Christie Shuts Down Road Construction
Arnone in talks to keep Monmouth County projects going uninterupted
Governor Chris Christie issued an Executive Order last night shutting down all projects funded by the state’s Transportation Trust Fund. The fund’s authorization expired at midnight though published reports indicated that there is enough money in the fund to continue work through mid-August.
Christie’s dramatics came as a result of the Legislature failing to reauthorize the fund. The Senate was considering a bi-partisan plan to reauthorize the fund with a $.23 per gallon gas tax increase while also phasing out the estate tax and income tax on retirement income. The Assembly passed legislation negotiated by Christie and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto in the wee hours of Tuesday morning that would increase the gas tax $.23 and phase in a reduction in the state sales tax from 7% to 6%. Christie said the last minute sales tax reduction was his idea.
The Christie/Prieto plan was widely panned from both the left an right and had little support in the Senate.
No plan under consideration addressed New Jersey’s highest in the nation cost of road construction: an estimated $2 million per mile on average.
Freeholder Director Tom Arnone: “Trenton needs to get its act together.”
Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone blasted Trenton as inept and more concerned with politics that governing. “There is no good reason for the nonsense the people of New Jersey have to put up with from our State Government,” Arnone said in a telephone interview with MMM. “They need to take a page out of our book; Plan ahead and get the job done for the people in a cost efficient manner.”
Arnone said he was conferring with county officials and the other freeholders with a eye toward keeping Monmouth County projects going while the State gets its act together. “I want us (Monmouth County’s government) to fulfill our promises to the municipalities with ongoing projects and keep our work going on county roads going while Trenton figures out how to fulfill its obligations. Given our financial strength and stability, I’m hopeful we can continue our work uninterrupted.”
More from my site
With transportation funding negotiations deadlocked, County has plan to restart Shark River dredging
Christie makes Gas Tax increase deal with Sweeney and Prieto
Christie says Sweeney and Prieto have not shared their gas tax plan with him
O’Scanlon addresses his critics regarding his declining to vote on the Assembly gas tax bill
Votes by N.J. lawmakers on 23-cent gas tax hike deal stalled until Friday
Will N.J. trade a higher gas tax for a lower death tax?
Christie Issues List of Transportation Projects to Be Put on Hold
Christie on the defense as his gas and sales tax plan faces failure
O’Scanlon: Trenton Dems to blame for NJ’s credit downgrades
N.J. gas tax deal goes through committee, but still won’t get past Christie
What you do not read anywhere is that the
the gas tax at $.37 cent (.$.14 + $.23) will take $2.1 billion out of the taxpayer pockets every year.
This $2.1 billion hit to our pockets every year is the number the legislature and the media has decided to keep quiet. $2.1 billion every year can be rolled into nearly a $50 billion in bonds (to be pillaged, plundered and diverted to democrat strongholds).
NJ still collects $750 million every year from the $.14 cent current tax. There must be one politician out there who will disclose how much of this $750 million a year was redirected to other projects unrelated to roads. They probably used the cash flow from the anticipated $.14 to bond and borrow over the next 25 years.
After this new tax is foisted on us, for years to come the local media and TV will point to the pot holes and horrible roads and say “Remember Governor Christie, you know the governor who brought us the highest gas tax increase in history – and got nothing for it.
Why? Because the minute the sales tax deal is agreed, the democrats will begin the campaign to raise it back to 7% or perhaps higher.
At least raising the absurdly low $675K estate to federal levels and the income tax credit to $100K income for seniors would keep our NJ residents and seasoned citizens who love the state from being forced out by income tax, confiscatory property taxes and stupid estate taxes (a deadly combination).
Item 9 from NJ.com Samantha Marcus article . Also note this item was excluded from many reports on the gas tax with only the amount of sales tax total being discussed.
The gas tax is projected to generate about $750 million this year, and a 23-cent increase would add another $1.4 billion a year. Jersey motorists living near state borders would have a little relief. Gas would still cost more in New York and Pennsylvania, but would be cheaper in Delaware.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/06/the_23-cent_gas_tax_plan_9_facts_you_need_to_know.html
Christie’s “read my lips” moment. Democrats (read: Wisniewski) have been whining about the Transportation Trust Fund for some time. They have little interest in good government here though, they just resented the fact that Jersey has the second lowest fuel tax (second only to Alaska), and saw an opportunity to raise it. The governor rightly held fast for years until now, when the Democrats pushed Christie into a corner with this “compromise”.
Our road cost per mile in Jersey is the highest in the nation, by like 3 x the next runner up. Until we know where the money is going (and it’s not just union labor – other states have that too), whether it’s endless mindless studies by consultants, the “perpetual construction site”, planned obsolescence or other causes, we need to know. Tommy Arnone is absolutely right. Trenton needs to grow up and govern and stop the childish nonsense.
Believing Trenton and sending more money to them is like believing the guy who asks you for money for “bus fare home” and then actually giving him some. Don’t complain when you see him immediately afterward buying lottery tickets.
The Transportation Trust Fund was a good and necessary idea when established. But until Trenton gets its act together I say no more money.
Medicaid enrollments. Prescription drugs. Welfare. Food stamps. Aid to dependent children. Section 8 housing subsidies. Utility subsides. Free needles? Subsidized birth control/ abortions?? Broke inner- city subsidies and bailouts. Every social program or project that is a current budget line item, whether it works, or not. Maybe most of the recipients are actual citizens, my guess is many probably aren’t.. Until and unless we honestly try and go to zero- based budgeting, more program reviews for viability and success, more accountability for every department and agency, and much less in promises-for-votes by legislators, we will soon be a mini California: in insurmountable debt, near junk- bond status, and soon, there will be many more “takers than makers,” since the smart ones are either gone, half gone( as in snowbirds,) or, planning to go!! Again, “the problem with socialism is that you eventually will run out of other peoples’ money!” ..Please, Donald, please, do not tap our Guv for your v.p.!!