NJ Gov.-elect Chris Christie said today he will cut off state funding to struggling cities, saying they must cut spending and no longer rely on Trenton.
But before Christie takes office, the state is set to give about $72 million to Camden, Bridgeton, Union City and Paterson in aid designed to keep property taxes from rising while maintaining basic government services.
Christie also said cuts to the $1.5 billion in regular give-backs to cities and towns across the state are “on the table” as he prepares a painful budget due March 16.
The state budgeted $141.9 million this fiscal year in aid for struggling cities and towns, down from $170.3 million, but Christie said he is putting municipalities “on notice” the money will not be there at all next year.
“You better budget based upon what you can raise, because we don’t have the money to continue over and over again to shovel out extraordinary, special municipal aid to municipalities who have not responsibly budgeted, no matter where you’re located in the state,” he said. “The state can no longer be your court of last resort. We are broke.”
The programs targeted are designed to help towns and cities keep property taxes lower while still maintaining services, with “extraordinary aid” aimed at municipalities with short-term problems and “special aid” for longer, structural problems.
(Source: NJ Star Ledger)
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7 Responses
lets see how long that lasts.
Corzine was a Sachs Goldman man. He must have run off with the dough. The most expensive state in the country, coupled with HUGE reductions in state services, leaves us broke. That does not compute.
Property taxes will continue to be exhorbitant as long as NJ continues to have over six hundred school districts. The entire state of Maryland gets along perfectly well with just 24.
I must be missing something. Why cut off funds to the cities, with the poorest citizens, some of whom are Jewish and frum. Granted that both NY and NJ have horrible budget problems, but is this the way to go about resolving them? I’ll bet Corzine wouldn’t have done this–and I’ll bet that Christie didn’t breath a word of this proposal until he received his certificate of election . . .
rmorr, I bet you Corzine would have done this. The ones affected most by the budget cuts are the union members. Now that is your real worry, right?
Mark Levin, welcome back to the airways. Your broadcast was excellent last night.
To Flatbush Bubby: Nope, that’s not my main worry. Union memebrts aren’t dependent on government aid, and they aren’t poor. Christie has a typical Republican attitude–let them starve, we don’t care!
To rmorr,
Once your ranting about conservatives, I’ll take the liberty to rant at you and give a liberal such as yourself an idea. How about you round up a bunch of liberals that like government spending and collect money to give some charity to the State of New Jersey, if you think it’s so important, instead of having taxpayers foot the bill again.. It’s quite funny that you look at government cutting spending as causing people to starve, when it’s in fact the highest taxes in THE COUNTRY THAT ARE TRULY BANKRUPTING NEW JERSEY CITIZENS.