Towns get bad news on state aid
By JANE ROH
• Courier-Post Staff • February 25, 2010
TRENTON
— Municipal officials hoping for less bad news in a grim budget environment were
told Wednesday by Gov.
Chris
Christie
that the state would be slashing their aid.
"I'd love to be able to tell you that municipal aid will stay level, but it's
not," Christie said. "So you need to prepare for what's coming down the line,
because at the end of the day we don't have a choice but to do these things."
Speaking before mayors at the League of Municipalities' annual Mayor's
Legislative Day, Christie attacked the budget of predecessor Jon S. Corzine,
laid into familiar foes such as public employee pay packages and the Council on
Affordable Housing, and gently scolded lawmakers for lethargy on the
long-running issue of
property
taxes.
It was a speech that didn't sit well with several local mayors.
"It was a complete waste of time," said Mayor Fred Grant, of East Greenwich in
Gloucester County. "The governor came in and started off the speech saying he
was happy to have a frank conversation with the mayors of New Jersey, and he
just gave a speech telling us there are going to be cuts all over the board and
didn't take any input."
Grant added that Christie spends too much time blaming municipalities for the
state's budget crisis.
The governor compared the situation officials in New Jersey find themselves in
to the 1969
film
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
"When they were running and got to the edge of that cliff, they had a seminal
decision to make -- are they going to get shot from behind or are they going to
take the chance to jump off the cliff and hope that when they land, they
survive. I don't suggest either are attractive options, but they are the options
we have left," Christie said. "We have to hold hands at every level of
government and jump off a cliff. I
firmly believe that we will land and we will land fine. The ruination of New
Jersey's economy and the
quality
of life we want all our citizens to have is certain if we don't take this
course."
Gloucester Township Mayor David Mayer praised Christie's "good and direct"
speech, but complained that Christie was more concerned about his projected $11
billion
budget
deficit
than with the predicament municipalities face.
"I don't think we need to jump off a cliff. What we need to do is keep our
taxpayers from falling off," the former assemblyman said. "He's not solving the
problem. He's solving the state's budget problem. I don't know if that's
leadership."
Christie repeatedly promised to give municipalities "the tools" to combat higher
taxes, such as ending binding arbitration, eliminating COAH, more changes to
public workers' pensions and benefits, and cracking down on state boards and
authorities. He has issued executive orders to begin that process, and on Monday
the Senate passed a package of
pension
and benefits reforms.
But officials packed into the State House committee room said they weren't just
there to listen to Christie speak. They were there to get answers on those
feared municipal aid cuts and appeal for state lawmakers' help in minimizing
anticipated property tax hikes.
The League of Municipalities has said that the best it
was hoping for was for Christie to announce regular municipal aid would remain
flat. Though Christie delivered bad news, municipalities will still be squirming
until he announces how much will be cut during his budget speech on March 16. He
has already informed school districts to expect cuts of up to 15 percent.
"We need to do cuts in (state) government spending. We need to make sure the
cuts that we implement are on our obligations and our budgets -- not passing
that burden onto local communities that's going to drive up property taxes,"
said Assemblyman Louis D. Greenwald, D-Camden, chairman of the budget committee.
He advocates giving municipalities the authority to diversify their tax
revenues, which would allow some to implement local
sales
taxes.
Many mayors warn that substantial decreases from Trenton will force them to lean
harder on already overtaxed residents.
In the tri-county area, mayors from East Greenwich, Gloucester Township,
Haddonfield, Deptford, and Collingswood attended the conference. Cherry Hill
Mayor Bernie Platt is in Florida for his annual month long vacation. On Monday,
Chief of Staff Dan Keashen asked council Vice President Sara Lipsett to
represent the township. Both Lipsett and Keashen were in attendance.
Reach Jane Roh at (856) 486-2919 or
jroh@gannett.com