he’s the mayor. Has the state of New Jersey ever questioned how Newark spends money? Of course not – he’ll likely play the race card. Almost all corruption and waste has been exposed by the U. S. Attorney’s office.
If you think it doesn’t directly affect your taxes, think again. We must all remember that the citizens of New Jersey pick up 95 percent of the education expenses for the city.
8/15/06 - Sharpe James Goes Out With Bang
In the final week of his 20-year administration, former mayor Sharpe James managed to stick it to the taxpayers one last time, and we don’t mean the taxpayers of Newark either, because the residents of New Jersey pay 95 percent of Newark’s bills.
The mayor managed to bill a trip to Rio de Janeiro costing $6,500 on a city credit card. He was accompanied by two police bodyguards, and stayed at a 4-star resort. Naturally, he claimed the trip was strictly business-related, including meals at upscale eateries and the bodyguards were necessary since Rio is a crime-ridden city. Apparently the only business conducted was monkey business.
This last trip was the final blow of a total tab of $80,000 he charged to the city over a 2-1/2 year period paid for with Newark Police Department funds. No other police employees had a city credit card. As another example, James used the credit card in his 2002 re-election bid to pay for Illinois Congressman Jesses Jackson, Jr., an aide and his pollster to come to his aid by showcasing Jackson at churches throughout Newark. Sharpe also had another credit card billed to city hall in which he ran up bills to the tune of $70,000. Both these cards are in addition to the $25,000 that the City Council added to cover travel and other costs.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker said, “Our investigation so far appears to reveal an egregious and acceptable use of public funds, especially in light of our current urgent community needs, current fiscal crisis and common values. I am and will continue to ensure that this matter is fully investigated.”
According to Susan Bass-Levin, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, the use of credit cards was illegal in itself.
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Perhaps the total picture of the abuse of the taxpayers will finally be revealed because the U. S. Attorney’s office has demanded an audit trail of James’ credit card statements and other documentation. The FBI seized all of his file boxes from a Public Storage locker when it was discovered that James paid a bill for $2,797.50 for the storage unit naturally with his credit card.
James response was typical. He called the allegations a politically motivated attack. We’re surprised he didn’t play the race card, too, but that’s somewhat difficult when the new mayor is black, too.
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At about the same time, new Mayor Cory Booker informed the citizens of Newark that they will be required to swallow one of the biggest tax increases in city history. Back in February, when James was still undecided whether he would run for another term, he told those same citizens that the city had a $30 million surplus and they could expect a reduction in their property taxes.
Booker said, “The prior administration borrowed against our future with no regard or plan for repayment. This irresponsible financial practice was made significantly worse by the prior administration’s wasteful spending, failure to collect and develop other sources of revenue, clear mismanagement and bad planning.” Booker also said the prior administration added hundreds of employees offering them lavish pay rates. They also discovered thousands of people who are still carried on the welfare rolls including some who are deceased. They also found boxes of water bills that were never sent out.
Now we don’t know if Booker’s assessment is more realistic or he is simply raising taxes while he’s the new kid on the block, but logic dictates that Booker’s assessment is likely accurate, for no other reason he voluntarily cut his own salary, and he is forcing the City Council to cut their benefits as well.
The mayor managed to bill a trip to Rio de Janeiro costing $6,500 on a city credit card. He was accompanied by two police bodyguards, and stayed at a 4-star resort. Naturally, he claimed the trip was strictly business-related, including meals at upscale eateries and the bodyguards were necessary since Rio is a crime-ridden city. Apparently the only business conducted was monkey business.
This last trip was the final blow of a total tab of $80,000 he charged to the city over a 2-1/2 year period paid for with Newark Police Department funds. No other police employees had a city credit card. As another example, James used the credit card in his 2002 re-election bid to pay for Illinois Congressman Jesses Jackson, Jr., an aide and his pollster to come to his aid by showcasing Jackson at churches throughout Newark. Sharpe also had another credit card billed to city hall in which he ran up bills to the tune of $70,000. Both these cards are in addition to the $25,000 that the City Council added to cover travel and other costs.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker said, “Our investigation so far appears to reveal an egregious and acceptable use of public funds, especially in light of our current urgent community needs, current fiscal crisis and common values. I am and will continue to ensure that this matter is fully investigated.”
