After Governor Christie failed to come to an agreement with the State Senate on replenishment of the state Transportation Trust Fund, he announced Wednesday that hundreds of transportation projects would shut down this week. The news was the latest in an ongoing saga on how to fund road, bridge, transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects in the state.
Regional Plan Association President Tom Wright told Politico that a shutdown would be felt far and wide:
“What it does is kind of upend the whole pipeline and it causes ripple effects that are going to delay very important and critical projects,” he said. “They’ll move on to a project somewhere else. This is going to have long-term repercussions that are going to be really damaging to the state.”
Regional Plan Association supported a previous proposal for a 23-cent increase in the gas tax that had support of the Senate and many Assembly members (A10, A11), and seemingly had enough support to override a veto by the Governor. But a version of the bill that passed the Assembly (A12) last week was different. It called for a reduction in the state sales tax from seven percent to six percent, which would have devastating effects on the state budget. The Wall Street Journal estimated a one-cent reduction would blow a $1.8 billion dollar hole in the budget by 2021. The sales tax was expected to raise about $9.2 billion for the state in the fiscal year that just ended on June 30. The Assembly bill offered no explanation of how this shortfall would be made up, which makes us wonder if the legislation is a serious proposal or simply a high stakes political game.
Other groups were also vocal on the issue. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign released a sharp rebuke of the Governor. The Laborer’s Union said the move would affect thousands of its 40,000 members, who wouldn’t get paid during the shutdown. The Chamber of Commerce asked lawmakers to return to Trenton and work out a deal. Sierra Club also opposed the plan, citing the deterioration of transit service in recent years.
Photo: NJ Governor Chris Christie by Bob Jagendorf // Flickr Creative Commons
