Time for a compromise in Trenton

Still no budget, though the Star-Ledger is reporting that the governor has placed a new compromise on the table in the hopes of ending the impasse and getting the state back to work. According to the Ledger,

Aides to the governor said Corzine has offered a new plan that would provide 50 percent of the sales tax increase to property tax relief each year if voters approve it in a constitutional amendment. Using a constitutional amendment would mean lawmakers would be forced to use half the sales tax for property tax relief even if there is a big budget crunch. The new plan modifies a deal offered by Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex).

It seems like a logical plan, one that might address all of the concerns out there. And it is similar to one proposed by the Ledger in an editorial called “A budget impasse answer“:

Instead of placing the $550 million in a fund that wouldn’t be tapped for year, why not add that to the property tax rebates this year? The current proposed budget allocates slightly more to property tax rebates than last year but considerably less than Corzine promised in his campaign.

If some of the sales tax increase went to property tax re bates — instead of the fund for future relief — Democrats could campaign next year on the strength of the enhanced re bates. And if the Legislature ever gets around to addressing property tax relief, the funds at hand would amount to about $1.6 billion. This should appeal to Roberts because last year he successfully fought to retain the re bates after Codey, then the governor, proposed eliminating them to help balance the budget. At the time, Roberts was concerned that if the rebate program went away, so too would the money. That would make finding a way to lower property taxes that much more difficult. That’s a justified concern.

The key, utimately, is ending what The Record calls the “Trenton’s train wreck” — one it blames — rightly, I’d say — on Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts.

Mr. Roberts has had 3½ months to offer a fiscally responsible alternative to Governor Corzine’s $30.9 billion budget plan, but as of late yesterday afternoon, most of the Assembly speaker’s proposals were still sketchy. Indeed, for all the talk about open government in Trenton, the most recent budget talks have been held behind closed doors, as Mr. Roberts and his Democratic allies in the Assembly try to find a way to avoid Mr. Corzine’s proposed penny sales tax increase.

While the governor solicited all sorts of public input on his budget plan, Mr. Roberts has played it far too close to the vest. Although Mr. Roberts and the Assembly have had months to respond to Mr. Corzine’s proposals, all that anybody has gotten is trial balloons that may or may not get off the ground.

The governor has made major concessions on the budget already, without compromising the basic goal of imposing fiscal responsibility on a state that has begged and borrowed over the years so it could avoid making tough decisions. The ball is in the Assembly’s court. Let’s see if Speaker Roberts and his allies are willing to keep it in play.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet