Christie's budget under fire

A day before Gov. Christie was to unveil his first budget, Democratic lawmakers and policy advocates criticized reported elements they said would hurt the middle class and lower-income families.

Christie, a Republican, faces an estimated budget deficit of about $11 billion on a proposed budget of around $29.3 billion.

His proposal reportedly will call for deferring property-tax rebates that normally would be delivered later this year until 2011 and changing them to tax credits. To Democrats, that is not a delayed payment, but a missed one.

"If you're a family who received a rebate in 2009, in 2010, you will receive neither a rebate nor a credit," said Assembly Budget Chairman Louis D. Greenwald (D., Camden). "That will be a dramatic property-tax increase for families, young families, middle-class families, and seniors."

Greenwald said that beyond rebates, Christie's budget proposal breaks other campaign promises, including responsibly paying for the government workers' pension fund and reducing property taxes.

Christie's budget would put no money into the pension fund and calls for a constitutional amendment to cap property-tax increases at 2.5 percent per year.

"We're passing our burdens on to local governments without really getting to the meat of the problem," Greenwald said.

Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D., Union) said the possible budget cuts he had heard - including $445 million in municipal aid and $819 million aid to schools - were unacceptable. They come on top of $475 million Christie cut in school aid this fiscal year.

"It's a tough budget, as we expected it would be," Cryan said. "I'm disappointed, and I'm looking forward to the Legislature's getting the opportunity to look at certain areas."

The Democratic-controlled Legislature must approve a version of Christie's proposed budget before it becomes law. According to the state constitution, the governor must sign a budget by the start of the fiscal year, July 1.

Other elements of the budget include saving an estimated $50 million by privatizing government functions, reducing municipal and extraordinary aid, and changing the binding-arbitration system that determines contracts for some public employees. Some proposals would require legislation.

Republican lawmakers defended Christie's budget proposal, saying the governor was in an extremely difficult position.

"Do I like doing this? No. Do I realize that we have a catastrophic budget deficit we have to close? Yes," said Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R., Burlington), the Assembly GOP's budget officer.

Increasing taxes, he said, would chase residents out of the state.

Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R., Essex) said some of the budget numbers were shocking, "but when you're looking at an $11 billion deficit, there will be pain across the board."

O'Toole said that he expected the budget to pass after the Legislature tinkered.

"Clearly, the public is solidly behind him, but it will take some convincing," he said.

Some advocates worry that the budget will hurt schools and working-class residents.

Barbara Keshishian, president of the New Jersey Education Association, called Christie's proposal "a disaster that would begin to dismantle the best public school system in America."

"On the other hand, this budget is an unconscionable gift to those earning more than $400,000 a year," she said. "Gov. Christie is slashing education in order to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy."

David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, said that when the state Supreme Court approved the state's school aid formula, it did so with the understanding that the plan would be fully funded.

"The state represented to the court last year that they would fund this formula," Sciarra said. "The governor cannot unilaterally disregard the formula. He has to go back to the court and ask for permission."

The court's ruling in favor of the formula freed the state from the requirements to give enhanced aid to 31 mostly urban school districts, known as the Abbott districts. But the justices made clear that they would continue to monitor the state's school aid system.

"We trust that the state will not allow our school districts to regress to the former problems that necessitated judicial intervention in the first place," the court wrote last year.

Margarita Hernandez, spokeswoman for Better Choices for New Jersey, a coalition of 50 organizations calling for increased investment in critical public services, said Christie "talks a good game about shared sacrifice, but so far he's only asking it from working families."

"Reported cuts of $800 million to school aid and $445 million to municipal aid will mean two things: higher property taxes for middle-class New Jerseyans and drastic reductions to basic services like public education, libraries, and fire and public safety," she said.