Brian T. Murray, Governor Chris Christie’s spokesman, told MMM in an email that Christie has not seen the Transportation Trust Fund legislation that Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto announced today.
New Jersey’s infrastructure construction projects have been shut down since July 8 when the TFF was down to a $10 million balance which being held for emergency projects.
Senator Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth), the leading opponent of a gas tax increase in the legislature, announced her opposition to the compromise legislation out forth by Senate President Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto. Beck says the Sweeney/Prieto plan is just as bad for taxpayers as the Senate plan that failed last month.
“The tax plan announced by Democrats today would still raise the gas tax by 23 cents per gallon, just as the last failed plan would have,” said Beck. “The cosmetic changes that the Senate President and Assembly Speaker have agreed to are just window dressing on the core $1.2 billion tax increase on drivers that remains largely unchanged from the previous version of the legislation.”
Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto have a compromise deal on the Transportation Trust Fund, according to an announcement on the NJ Senate Democrats website.
“We have an agreement on a plan that is needed to address the state’s critical transportation needs at the same time it provides targeted tax savings for retirees, the working poor and middle class families,” said Senator Sweeney (D-Salem/Cumberland/Gloucester). “This is a bipartisan plan that supports a $2 billion a year Transportation Trust Fund and provides affordable tax cuts that will allow us to meet the state’s pension obligations without creating a fiscal crisis. This is an investment plan that will create jobs and support immediate and long-term economic growth.”
TRENTON — After calling the Senate president’s proposal to end a stalemate over funding for construction projects “ridiculous” earlier this week, Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday delivered a counteroffer. No details of either proposal are known, but a spokesman for Senate President Stephen Sweeney said he is reviewing the latest proposal. The governor and Senate are… Read the rest of this entry »
Now nearly three full weeks old, the political impasse in Trenton over transportation funding is no closer to being resolved, and there are some signs key leaders may actually be moving further apart Reports out of Cleveland,… Read the rest of this entry »
TRENTON — Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Monday he will present multiple proposals to Gov. Chris Christie this week to re-up the Transportation Trust Fund and break a stalemate that’s suspended road and rail projects across the state. Sweeney (D-Gloucester), declined to elaborate on the funding plans, but acknowledged that timing is a concern as Republicans… Read the rest of this entry »
With cash for state transportation projects getting scarcer by the hour thanks to political gridlock in Trenton, Gov. Chris Christie’s administration yesterday released a list of dozens of road and rail upgrades that are slated to be put on hold later this week. The forced shutdown of the infrastructure work by late Friday night will affect…
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.
TRENTON — New Jersey motorists may not have to worry about their gas taxes skyrocketing this weekend. The state Senate will not vote Thursday on Gov. Chris Christie’s offer to raise the gas tax in exchange for a 1-cent reduction in the sales tax, Sen. Raymond Lesniak said Thursday. The governor, in a news conference Wednesday,… Read the rest of this entry »
Senator Joe Kyrillos yesterday endorsed a $.23 per gallon increase in the New Jersey’s tax on gasoline in order to fund the Transportation Trust Fund for the next 10 years. Proponents of the tax increase say the fund will only have money for debt service starting at the end of this month, if the state tax on gasoline remains at its current level of $.14 per gallon.
“In total, it is a productivity, prosperity and quality of life package for New Jersey, and very, very significant,” Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) said at a Statehouse news conference, according to NJ.com.
The gas tax increase legislation also reduces the estate tax and taxes on retirement income.