According to Susan Bass-Levin, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, the use of credit cards was illegal in itself.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps the total picture of the abuse of the taxpayers will finally be revealed because the U. S. Attorney’s office has demanded an audit trail of James’ credit card statements and other documentation. The FBI seized all of his file boxes from a Public Storage locker when it was discovered that James paid a bill for $2,797.50 for the storage unit naturally with his credit card.
James response was typical. He called the allegations a politically motivated attack. We’re surprised he didn’t play the race card, too, but that’s somewhat difficult when the new mayor is black, too.
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At about the same time, new Mayor Cory Booker informed the citizens of Newark that they will be required to swallow one of the biggest tax increases in city history. Back in February, when James was still undecided whether he would run for another term, he told those same citizens that the city had a $30 million surplus and they could expect a reduction in their property taxes.
Booker said, “The prior administration borrowed against our future with no regard or plan for repayment. This irresponsible financial practice was made significantly worse by the prior administration’s wasteful spending, failure to collect and develop other sources of revenue, clear mismanagement and bad planning.” Booker also said the prior administration added hundreds of employees offering them lavish pay rates. They also discovered thousands of people who are still carried on the welfare rolls including some who are deceased. They also found boxes of water bills that were never sent out.
Now we don’t know if Booker’s assessment is more realistic or he is simply raising taxes while he’s the new kid on the block, but logic dictates that Booker’s assessment is likely accurate, for no other reason he voluntarily cut his own salary, and he is forcing the City Council to cut their benefits as well.
8/15/06 - Farber Quits as New Jersey Attorney General
New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber resigned today after a special prosecutor said she violated the state's ethics code by improperly helping her boyfriend at police traffic stop. The big question has always been, how did Governor Corzine select an individual to be the top cop who managed to accrue 13 traffic violations and four bench warrants?
Farber, 61, quit hours after retired state judge Richard Williams wrote in a report that while she broke no criminal laws, she failed to “ensure that the laws were faithfully and fairly enforced.'' She resigned after an investigation found she broke three provisions of the state's ethics code by responding to a police checkpoint that nabbed her live-in boyfriend, some Republicans called for further sanctions from the state Ethics Commission. State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson said the ethics law is clear that when public employees commit an ethics violation, they must be fined at least $500 for each offense. The ethics commission can also choose to order restitution, reprimand or bar public employment for up to five years.
"While it may seem like sort of a stick in the eye, I think it's important for people to know that the governor means what he says," Wilson said. "If we're going to have a zero-tolerance policy and we're going to have a stiff set of rules and penalties, those have to be followed to the letter in every instance."
Farber, the state's first Hispanic attorney general, said at a news conference with Governor Jon Corzine that she would leave office after seven months rather than defend herself. “I resign out of respect for the governor and for the goals we both share for the success of this administration,'' Farber told reporters at the statehouse in Trenton. “Such a fight would be a tremendous distraction.''
The resignation of Farber is a setback for Corzine, a Democrat who won election last November after pledging to clean up the ethics of state government. Corzine, 59, said that he didn't ask Farber to resign, although he said her decision was correct. The resignation followed calls from state politicians including Democratic State Senator John Adler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for Farber to quit.
Farber, 61, quit hours after retired state judge Richard Williams wrote in a report that while she broke no criminal laws, she failed to “ensure that the laws were faithfully and fairly enforced.'' She resigned after an investigation found she broke three provisions of the state's ethics code by responding to a police checkpoint that nabbed her live-in boyfriend, some Republicans called for further sanctions from the state Ethics Commission. State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson said the ethics law is clear that when public employees commit an ethics violation, they must be fined at least $500 for each offense. The ethics commission can also choose to order restitution, reprimand or bar public employment for up to five years.
"While it may seem like sort of a stick in the eye, I think it's important for people to know that the governor means what he says," Wilson said. "If we're going to have a zero-tolerance policy and we're going to have a stiff set of rules and penalties, those have to be followed to the letter in every instance."
