Hank Kalet

While Tom Moran’s full-on man-crush for the governor continues in today’s Star-Ledger, and Gov. Chris Christie begins his annual tour of the state to promote his budget, 

How exactly has the governor balanced this budget?

— He plans to conduct his annual raid on the clean energy fund
— He is planning to delay the payout on property tax credits for three months, pushing its budget impact into a different fiscal year
— And, of course, the one-shot plug-ins:

Nevertheless, Sidamon-Eristoff, who was forced to rely on $1.2 billion in nonrecurring revenues to fill a budget gap last May when tax collections for FY12 and FY13 started coming in $676 million short, acknowledged yesterday that he would have to use $1.07 billion in one-shot revenues in the FY14 budget.

NJSpotlight chart

Click to enlarge.

The treasurer confirmed that the state would once again take $150 million in Clean Energy funds that are supposed to go to energy efficiency programs to balance the budget, but otherwise refused to say what the other one-shot revenues are, saying that they would be included in the full budget that will be released in a week or two. Treasury spokesman William Quinn said last night he did not know what the other one-shots were.

Clearly, one of the additional one-shot revenues is the elimination of the $376 million in pay-as-you-go transportation capital funding that was promised by Christie to reduce future debt when the five-year Transportation Trust Fund extension was approved in December 2011. Sidamon-Eristoff said the state had realized higher proceeds than expected on two previous transportation bond sales, which would enable the state to provide the full $1.6 billion state match for federal transportation dollars without relying either on pay-as-you-go financing or further borrowing.

Another one-shot evidently is the treasurer’s decision to tap $75 million of the expected $375 million end-of-year surplus to help balance next year’s budget. The $300 million surplus that remains is less than half of the $640 million surplus that the state listed on July 1 at the start of the current fiscal year and represents less than 1 percent of the proposed $32.846 billion budget.

One thing has bothered me since the first Christie budget. The state’s press corps has continued to give him credit for local property tax caps that have held down property taxes. Yes, tax growth  have been held in check to some degree, but at what cost? The answer is the layoff of municipal workers, teachers and the like. That may be an acceptable bargain, but we haven’t had that discussion. We really need to.

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This is an official New Brunswick Parking Authority sign. Anyone see a problem?

It really appeared to be a no-brainer. The state’s poorer residents would get medical coverage through an expanded Medicaid program, on the federal government’s dime, but the governor was remaining mum on the issue.

He’d already vetoed the creation of a public health-care exchange — another provision of the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s effort at universal health coverage — and conservatives had been hoping Christie would do the same with Medicaid expansion.

In the end, however, Chris Christie made the right call, expanding Medicaid as part of a proposed $32.9 billion state budget unveiled today.  In his budget speech, Christie said:

After considerable discussion and research, I have decided to participate in Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. While we already have one of the most expansive and generous Medicaid programs in the nation, including the second highest eligibility rate for children, we have an opportunity to ensure that an even greater number of New Jerseyans who are at or near the poverty line will have access to critical health services beginning in January of 2014.

As New Jersey Policy Perspective has been pointing out, Medicaid expansion could provide coverage to more than 300,000 New Jersey residents who currently lack insurance, with federal money — about $2.5 billion on average annually – coming into the state to expand coverage.

The NJPP numbers are similar to those in a study by the Urban Institute and Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation last year, a report that said expansion would provide new health care coverage to an estimated 291,000 in New Jerssey through 2022.

New Jersey would spend an additional $1.5 billion and receive $15.4 billion from the federal government to finance the expansion during that time period, the report predicted.

Christie is the latest Republican governor to take the federal money, even though the party’s national base remains staunchly opposed to all facets of so-called Obamacare. Christie, in fact, said he still opposes Obama’s health legislation.

I am no fan of the Affordable Care Act. I think it is wrong for New Jersey and for America. I fought against it and believe, in the long run, it will not achieve what it promises. However, it is now the law of the land and I will make all my judgments as governor based on what I believe is best for New Jersey.

His logic — like that of other Republican governors — is faulty. If it is wrong, then leave the money on the table and continue to fight its implementation. But Christie also understands the politics of the situation better than most. He is the popular red governor of a blue state, and leaving federal money — cash designed to help the most vulnerable in New Jersey — on the table while slashing spending would leave an opening that could be exploited by his opponents. So his best option is to move toward the center. But unlike his other “compromise measures” — the minimum wage conditional veto, the counter offer of an expanded earned-income tax credit and his gun study panel — this one is going to have real-world benefits for residents of the state.

That has elicited praise from an array of folks who usually find themselves at odds with the governor.
New Jersey Policy Perspective, which has been very publicly advocating on behalf of the expansion, praised Christie — something that it rarely does. Senior Policy Analyst Raymond Castro said in a written statement:

Despite opposition to the expansion from conservative factions of the national Republican party, Gov. Christie – much like he did in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – has demonstrated the leadership and independence of a governor who is willing to place the interests of New Jerseyans above partisan politics by opting to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

His commendable decision is truly a win-win-win: it will improve the health of hundreds of thousands of struggling New Jerseyans, boost the state’s ailing economy as a result of the influx of billions of dollars in federal funds, and save the state billions of dollars over the next decade.

And several Democratic Senators — among them Joe Vitale of Middlesex County and Nia Gill of Essex County — expressed support for that portion of the budget. The rest — well, Christie’s spending plan remains anathema to Democrats. (More on that in coming days.)

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I have a story up on NJ Spotlight this morning on the distribution of ID cards to local residents — including undocumented immigrants. The cards have sparked some criticism from anti-immigration groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform, who say the cards enable illegals to live normal lives. The criticism is well-founded — but way off the mark. Allowing people whose only interest is to live normal lives a chance to be somewhat normal seems to me a deeply human response on the part of advocates.

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Here are some photos taken this morning in and around New Brunswick.

Near the Robeson homes in New Brunswick,  on the outskirts of the city  on an overcast but unseasonably warm February day.

Call this one “Storm clouds in black and white.”

Stoney stairs.

Burned-out building waiting to be reborn as a law office.

Storm clouds.

Missing?

Track-side at the edge of New Brunswick.

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