Governor Corzine’s Budget Increases State Spending By $2.6 Billion

Governor Jon Corzine maintains that he has cut $2.6 billion from New Jersey’s budget and yet the only cut you ever hear about is a $169 million cut to higher education and that includes $46 million in “one-time funding” for projects in last year’s budget.

If Corzine actually cut several billion dollars from the budget don’t you think we would have heard about substantial cuts in specific state programs or services? We haven’t heard about a big cut in this or that because there aren’t any.

Next year, the state expects to collect $28.851 billion, $586 million more than last year without any new or increased taxes. (Budget in Brief page 77)

If Corzine cut $2.6 billion in spending and anticipates existing taxes to bring in $586 million more than last year, that’s $3.186 billion available for new state spending without any tax increases.

The Governor has proposed a $1.3 billion contribution to the state worker pension fund and $530 million more for property tax rebates, for a total of $1.83 billion. That still leaves $1.356 billion for increased debt service and other new spending if Corzine had cut $2.6 billion from lat year’s budget. But Corzine also wants new and increased taxes of $1.801 billion and to dip into the state’s “rainy day fund” for another $223 million.

The following is Corzine’s proposed state budget for 2007 from the revenue side:

$28.265 billion – 2006 New Jersey State Budget (2006 Revenue)
+ $586 million - 2007 Additional Revenue from Existing Taxes
+ $223 million – 2007 “Rainy Day Fund” (Surplus Reduction)
+ $1.801 billion – 2007 Revenue from Proposed Tax increases
$30.875 billion – 2007 Proposed Budget

The following is Corzine’s proposed state budget for 2007 from the spending side:

$28.265 billion – 2006 New Jersey State Budget (2006 Spending)
- $169 million – 2007 Reduction in Funding for Higher Education
+ $1.3 billion – 2007 Proposed Contribution to State Worker Pension Funds
+ $530 million – 2007 Proposed Increase in Property Tax Rebates
+ $949 million – 2007 Proposed Other New Spending
$30.875 billion – 2007 Proposed Budget

Had Governor Corzine actually cut $2.6 billion in spending, the 2007 budget would look like this:

$28.265 billion – 2006 New Jersey State Budget (2006 Spending)
- $2.6 billion – 2007 Corzine Spending Cuts
+ $1.3 billion – 2007 Proposed Contribution to State Worker Pension Funds
+ $530 million – 2007 Proposed Increase in Property Tax Rebates
+ $949 million – 2007 Proposed Other New Spending
$28.444 billion – 2007 Budget with Cuts

The revenue side of the budget for 2007 would then look like this:

$28.265 billion – 2006 New Jersey State Budget (2006 Revenue)
+ $586 million - 2007 Additional Revenue from Existing Taxes
+ $0 - 2007 Reduction in “Rainy Day Fund” (Surplus)
+ $0 - 2007 New or Increased Taxes
$28.851 Billion – 2007 Revenue Exceeds Budget by $431 million

Obviously, Governor Jon Corzine has not cut state spending by $2.6 billion. Rather the Governor has increased spending by $2.6 billion. When will the media stop repeating Corzine’s spin when it’s clearly false? Jon Corzine’s budget increases state spending by 9.2 percent and that's the bottom line.