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GOP opposed to toll hike
(by Maggie Fazeli Fard - February 20, 2008)
Complaints abounded at Westwood Community Center Monday night, when a public meeting organized to get public input on Gov. Jon Corzine’s proposed toll hike morphed into an opportunity for residents and legislators to air their grievances about the democratic governor. For nearly two-thirds of the two-hour meeting, organized by a Republican Assembly task force, people spoke out on topics ranging from pensions to illegal immigration, their comments emphasized by applause-inducing remarks such as “He’s dangerous,” from Assemblyman John Rooney.
Yet when the task force got down to the business of the evening, it became clear that Corzine won’t get his toll hike without a fight.
In recent weeks, Corzine’s fiscal restructuring plan has been touted as a solution to New Jersey’s so-called budget crisis, in which state debt has doubled in the past six years, making New Jersey the fourth most indebted state in the nation.
The plan would enable the state to pay off half of its existing $32 billion outstanding debt and fund future transportation projects by creating a non-profit agency called the Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), which would borrow approximately $40 billion to operate and maintain the state’s roads.
The bonds would be repaid over the next 75 years by substantially increasing tolls – 50 percent each in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 with adjustable increases following every four years until 2085. The Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike would be among the state roadways subject to the toll hike.
While Corzine has garnered support from corporate executives, congressmen, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and even Atlantic City casinos, he may find himself hard-pressed to win the hearts of minds of the legislature and his electorate.
“The entire Republican caucus in the legislature opposes the governor’s plan,” said Assemblyman Michael Doherty, the chairman of the GOP Task Force for Fiscal Responsibility, at the Feb. 18 meeting. “We think it’s a disaster.”
Among the GOP objections to the plan is that the PBC will not be subject to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), excluding it from public scrutiny, said Doherty.
Additionally, the task force claims that New Jersey residents are being misled about how much the plan is really going to cost. According to Assemblyman Richard Merkt, vice chairman of the task force, residents will pay approximately $196 billion over the next 75 years in order to borrow $40 million now.
“I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t seem like a particularly good deal to me,” said Merkt. “The governor’s telling us we have a debt crisis. No, we don’t. We have a spending crisis.”
Merkt said that Republican legislators have repeatedly proposed budget cuts such as limiting aid to Abbott school districts, repealing the judicial salary increase, implementing a hiring freeze, and reducing “pork,” or spending that benefits a particular constituent or supporter. The task force claims that all GOP suggestions have been rejected by the governor.
The plan, which Corzine hopes will be approved in March, will require 41 votes in the state Assembly and 21 votes in the state Senate for passage. According to Merkt, all 32 Republicans in the Assembly have pledged to oppose the plan come time to vote.
“We only need nine Democrats with a spine,” said Merkt to a round of applause. He added that three democratic votes would be required to sway the vote in the state Senate.
Rooney, who along with local Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk attended the public meeting, was not optimistic that the GOP could get democratic legislators to come around. “I firmly believe Democrats are going to pass this,” he said.
However, the task force is ready to take its battle to court, if necessary, believing that the plan can be challenged as unconstitutional since it targets only those who use the toll roads.
Vandervalk asked the audience to contact the governor’s office with complaints about the toll hike.
“This subject is so important,” Vandervalk said, “because once it’s done, there’s no undoing it.”
Maggie Fazeli Fard's e-mail address is fazelifard@northjersey.com.
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