Murphy plans to spend $700M on COVID recovery and more. Top Republican blasts the proposal as ‘grossly incomp – NJ.com

Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday announced sprawling plans to allocate nearly $700 million in state taxpayer money and federal coronavirus relief funds on various projects involving health institutions, wind energy, housing, economic recovery from the pandemic, and more.

Murphy said the spending is the result of an agreement with his fellow Democrats who lead the state Legislature.

“This proposal will allow us to responsibly fund capital construction and continue using federal dollars for one-time, transformative investments in our residents, communities, and infrastructure,” the governor said in a statement Friday. “I am grateful to my colleagues in the Legislature for their commitment to help us build a stronger, fairer, and more resilient post-pandemic New Jersey for all.”

Still, state Sen. Steven Oroho, R-Sussex, the incoming Senate minority leader, said the part of the plan involving federal funds is “grossly incomplete and fails to address key needs for New Jersey” — such as fixing unemployment and motor vehicle issues and helping struggling businesses.

The state Treasury Department sent a letter Wednesday outlining the proposals to the state Joint Budget Oversight Committee, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers that must sign off on the spending as part of a state budget agreement. The committee — made up of four Democrats and two Republicans, including Oroho — is expected to vote virtually Tuesday.

Republicans also complained the plans were submitted Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, announced Friday, and will be voted on only days later.

The proposals call for allocating $435 million from the New Jersey Debt Defeasance and Prevention Fund to help pay for construction projects. That includes:

  • $265 million to the state Economic Development Authority for the New Jersey Wind Port in Lower Alloways Creek.
  • $75 million for the construction of the Rowan University School of Veterinary Medicine.
  • $45 million to the state Department of Transportation for wind port dredging.
  • $35 million to the South Jersey Port Corporation for port upgrades and improvements.
  • $15 million for the expansion of Cooper Medical School at Rowan University.

This will allow the state to save $8.7 million in the new fiscal year, and avoid future debt service costs of more than $508 million in following years, according to the proposal.

The proposals also call for allocating $262.6 million from the $6.2 billion in aid sent to the state from the federal American Rescue Plan passed by Congress. That includes:

  • $100 million to Hackensack University Medical Center, which was recently verified as a Level 1 Trauma Center, to boost its public health preparedness.
  • $40 million to create a state program to “fill COVID-induced” supply chain gaps in affordable housing and community development projects.
  • $37.5 million to help tenants apply to an eviction prevention program and for temporary staff to help the program.
  • $25 million to help the state buy an abandoned rail corridor spanning Essex and Hudson counties for a long-planned greenway.
  • $20 million to help Inspira Health acquire the Salem Medical Center.
  • $10 million to help boost urban areas with mass transit that have faced economic problems because of a reduction in commuters during the pandemic.
  • $5 million to help RWJBH and Rutgers University Behavioral Health with programming related to the pandemic.
  • $5 million for pandemic-related programs at the Wally Choice Community Center in Glenfield Park in Montclair.
  • $5 million to help the state implement a marketing program to highlight doing business with the state as the economy recovers from the pandemic.
  • $3 million to Atlantic Health to help modernize and renovate the Emergency Department at the Morristown Medical Center.
  • $2 million to the Alexander Hamilton Visitor and Education Center at the Great Falls National Park in Paterson.
  • $100,000 to help Vernon Township conduct environmental remediation.

Murphy did not use any of the funds to offset a $250 million hike in the unemployment insurance payroll tax New Jersey employers began paying last month to replenish a fund depleted by millions of unemployment claims during the pandemic.

Oroho said the plans are long overdue because the state received the federal money in May. He also noted that Democrats have ignored a proposal Republicans released in April about how to spend federal aid to help workers, businesses, tenants and landlords, fix computer systems at the state’s unemployment and motor vehicle centers, and offset the business unemployment tax increase.

Plus, Oroho said Murphy’s new proposal addresses only a few hundred million of the billions available to the state.

“The Murphy administration can’t undo the harm that’s already been done, but it can work to enact a comprehensive plan as we’ve proposed using the billions in relief funds that are still available,” Oroho said.

Michael Zhadanovsky, a spokesman for Murphy’s office, said it’s “ironic that the Senate Republicans would begrudge our administration for utilizing federal funds in a careful, responsible, and fiscally sound manner.”

“If the administration were to follow the advice of Senator Oroho and his caucus, the State’s ARP funding would be depleted quickly while the pandemic is still ongoing,” Zhadanovsky added. “The investments we are making with federal pandemic relief funds are designed to benefit our state for years to come, as was intended by Congress, instead of engaging in short-term, fiscally irresponsible gimmicks.”

Oroho shot back: ”What’s ironic is that New Jersey has the third-worst unemployment rate in the nation and the Murphy administration still doesn’t understand the importance of using pandemic relief funds to fix the broken unemployment system and prevent an unnecessary tax hike on struggling employers.”

Murphy has previously used federal COVID-19 relief funds to help small businesses struggling in the pandemic’s wake, help tenants and landlords with rent and utility payments, expand child care, increase funding for special education, among other plans.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @johnsb01.