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| Governor Chris Christie and Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno |
Governor Chris Christie is planning help for small business by working to stabilize the States Finances. "The number-one job of this administration is to get the state's fiscal health back in order," explains Christie. Although many other states have a fiscal mess on their hands NJ's is among the worst, right behind California and Indiana. He says, "My hope and my plan is to get our house in order fiscally before all those other states do so we can then be in a position to steal as many of those jobs, create as many of those new jobs as we can."
The Governors plan has been bantered about so it should be no surprise, "It's nothing I haven't been saying for the last year. I mean, we are in an enormous fiscal crisis and it is not over…..New Jersey is now the leader in talking about this issue. We're talking about it and have been talking about it and have been doing something about it for a year."
The Governor who was told he inherited a surplus, quickly found out that Corzine squandered millions in the 11th hour much of it doled out to his cronies. Enter Christie who immediately faced with an 11 billion dollar deficit and a budget he had to balance. Christie successfully closed the 11 billion budget gap in Fiscal Year 2011 and the 2012 budget will be as painful, or even worse than the last one.
"I think any budget that a Christie-Guadagno (Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno) puts forward is going to be a pro-business budget," says Christie. "The question is; how do operate within the fiscal constraints that we have and this is going to continue to be a very difficult budget. Fiscal Year 2012 is going to be a very difficult budget."
Governor Christie was asked how next year's Supreme Court hearings on the Abbott v. Burke case regarding school funding will impact the 2012 budget. He doesn't believe State Supreme Court decisions should play any role in the budget process but they do. He says he will be forced to keep a close eye on the Courts rulings on the issue.
The Governor believes there are other concerns in next year's budget. "The closer you get to balancing that structural deficit the tougher the decisions are because you try to save as much as you can on worthwhile programs while you can. This year will be tougher than last year in that respect. The decisions will be even more difficult because of the decisions we made last year."
The state constitution mandates that New Jersey have a signed and balanced budget in place by midnight June 30. The biggest issue to deal with is the unfunded pensions and health care for retired public employees. The total unfunded pension liability for health care for current and future retirees is now $120.7 billion.
The Governor who was told he inherited a surplus, quickly found out that Corzine squandered millions in the 11th hour much of it doled out to his cronies. Enter Christie who immediately faced with an 11 billion dollar deficit and a budget he had to balance. Christie successfully closed the 11 billion budget gap in Fiscal Year 2011 and the 2012 budget will be as painful, or even worse than the last one.
"I think any budget that a Christie-Guadagno (Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno) puts forward is going to be a pro-business budget," says Christie. "The question is; how do operate within the fiscal constraints that we have and this is going to continue to be a very difficult budget. Fiscal Year 2012 is going to be a very difficult budget."
Governor Christie was asked how next year's Supreme Court hearings on the Abbott v. Burke case regarding school funding will impact the 2012 budget. He doesn't believe State Supreme Court decisions should play any role in the budget process but they do. He says he will be forced to keep a close eye on the Courts rulings on the issue.
The Governor believes there are other concerns in next year's budget. "The closer you get to balancing that structural deficit the tougher the decisions are because you try to save as much as you can on worthwhile programs while you can. This year will be tougher than last year in that respect. The decisions will be even more difficult because of the decisions we made last year."
The state constitution mandates that New Jersey have a signed and balanced budget in place by midnight June 30. The biggest issue to deal with is the unfunded pensions and health care for retired public employees. The total unfunded pension liability for health care for current and future retirees is now $120.7 billion.
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| Trenton's Top Two Democrats Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver |
While they are largely responsible for the fiscal mess the state finds itself in, the States Democratic Controlled Assembly and Senate, who are all up for election in November 2011, have shown little cooperation with the Governor in fixing the States fiscal house.
The hope and advice from NJECPAC, is that every Taxpayer in the State of New Jersey enter the voting booth in November 8th 2011 with their tax bill in hand, review it and then pull the lever for the candidate they believe will cooperate with the Governor in achieving what he was elected to do. Get the states fiscal house in order and provide much needed property tax relief.
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