Farber, the state's first Hispanic attorney general, said at a news conference with Governor Jon Corzine that she would leave office after seven months rather than defend herself. “I resign out of respect for the governor and for the goals we both share for the success of this administration,'' Farber told reporters at the statehouse in Trenton. “Such a fight would be a tremendous distraction.''
The resignation of Farber is a setback for Corzine, a Democrat who won election last November after pledging to clean up the ethics of state government. Corzine, 59, said that he didn't ask Farber to resign, although he said her decision was correct. The resignation followed calls from state politicians including Democratic State Senator John Adler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for Farber to quit.
7/15/06 - UMDNJ Stopped From $2.5 Million Ad Campaign
So after a government agency like UMDNJ is exposed for massive fraud and mismanagement with $243 million of abusive spending uncovered to-date, how does the institution attempt to rectify the situation? Do they fire incompetent managers? Do they modify the rules to prevent reoccurrences of these incidents? Why no, they fix the problem by spending $2.5 million on a “feel good” campaign to improve their image, even though they were laying off 100 university employees, made cuts in programs and delayed the opening of a new cancer center.
UMDNJ had planned a media blitz starting after Labor Day to improve the image of the university. Thankfully, Stuart Rabner, Governor Corzine’s chief counsel, told the university to shelve the campaign.
UMDNJ had planned a media blitz starting after Labor Day to improve the image of the university. Thankfully, Stuart Rabner, Governor Corzine’s chief counsel, told the university to shelve the campaign.
6/15/06 - California State Budget $131 Billion – New Jersey Budget $32 Billion
Wow! With all the complaining that people in New Jersey do about Governor Corzine’s $32 billion budget, perhaps New Jerseyans can take some comfort in the astronomical California budget of $131 billion. OK, New Jerseyans, enjoy it for 3 seconds because now we’ll feed you the painful truth.
Let’s compare the two states population versus that budget.
Let’s compare the two states population versus that budget.
| State | Population (As of 2000) | Budget | Average Cost Per State Resident |
| New Jersey | 8,414,350 | $31,900,000,000 | $3,791 |
California | 33,871,648 | $131,000,000,000 | $3,867 |
On the surface, both taxpayer burdens appear to be about the same, but the major difference between California and New Jersey is the income local municipalities realize from property taxes. In California, the tax is limited to 1% of assessed value. In New Jersey, with the highest property taxes in the nation, local and state governments realize close to $40 billion a year in property tax revenue, greater than the much publicized state budget. So wipe that smile off your face, New Jerseyans, because with the exception of Taxachusetts, New Jerseyans pay the highest taxes in the country.
6/15/06 - Mandatory Jail Terms Dropped from Anti-Corruption Bill
The Legislature has been trying to pass an anti-corruption bill with some teeth to combat the epic corruption that has existed in New Jersey for eons. One of the provisions of the bill was that all public officials convicted of corruption must serve mandatory jail time. It was revealed that under current law minor cases of corruption (less than $200) are punishable by probation.
But Governor Corzine’s new Attorney General, Zulima Farber, obviously expressing her liberal sentiments, vehemently protested this provision claiming that “I oppose mandatory sentencing for philosophical reasons,” whatever that means. She also said, “That discretion is better placed on judges. I’m not talking about reducing penalties, going softer on public corruption.” Then why should she have a problem with mandatory jail time? Isn’t this the specific type of punishment that would act as a deterrent and could hopefully end the spiral of corruption that has made New Jersey the laughing stock of the nation?
She didn’t stop with her softening of penalties for corruption. She also said “I would oppose forfeiture,” regarding public officials losing their pensions, too. She said it would be unfair to deny the pension of a 30-year government veteran who turned corrupt in year 31. The Apathetic Voter is having a hard time writing this piece, as the tears are flowing from my eyes.
When Farber was asked by Senator John Adler, “What can we do to make New Jersey less corrupt?” Farber answered, “We can do a better job coordinating with other agencies of government,” whatever that means. Adler replied, “Crime is a crime. There should be forfeiture.” He favored “mandatory jail time for public figures who violate the public trust.”
