Lt. Governor Guadagno, Madam Speaker, Mr. President, members of the Legislature, fellow New Jerseyans:
I am pleased to present to you my budget for Fiscal Year 2014.
The budget continues a journey you began with me three years ago – to get New Jersey’s house in order; to turn Trenton upside down; to make hard but better choices so that we could put our state back on a path to growth.
For the fourth year in a row, the budget maintains the fiscal discipline we need to restore New Jersey. Fiscal sanity has indeed returned to Trenton.
For the fourth year in a row, this budget is balanced and imposes no tax increases on the people of New Jersey. I want every New Jersey citizen to remember just how different things were before we arrived. 115 tax and fee increases in eight years. Skyrocketing spending. $13 billion in deficits left on our doorstep by the irresponsibility of the past.
We must never take for granted what we have already achieved. Reduced spending. New jobs. Balanced budgets four years in a row. And lower taxes. It is truly a new day for New Jersey.
What would the Act do? If passed and signed by the Governor, it’d impose a brand new five cent tax on every single paper or plastic grocery store bag in the Garden State.
No one outside of Trenton likes the damn thing. A recent Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll discovered 56% of registered New Jersey voters opposed the bag tax while less than 40% approved
It’s not hard to see why. The economics of such a tax are ugly…
Governor’s Conditional Veto Pairs Responsible 3-Year Phase-In of One-Dollar Wage Increase with 25 Percent Increase in Earned Income Tax Credit
Trenton, NJ – Acting to support a responsible increase in the state’s minimum wage while providing direct relief to New Jersey’s working families and protecting the state’s economic recovery, Governor Chris Christie today put forward a plan to increase the state’s minimum wage by one dollar over a phase-in period of three years and to provide direct relief to struggling families with a 25 percent increase to the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit.
Republicans in Congress have decided to put their own personal finances, and those of their Democratic colleagues in both the House and Senate, at risk, rather than to risk a global economic meltdown if the Democrats don’t get serious about reigning in our government’s runaway spending.
The New York Times is reporting that House Republicans have agreed to raise the debt ceiling for three months, with a requirement that both chambers of Congress pass a budget in that time and engage in deficit reduction negotiations. Rather than drive the nation over a “fiscal cliff” or risk the government defaulting on its debt, the Boehner Brigade’s debt ceiling bill will include a provision that federal lawmakers not get paid if the Senate does not produce a budget.
Senate Majority Leader Harry’s Reid’s office issued a statement that sounded like they might go along. Reid’s Senate has not passed a budget in four years.
Finally! Washington Republicans have stopped drinking stupid juice!
Whoever came up with such a common sense idea of punishing the Congress for not doing its job rather than risking the global economy deserves a Nobel Prize.
“Our mission is to take the hassle out of going to the doctor.”
“It’s like a hospital in the mall,” exclaimed Sal Cannizzaro of the 4500 square foot medical facility he built in Hazlet’s Airport Plaza. With 10 examination rooms, an digital X-Ray room a phelobotomy lab, the entrepeneur is obviously proud of his new baby. “We’re even paperless with EMR (electronic medical records), the only paper you see in this office is the sign in sheet and your appointment card. We invested $1.5 million in this facility and we’re employing 25 people.
With the real estate market in the tank Cannizzaro, a builder and developer, teamed up with his physican, Dr. Lisa Golding-Granado, MD, who also happened to be his tenant, to create IMMEDIATE CARE Medical Walk-In of Hazlet with the mission of taking the hassle out of going to the doctor.
“Dr. Golding-Granado’s office had a two week wait to get an appointment,” said Cannizzaro, “when you’re suffering and need a doctor, you can’t wait that long and the emergency room costs a forture for the patient and the insurance company.”
“We provide 98% of the top medical services that people regularly need,” said Golding-Granado, the new facility’s medical director, “be it urgent care like an infection, migraines, minor injuries and lacerations, or primary care like checking diabetes, blood pressure and providing physicals.”
“For anyone that leaves within a three to five mile radius, we provide high quality care from board certified physicians, without that hassle,” Cannizzaro explained, “you don’t need an appointment, you’re waiting only 15 minutes and we send you home in 45 minutes. We take all insurances and medicare.”
“Urgent care is for non-emergent, non-traumatic problems that need to be addressed quickly. Major traumas, heart attacks, stokes and the like are for the emergency rooms. Urinary track infections, bronchitis, migranes and the like we can treat here quickly and more affordably,” said Golding-Granado, “we can also check your diabetes and blood pressure, perform X-Rays and Labs and provide vaccines.
The facility is open 84 hours a week, Monday-Friday 7 a.m.-9 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m.
In addition to Golding-Granado, IMMEDIATE CARE is staffed with a board certified orthopedic surgeon, an osteopath certified in Sport and Family Medicine, three nurse practitioners who can prescribed meds and three RN’s. Cannizzaro and Golding-Granado plan to add a Pediatric specialist to their staff soon.
