Corzine – Page 11 – Hank Kalet

New formula boosts aid to local schools

The governor has unveiled his new state aid formula and it appears that most districts in the state will be receiving something — at least for now. Beyond that, however, it is unclear what the longterm ramifications of the new aid formula will be.

As the Star-Ledger points out in its brief coverage so far, the formula still has to get through both houses of the state Legislature and then pass muster with the state Supreme Court — by no means a guaranteed outcome.

In the shorterm, however, all four of the districts covered by the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press will be seeing increases in aid.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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Shoot high, governor

I want to offer the governo kudos for the promise he makes in this column by Record columnist Charles Stile, but given his record of backing away from forceful statements, I’ll wait. In fact, he backs off before he even gets started:

Corzine said he is realistic about what he can get the Legislature to agree to.

“We will put out a full agenda, but as in most things in life when you go through a legislative process, you don’t get everything that you want,” he said, but added, “there is a good chance that we can build good momentum that can move the ball a long way.”

My advice is this: Set your goals high and make legislators explain to the public why they can’t get behind comprehensive reforms. And don’t be afraid to work across party lines. The minority party can be a very useful tool here.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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Sinking ships

I wrote yesterday about the governor’s announcement that he plans to move forward with his monetization plan, even if it means driving smack into the brick wall of public opinion.

“I’m willing to lose my job if that’s necessary to set our fiscal house in order.”

But, as The Asbury Park Press (an editorial page that I often disagree with) points out, the plan really is nothing more than another gimmick,

borrowing today what will have to be paid back tomorrow through taxes or tolls. It’s another quick fix that will bring an influx of cash that will be quickly frittered away, saddling either the commuters of New Jersey or the next generation of taxpayers with an even heavier financial burden.

The governor is right about the state’s finances and, as he has said over and over, the fiscal condition in the state makes it difficult to do the kinds of things that will make the lives of the people living here better. But gimmicks are the wrong way to address the issue.

The Press says the governor should try a different tack:

Corzine may have faith in his ideas to wring billions of dollars out of the state’s toll roads to cut the state’s borrowing debt in half and provide permanent funding for transportation projects. We don’t. Neither do many of the state’s residents, especially the commuters who would unfairly shoulder the burden of Corzine’s plan with the dramatic increase in tolls.

Corzine should instead insist that the Legislature get to work doing what most households have been forced to do in the face of skyrocketing property taxes over the past several years: Cut spending. He should make the state do what New Jersey families have done as a horde of new taxes and fees has driven their cost of living steadily higher: Eliminate waste and cut out “extras.”

This would be a good start, but it will not be enough. The state needs to completely reform its way of doing business — including streamlining government at all levels and reducing the number of towns and school districts.

New Jersey residents, as well, will have to reconsider what they believe is important. To right the fiscal ship while also cutting property taxes, New Jersey residents will have to sacrifice some things. I can’t say what — that will have to be up to those affected. That’s why we need to convene a constitutional convention that brings nonpolitical representatives together to hash these questions out.

The politicians have had their opportunities and failed miserably. It’s time to give someone else a try.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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Fiscal gamesmanship

I’ll open this post by saying that I am skeptical — and this is generous — of the plan announced today by the governor to “monetize” the state’s toll roads.

Speaking at the state League of Municipalities convention in Atlantic City today, he offered the plan as a way to cut the state’s debt load in half.

In a speech before the 92nd annual New Jersey League of Municipalities convention, Corzine said he would reduce the state’s bonded debt by at least 50 percent, largely through toll increases. He would not say how much tolls would be going up, nor offer a range.

Corzine promised to unveil details of the plan in January, including any proposed toll hikes. He stressed he would not sell the New Jersey Turnpike or the Garden State Parkway, but try to form a nonprofit agency to manage the toll roads and raise money through bonding to pay down the debt.

“Every dollar that goes to debt service or unfunded liabilities is a dollar that can’t go to municipal aid or school funding,” Corzine said to several hundred local, county and state officials who attended the luncheon. “It’s all connected.”

There is something to be said for doing something drastic to reduce the state’s $32 billion debt, which as Juan Melli at Blue Jersey points out “could save about $1.5 billion in yearly interest payments which would help close our over $3 billion structural deficit.”

There is truth in this. The question is whether the method being floated is anything more than another in a long line of gimmicks.

I remain skeptical.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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Corzine steps upand applies Band-Aid

New Jersey, at the direction of Gov. Jon Corzine, is ready to take on the president over health care.

The state is suing the federal government over new rules that would cut thousands of children off from state health-care subsidies — a move the Corzine administration rightly calls “incomprehensible.”

The program — the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP — is jointly funded by the federal and state governments and is designed to provide health care coverage to families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but no more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

States have some flexibility under the program that allows them to raise the income threshold and cover more kids — which is where the lawsuit comes in. The Bush administration wants to place limits on this expansion, either through legislation or via administative order.

But Congress in a bipartisan vote is preparing to extend the program and allow for greater flexibility at the state leve — a move the administration is threatening to veto. An override is likely, but shouldn’t be necessary. Read my Dispatches column on SCHIP from Sept. 20 to see why .

In the end, as I write here, SCHIP is just a Band-Aid and should be made redundant by a single-payer, universal health care system. That should be the goal, because it is the only way to ensure that every uninsured and underinsured American, child and adult, get a baseline of care.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

E-mail me by clicking here.