Boldness from the Statehouse

The governor appears ready to turn over every rock in an effort to fix the state’s decrepit tax system. In yesterday’s Star-Ledger, he floated a plan to borrow about $7 billion to create an aid fund designed to encourage towns to consolidate some or all of their services. It’s a bold move fund, certainly, though it raises questions about the state’s debt load.

State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) was quoted in opposition, both on fiscal and constitutional grounds:

“I honestly don’t understand what he means,” Lance said of the governor’s remarks. “I do not favor borrowing to provide a stream of funding for property tax relief. It violates every principle of sound fiscal policy that I know. It’s how we’ve gotten into trouble in the first place. Here we go again.”

But this may not be as fiscally questionable as Sen. Lance says — provided the money is used to pay off local debt (think of it as a refinancing). Local debt is one of the biggest impediments to municipal and school district consolidation — when consolidation of the Monroe and Jamesburg school districts was raised as a possibility by the state about 10 years ago, Monroe balked because it would have seen a tax hike tied to new debt payments. If those debt payments were off the table or somehow neutralized, it would allow the discussion to occur on a different plane. Would consolidation happen? Probably not, though, I can’t be sure. What I do know, however, is that a discussion of this sort probably would benefit both towns, possibly resulting in consolidation of libraries, senior services and/or other functions that could broaden services and save money.

The governor also apparently is prepared to rewrite the state school formula to shift some money to middle class districts, make some painful budget cuts, reform pensions and raise some taxes while toying with the state’s income tax brackets.

The effort, as Star-Ledger columnist Tom Moran points out, is likely to make just about everyone angry about something. He has the best quote I’ve seen regarding reform: “anyone who pretends this can be solved without real pain is smoking crack.”

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