Capitol Comments – Assemblyman Alex Sauickie
TRENTON – Recently I wrote here about Gov. Sherrill’s inaugural address, which struck me as too mired in national politics and messaging while our state has serious problems that a new governor should immediately address. I essentially said she’s way too focused on bashing the president and federal policies instead of doing the job she was just elected to do for New Jersey.
On March 10, the new governor will deliver her budget address. I have a feeling that I’ll write about that afterward, with the chances somewhat high that there will be things in it that deserve some criticism – especially if it’s anything like her prior address.
I noted in that previous column that, in an apparent afterthought following her extensive grumbling on federal issues, Sherrill took some low-key potshots at her predecessor’s record on affordability. She said she has heard New Jerseyans on the affordability crisis – which, I would note, simmered during the Murphy administration and surged toward its end.
In late February, Sherrill and Treasurer Aaron Binder laid out a surprisingly accurate and stark description of the state’s dire financial condition – which was very similar to what I’ve been saying and writing about since I joined the Assembly. They displayed a striking visual of how the state’s vaunted budget surplus, which Democrats have bragged about for years, would not only be gone in two years if we follow the current course, but would become a $750 million deficit.
They doubled the amount of the structural budget deficit – the difference between spending and reliable revenue – to $3 billion from the often-reported $1.5 billion. That’s much closer to the $4 billion I’ve been reporting based on insider budget expert analysis. Ocean County’s own Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, the lead Republican on the budget committee, has reported a deficit of over $4 billion.
This came only weeks after Murphy said, in his final address to the Legislature, that “fiscal responsibility is not an option, it is an obligation,” and went on to talk about the importance of spending within the state’s means, implying that was his approach. This from the governor who signed a budget with that $4 billion structural deficit, and prior budgets that increased state spending by about 67%.
Murphy’s speech brought to mind the scene in “Animal House” where Kevin Bacon’s character stands in the midst of chaos, shouting, “Remain calm! All is well!” Sherrill and Binder distanced themselves from that baseless fiscal optimism, lining up instead with more clear-eyed reports from the political right, center, and even left.
The right-leaning Garden State Initiative last year reported on the structural deficit and recommended eliminating it by ensuring annual revenues fully cover spending, and funding mostly essential public services while cutting back on non-essential spending. The bipartisan Multi-Year Budget Workgroup of Rowan University a year ago issued a report with the alarming title, “New Jersey’s Multi-Year Structural Deficit: Current Budget Services Budget Projections, Economic Uncertainty, and the Looming Fiscal Cliff.”
The report noted that the once $10.7 billion surplus shrank to $6.2 billion before the current budget due to three years of “red ink” budgets in which spending exceeded expected revenues by a total of over $7 billion, and that overspending revenues would likely continue for years without major changes.
Even the liberal NJ Policy Perspective organization reported in January that the budget has “time bombs that are ticking with billions of dollars in costs that are going to require difficult decisions to try to defuse,” as described by a spokesman. These costs include public employee pension and health benefits and the Stay NJ senior property tax relief program, the report said.
The unnecessarily high cost of funding the state pension systems was also part of the Sherrill and Binder presentation on how bad decisions over decades got us to our current financial situation. They said we now have to pay over $7 billion each year, whereas the cost would be about $1 billion if previous governors had paid the required annual amounts.
As is typical for Sherrill, she griped about President Trump by name more than once in her presentation, but notably didn’t name the governors who created the pension funding problem. I’m happy to help out: funding dropped below 100% under Gov. McGreevey and continued to fall under Govs. Codey and Corzine – with Corzine only paying between 6% and 50% of what was needed each year.
But it was the eight years of profligate spending and obscene pork under Murphy that brought us more directly to where we are. I remember leaving a Murphy budget address two years ago thinking: how much more can our families take?
Since then, costs have only climbed. New Jersey families are carrying the burden of the highest taxes in the nation, skyrocketing utility bills, rising everyday expenses, and school districts forced to make painful cuts because of a broken funding formula.
On March 10, Gov. Sherrill will tell us how she plans to deliver on her promises of addressing affordability and budgeting without tax increases. Will our residents finally see the relief they so desperately need and deserve? Or will it be more of the same?
I’ll be watching – and fighting – every step of the way.
Alex Sauickie is a life-long Jackson resident who represents his home town and 12 other towns in the State Assembly. Follow him on Facebook or visit his website at AssemblymanAlex.com.
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