A large crowd of business, government and community leaders were on hand last week to welcome IMMEDIATE CARE at their ceremonial grand opening.
Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce President Cliff Moore is excited to see a new business opening in Hazlet. “It is a beautiful state of the art facility that is using what was a vacant store front on Route 36,” said Moore, “they’re employing more than 25 local residents. That’s a great combination and a welcome additon to the community.”
The grand opening may be the first of many. IMMEDIATE CARE plans to open a physical therapy center and two more health care facilities in Monmouth County in the next 18 months on their way to building 10-12 centers in in Central New Jersey over the next few years.
Super storm Sandy and the following nor’easter may have dealt us quite a blow, but I am pleased to report that the county is actively working to get our businesses up and running as we move toward the next year and the next tourism season.
Through a coordinated effort, we are encouraging visitors to return to Monmouth County’s beaches, parks, historic sites, cultural attractions and shopping venues.
We are doing this by actively participating in the “Jersey Shore OPEN” campaign. This is a grass roots effort to encourage businesses to display a specially created “Jersey Shore OPEN” sign for Monmouth County. This regional approach will help further our many public relations efforts to spread the word that Monmouth County is recovering and open for business.
I encourage your business to join this campaign. By displaying this sign, your local business can clearly show that you are open and supportive of other Monmouth County tourism efforts. You can download the sign from the county website at www.tourism.visitmonmouth.com. The “Jersey Shore OPEN” campaign is a joint program with Ocean County Tourism and the Jersey Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Tourism is important because as an industry it supports thousands of jobs and typically generates nearly $2 billion in business activity for the county. We are confident that Monmouth County will return to prominence as one of the best family vacation spots in the state.
I will convene a roundtable meeting with mayors from various municipalities in January. We will address the 2013 tourism season and offer the help and assistance of the county’s tourism division. Our local leaders will be of great assistance as we focus and target the county’s 2013 promotional program.
The county’s 2013 tourism promotion activities will include creating focused radio, print and internet promotion on recovery efforts and business and attraction reopening. We are also expanding social media efforts to promote and engage visitors and residents. Keep in mind that we will also distribute the 2013 Visit Monmouth Travel Guide that is the cornerstone of the county’s efforts to promote Monmouth County as a tourism destination.
Monmouth County will also participating in targeted, key travel shows such as the Philadelphia Inquirer Travel Show, the Atlantic City Boat Show and the Montreal Hunting and Camping Show. These travel shows are uniquely suited to the visitors who enjoy vacationing at the Jersey Shore.
Remember, the county tourism division is here for you. If you have out of town visitors, call 732-431-7310 and they will put together a packet of information to help you entertain your guests. Likewise, if you have a business that relies on tourism, the office can help you connect with many ways to reach visitors. Together we will strengthen our economic vitality and restore the wonderful quality of life that Monmouth County enjoys.
Happy Holidays and get ready for a great 2013.
Thomas A. Arnone is Freeholder Deputy Director Monmouth County and Liaison to the Department of Public Information and Tourism
Senator Mike Doherty wants the Jersey Shore rebuilt with high-rise condos
State Senator Michael Doherty (R-Warren) would go a lot further than eliminating beach badges from the Jersey Shore if he had his way. Doherty says that the pre-Sandy Shore was a failed economic model reminiscent of the 1950’s Catskill Mountain bungalow communities and that our coast should be rebuilt in the image of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Ocean City, Maryland and Destin, Florida with high-rise condos with pools, free beaches and high end merchants.
Photo Credit: Myrtle Beach Area Convention and Visitors Buerau. Click for larger view.
Doherty has proposed legislation that would prohibit coastal communities that accept state or federal funds to rebuild from selling beach badges or otherwise charging the public for access to the shore. The bill would also require municipalities to provide free restroom facilities from Memorial Day through Labor Day annually.
Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) has signed on as a prime co-sponsor of the bill. That means it is not likely to be buried in committee never to see that light of day.
“It is likely that state and federal taxpayers will provide hundreds of millions of dollars to repair and replenish New Jersey beaches that were washed away during Hurricane Sandy,” said Doherty. “Considering the massive public resources that will be directed at rebuilding many New Jersey beaches, it only seems fair to ensure that everyone have the opportunity to enjoy free access to the beaches they will support and help rebuild with their tax dollars.”
Sweeney said, “Where taxpayers are paying for beach restoration, they shouldn’t be taxed a second time just to walk on the sand. As New Jerseyans, we are all in the recovery and rebuilding process together. That means we should all be able to enjoy the reopening of our state’s greatest natural resource together, too.”
MMM called Doherty and Sweeney to ask how beach maintenance, life guards and police would be paid for under their plan. Sweeney hasn’t gotten back to us, but Doherty gave us an earful.
