Trenton Democrats show they know how to save tax dollars. Will they?

Reading the news out of Trenton this week about the horse trading over the 2008-2009 state budget one might think that prominent Democrats have become fiscal conservatives.

Governor Corzine, who proposed a budget that he said had $2.7 billion in cuts, but keeps state spending flat at $33 billion. I’m a product of New Jersey public schools and I can’t figure out that math. How is spending the same amount as last year a $2.7 billion cut?

Nevertheless, holding the line on spending that has been rising rapidly year after year with increased borrowing and one shot revenue raising gimmicks is a marked improvement. Corzine has insisted that there will be no tax increases. That sounds good, but as part of his $2.7 billion in “cuts”, the governor has proposed cutting $190 million in aid to municipalities. Towns with less than 5000 people would get no state aid under the governor’s proposal and towns with less than 10,000 people would have the aid drastically reduced. This will lead to property tax increases for more than half of the state’s towns. Corzine now says he’s willing to restore some of this aid, but insists that the money must come from cuts to other programs. That is progress.

On April 15, tax day, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts proposed changing the state’s property tax rebate program so that tax payers would apply for and receive their property tax rebates in conjunction with their state tax returns, rather than the current system where by the state send rebate applications to tax payers in the summer and checks are received in October, just before election day. Roberts says this will save $10 million, which could be used for additional tax relief, and stop a costly political gimmick. This proposal makes too much sense to be coming out of Trenton. I hope Roberts gets it passed, but I’m not holding my breath that the $10 million in savings will really lead to more property tax relief.

Speaking of property tax relief, it was revealed this week that in addition to the $190 million in “savings” the governor is proposing by eliminating aid to municipalities, that he is proposing another $200 million in “savings” by reducing property tax rebates. Those who earn more the $150 thousand will no longer receive rebates, and that the rest of us will have our 20% rebates calculated based on our 2006 property taxes, not our higher 2007 property taxes. The governor says there will be no new taxes. Aren’t reduced rebates the same as increased taxes? This must be some kind of “new math” that I didn’t learn when I attended New Jersey public schools in the 60’s and 70’s.

State Senator Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), who chairs the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, proposed what sounds like a real savings. Bouno has revived discussions implementing changes to the state pension systems that were proposed by bi-partisan panel of lawmakers in 2006 that would take part time employees out of the pension system, take back the 9% pension boost that the Republican controlled legislature gave state workers, outside of the bargaining process in 2001, and raise the retirement age to 62. Why not 65? This proposal would apply to new employees only. Corzine derailed these reforms in 2006, and he is resisting them again.

State workers union leader, Carla Katz, who is also Corzine’s ex-girlfriend and got at least $6 million from him when they broke up, has proposed saving $22 million dollars by eliminating 298 political patronage jobs with average salaries of $75 thousand, rather than close the Department of Agriculture ($500K savings) and closing state parks ($4.5 million in savings). Corzine won’t go along with this, but he won’t get a rebate on the $6 million he gave Katz either.

The good news is with all of these proposals, Trenton Democrats have shown that they know where there is money to save. Let’s encourage them to come up with more money saving ideas and to have the fortitude to implement them. But don’t get your hopes up. This is, for the most part the same crew that shut down the state government in 2006 because they didn’t want to go along with Corzine’s 16.7% sales tax increase, only to cave in when Corzine agreed to let them have half the first year’s increase in “Christmas Tree items.”