Farber then stated that she was transferring 20 extra lawyers to fight public corruption. By the standards of corruption in New Jersey, that will not be enough. She should have one lawyer for each member of the Legislature.
But Governor Corzine’s new Attorney General, Zulima Farber, obviously expressing her liberal sentiments, vehemently protested this provision claiming that “I oppose mandatory sentencing for philosophical reasons,” whatever that means. She also said, “That discretion is better placed on judges. I’m not talking about reducing penalties, going softer on public corruption.” Then why should she have a problem with mandatory jail time? Isn’t this the specific type of punishment that would act as a deterrent and could hopefully end the spiral of corruption that has made New Jersey the laughing stock of the nation?
She didn’t stop with her softening of penalties for corruption. She also said “I would oppose forfeiture,” regarding public officials losing their pensions, too. She said it would be unfair to deny the pension of a 30-year government veteran who turned corrupt in year 31. The Apathetic Voter is having a hard time writing this piece, as the tears are flowing from my eyes.
When Farber was asked by Senator John Adler, “What can we do to make New Jersey less corrupt?” Farber answered, “We can do a better job coordinating with other agencies of government,” whatever that means. Adler replied, “Crime is a crime. There should be forfeiture.” He favored “mandatory jail time for public figures who violate the public trust.”
Farber then stated that she was transferring 20 extra lawyers to fight public corruption. By the standards of corruption in New Jersey, that will not be enough. She should have one lawyer for each member of the Legislature.
6/15/06 - Perth Amboy To Raise Property Taxes 50%
A day after the mayor of Perth Amboy lost his bid for the Democratic nomination in the 13th congressional district, Joseph Vas announced that property taxes would have to increase by nearly 50 percent to balance the municipal budget.
Vas called the $8 million hole in the budget a “clerical error,” arguing the city could document all of the revenues included in the proposal. Was this case of the rat trying to scurry from the sinking ship by seeking to change offices so he didn’t need to face the wrath of the people of Perth Amboy? Sure, leave the dirty work or blame someone else for the gross waste and ineptness.
For the owner of a home assessed at $115,000, taxes on the municipal portion of the bill will increase by $844, or about $70 per month. The municipal tax rate will increase to $2.30 per $100, up $.73 from last year, if adopted. The average citizen saw a $0.19 increase or $207 increase in their property bill in 2005.
Don Perlee, the business administrator for the city, said, “While we regret the delay in the finalization of the budget, our goal has always been to limit property tax increases, maintain essential services, and get every non-tax dollar for city taxpayers.”
Maybe they need to cover the $542,000 stolen by the tax collector due to the city’s non-existent accounting practices.
The Apathetic Voter asks, “How many lucrative pensions are included in that budget? How many double-dippers are receiving multiple paychecks in that budget? Why aren’t the people of Perth Amboy asking some very pointed questions about that massive increase in taxes?
Vas called the $8 million hole in the budget a “clerical error,” arguing the city could document all of the revenues included in the proposal. Was this case of the rat trying to scurry from the sinking ship by seeking to change offices so he didn’t need to face the wrath of the people of Perth Amboy? Sure, leave the dirty work or blame someone else for the gross waste and ineptness.
For the owner of a home assessed at $115,000, taxes on the municipal portion of the bill will increase by $844, or about $70 per month. The municipal tax rate will increase to $2.30 per $100, up $.73 from last year, if adopted. The average citizen saw a $0.19 increase or $207 increase in their property bill in 2005.
Don Perlee, the business administrator for the city, said, “While we regret the delay in the finalization of the budget, our goal has always been to limit property tax increases, maintain essential services, and get every non-tax dollar for city taxpayers.”
Maybe they need to cover the $542,000 stolen by the tax collector due to the city’s non-existent accounting practices.
The Apathetic Voter asks, “How many lucrative pensions are included in that budget? How many double-dippers are receiving multiple paychecks in that budget? Why aren’t the people of Perth Amboy asking some very pointed questions about that massive increase in taxes?
