As COVID-19 Heats Up, Governor Puts $1B in Planned Spending in Deep Freeze
Social-distancing measures have sent consumer spending into a tailspin, a sharp downturn felt all across the state economy that’s reducing revenues in all sectors
Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration has put nearly $1 billion in planned spending in reserve in response to ongoing concerns that the coronavirus outbreak could take a huge chunk of revenue out of the state budget.
Among the fiscal year 2020 appropriations that have been sidelined by the administration’s spending freeze is $142 million that was supposed to cover the next installment of the state’s popular Homestead property-tax relief benefits, which was due to be paid out to thousands of New Jersey residents to help offset their sky-high property-tax bills in May.