Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
The New Jersey Education Law Center has sued New Jersey. I am no fan of the Ed Law Center and David Sciarra in particular, but it does what it does. That, however, does not excuse Governor Christie from keeping public information from the public.
Gov. Chris Christie has advised the education department not to release a report Tuesday which details how much New Jersey spends per pupil, over concerns it could hurt the state in a current legal challenge.
The above is plain ridiculous. If releasing how much taxpayers fund per student will hurt the state in the lawsuit, perhaps the Ed Law Center has a point. You do not conceal public information.
These are not national secrets. It is not a covert operation. It is not a trade secret. This is an accounting to the taxpayers for how much they are actually spending on public education.
This is civics 101 here, governor. Release the damn figures and just shut up about it. You are becoming ever so the politician with comments like this one.
Posted in Education, New Jersey, Politics | No Comments »
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Back in March I warned about Governor Christie’s proposed 2.5% cap. I criticized it on his desire for a constitutional amendment to control spending.
My issue with Christie’s remedy is a constitutional amendment. Government needs to be prudent; it should not take the state constitution to do so. Obviously, the economy has tanked. A 2.5% annual increase sounds prudent today. But should/when the economy bounces back and “revenue” is flowing, 2.5% may very well be an impediment to government.
There’s more to be wary of, however.
Today the New Jersey Assembly passed the bill for a 2% cap. Governor Christie is expected to sign it tomorrow.
Christie’s spin is that this is a 2% hard cap.
Thanks to the quick action taken last week by the Senate and today by the Assembly, New Jersey families can finally look forward to the kind of real, long-term property tax relief that Trenton has failed to deliver for decades. A hard cap of 2 percent with limited exceptions that puts final authority to exceed the cap in the hands of the people is the substantial and sustainable reform New Jersey needs.
What are those limited exceptions?
According to the AP, those are “costs for pensions, health benefits and capital expenditures”.
Let’s play this out some, shall we? As Millville prepares next year’s budget, it is prevented from raising property taxes more than 2%. That sounds great for the overtaxed home owners around here. But salaries of police and fire officers will increase. Did they agree to a contract for less than a two-percent increase? I gather the firemen are still without a contract, but I am relatively certain the police have more than 2% coming their way. Teachers will be held to zero increase according to their contract.
Who thinks health insurance will increase less than 2% next year? What about energy costs?
Suppose Governor Christie decides not to allow municipalities to skate on their pension contributions next year. You recall those pension deferments that has our system underfunded by $170 billion.
How can this deal be called a hard cap? Our property taxes are going to rise. No matter what is done, what is spun, you and I will continue to pay more.
FWIW, I applaud the Millville City Commission for drawing the line this year that there will be no property tax increase. You see Governor Christie, the will of the people is supposed to keep spending in check.
I can envision there being times (Not this year. Not next either. ) when public employees should earn more than a 2% raise. That cannot happen now unless something else is cut. There isn’t much to cut anymore.
This cap has holes that the taxpayers will be plugging.
Posted in New Jersey, Politics | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Governor Christie announced today that he will borrow $1.4 billion to fund the Transportation Trust Fund this year. The TTF budget is $895 million. Of that, $850 million is payment on TTF’s debt. That’s correct, the TTF is so in debt, most of its budget is to pay the vig on money it has already borrowed. What do you think new borrowing is going to do to next year’s budget?
Oh sure, Christie has promised to fix this.
“What it’s going to look like, I have no idea yet,” he said. “I have not given it deep thought in terms of how we’re going to fix the problem and, candidly, I want to get advice from other people on how to fix it.”
This is how we got into this mess. Five years ago I said the same thing. Voters elected Governor Corzine. The very first thing Corzine did was borrow money to fill the potholes. That bill will come due 30 years from now. We will have re-filled the potholes with new borrowing long before then.
There is absolutely no difference between Christie’s move today and Corzine’s then. Different men, same bad government. How pathetic it is that even the highly inefficient federal government laments New Jersey’s decisions?
This is not leadership. Not one dime should be loaned to New Jersey for the TTF until a real plan is in place. Christie’s move is pure politics . . . just stemming the tide until later. Later, the bill balloons. He was supposed to be different. This is the same corrupt politics we have had all along.
Governor Christie, you talk tough to the teachers, but you are on your knees servicing your political cronies on this one. We deserve better than this.
Posted in New Jersey, Politics | 2 Comments »
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
Today New Jersey launched YourMoney.NJ.gov. We hope this site will be a truthful accounting of how Trenton spends our tax dollars. It is not fully implemented yet, but there are some interesting data already available.
Six months into 2010 there are already 22,509 state employees who have earned $1,000 or more of overtime. That’s correct, $22.5 million in OT!
Andrei Martin is #1 on the state payroll already banking $50,240.47 in overtime. Mr. Martin’s annual salary is $86,254.60. In the middle of this difficult economy, Mr. Martin has banked $109,472.79 thanks to New Jersey taxpayers.
Martin is one of 31 state employees who have already pocketed more than $30,000 in OT this year!
Governor Christie, want to get the public behind you? Drop this list to zero.
Posted in New Jersey, Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
When I first moved here 16 years ago, I made two immediate observations: 1. there are no sidewalks and 2. the mentality of the area is “We’re depressed, therefore you must give.” This blog tackles #2 regularly. Along Wheaton Avenue right now, #1 is being addressed. Sure, a couple million dollars of federal stimulus money is behind this, but it is still nice to see . . . The Norcross machine sure gets a lot of grief in this state, particularly this area. It’s deserved. But I did notice that Don Norcross, the brother of South Jersey the political boss, has proposed something that actually makes sense. Did you know you can’t purchase a motorcycle in New Jersey on Sunday? This archaic blue law should have been off the books some time ago. Will it bring back Millville Harley? No. Will it solve our economic woes? No. But here is a proposal that will help without a single tax being levied against the citizens. This is good . . . While I have been generally impressed with the job Gov. Christie is doing, I am concerned about the budget that is about to be passed. It doesn’t seem to have been reduced, and I keep hearing about tax increases buried in there. Christie will pay a hefty price if he has taxes/fees in his budget. Not only will he be hammered for it, he will lose the respect of those who have supported him . . . A guest of ours on Sunday said to me, “I had no idea how loud the track is” on his way out. Sunday was a “quiet” day in our neighborhood, although we were able to hear it over the motor we ran for our water slide . . . Speaking of NJMP, the AC Press seems to be onto the idea that NJMP is not drawing crowds. Sure would like to hear more about this . . . Today is the confirmation hearing for an American hero. General Patraeus will be on the Hill today. Of course, there is silence from MoveOn.org. When President Bush had Patraeus in charge, the whacky left group cried “General Betray Us”. Why the hypocrisy when President Obama hires the same guy? Could it be that MoveOn.org is not principled? . . . Who would have thought that Kevin Costner’s legacy would include cleaning up oil in the Gulf? . . . Why the differences in functions for the same software depending on one’s mobile unit, MLB? No streaming games or player stats if you don’t own an iPhone or iPad. Bah! . . . Are you ready for The Daily Journal to go behind a paywall? I haven’t paid for this paper in the last seven years and I don’t plan on adding it to the Owens budget to read the drivel that passes for local news. Is Gannett really that bold? . . .
Posted in Baseball, Media, Politics, Sports, Technology | No Comments »