6/15/06 - Most States Have Unsurpassed Surpluses
With the booming economy, most states are awash in new revenue that is funding tax cuts, teacher pay increases and construction of new roads. Only four states have to deal with deficits, including obviously New Jersey.
In some states, there is so much money that the legislatures are debating about how large the tax cuts should be. On the negative side, these surpluses have fueled state governments, on average, to increase spending by 4.2 percent. Some states, like California, are paying down long-term debt with $7.5 billion in increased revenue.
Supposedly, the fiscal managers in these states are being more protective this time of a downturn in the economy and not spending money like a drunken sailor. George Cunningham, deputy chief of staff to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, said, “Next time we go down, we don’t want to be in the toilet like we were last time.” North Carolina actually plans to increase its reserve fund, a concept anathema to the corrupt, incompetent administrations of the northeast states, by $620 million.
As shocking as this may sound to politicians in New Jersey, in Oregon, the state constitution mandates that when state revenues exceed projections by more than 2 percent, that money must be refunded to the taxpayers. Unless Oregon politicians can pull a rabbit out of a hat, lawmakers will be forced to refund the money.
So the inevitable question arises? Why are New Jersey and three other states fighting exponential tax increases year after year? It’s simple folks. It can be attributed to unconstitutional Supreme Court rulings, a Democratically controlled legislature, obscene pension and healthcare payments for public workers, bloated state payrolls, waste, and above all rampant corruption. Solve those problems and the state may actually have a surplus, which could be returned to the taxpayers. Sorry about that. Once in a while, we all need a good laugh.
In some states, there is so much money that the legislatures are debating about how large the tax cuts should be. On the negative side, these surpluses have fueled state governments, on average, to increase spending by 4.2 percent. Some states, like California, are paying down long-term debt with $7.5 billion in increased revenue.
Supposedly, the fiscal managers in these states are being more protective this time of a downturn in the economy and not spending money like a drunken sailor. George Cunningham, deputy chief of staff to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, said, “Next time we go down, we don’t want to be in the toilet like we were last time.” North Carolina actually plans to increase its reserve fund, a concept anathema to the corrupt, incompetent administrations of the northeast states, by $620 million.
As shocking as this may sound to politicians in New Jersey, in Oregon, the state constitution mandates that when state revenues exceed projections by more than 2 percent, that money must be refunded to the taxpayers. Unless Oregon politicians can pull a rabbit out of a hat, lawmakers will be forced to refund the money.
So the inevitable question arises? Why are New Jersey and three other states fighting exponential tax increases year after year? It’s simple folks. It can be attributed to unconstitutional Supreme Court rulings, a Democratically controlled legislature, obscene pension and healthcare payments for public workers, bloated state payrolls, waste, and above all rampant corruption. Solve those problems and the state may actually have a surplus, which could be returned to the taxpayers. Sorry about that. Once in a while, we all need a good laugh.
5/15/06 - More Unnecessary Rutgers Spending
The Star-Ledger provided an in-depth analysis of local and state government in New Jersey. The statistics are frightening at best:
· Since 2000, local and state governments have added 59,400 employees while the private sector has remained stagnant.
· Total local and state government employment is now 580,000 employees.
· While officials claim that the majority of the new jobs were in education, careful review belies that fact. School districts added 15,417 teachers, 860 administrators, and 2,902 other certified personnel (custodians to teacher’s aides). Statewide student enrollment grew by 101,605 – which means there was one new education employee for every three students.
· The state added police officers, firefighters road workers, health workers and court personnel in numbers disproportionate to the minimal population increase.
· Assuming an adult population of about 4 million taxpayers, this means that
· Since 2000, local and state governments have added 59,400 employees while the private sector has remained stagnant.
· Total local and state government employment is now 580,000 employees.
· While officials claim that the majority of the new jobs were in education, careful review belies that fact. School districts added 15,417 teachers, 860 administrators, and 2,902 other certified personnel (custodians to teacher’s aides). Statewide student enrollment grew by 101,605 – which means there was one new education employee for every three students.
· The state added police officers, firefighters road workers, health workers and court personnel in numbers disproportionate to the minimal population increase.
· Assuming an adult population of about 4 million taxpayers, this means that