Essex County Divided On Gov. Murphys NJ Budget Proposal – West Orange, NJ Patch

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — There was loud praise – and vocal criticism – heard in Essex County after Gov. Phil Murphy laid out his proposed state budget on Tuesday.

Murphy once again called for a tax on those earning more than $1 million a year, but he also called for smaller taxes and fees on handgun permits and cigarettes. The governor called on each state department to dig for spending cuts.

In addition, the state will seek to borrow up to $4 billion, according to budget documents released by the state Treasury. The borrowing will help address a massive economic fallout created by the coronavirus, the governor said. READ MORE: Taxes, Funds Needed In NJ Budget, Gov. Murphy Says

The governor’s proposal got a swift panning from Sen. Joe Pennachio of the 26th District, who represents towns including North Caldwell, Verona and West Caldwell.

Pennachio, a Republican who recently earned an award for his “conservative” voting record, said it’s impossible to trust Murphy’s claim that billions must be borrowed to balance the state budget when the administration’s story keeps changing from week to week.

“Less than three weeks ago, the Murphy Administration told the New Jersey Supreme Court that the state would go broke if the governor couldn’t borrow nearly $10 billion,” Pennacchio said. “Today we heard Gov. Murphy say that $4 billion in borrowing and $1 billion in taxes is what’s needed.”

The senator accused Murphy of trying to scare the court into giving the green light to debt that isn’t needed.

“In what world do you borrow $4 billion to build a $2 billion surplus?” Pennacchio commented. “This is about politics, plain and simple, and the governor setting himself up with the state credit card to play Santa Claus as he heads into his re-election campaign next year.”

Sen. Kristin Corrado of the 40th District, which includes Cedar Grove, also blasted Murphy’s proposal.

“The budget announced today is proof Gov. Murphy is taking New Jersey in the wrong direction,” said Corrado, a Republican.

“When money gets tight, families and businesses everywhere cope by reining in spending, cutting back where they can and living more responsibly,” Corrado said. “The state should follow that same course.”

But one of Murphy’s peers in the Democratic Party offered a different take on the spending plan.

“The governor’s proposed budget plan provides the Legislature with a clear starting point for what promises to be an unprecedented and difficult process,” Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin of the 29th District said.

Pintor Marin, who represents Newark and Belleville, serves as the chair of the Assembly Budget Committee.

“I’m particularly pleased to see that the proposal we heard today restores funding for a number of important initiatives like the Homestead Benefit and Senior Freeze property tax programs,” the assemblywoman said. “It also protects the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. Each of these provide critical resources to New Jersey families, especially those struggling now.”

“This pandemic has created a set of immense challenges that no legislature has dealt with in our lifetimes,” Pintor Marin said. “As we evaluate and build upon what was presented to us today, our goal is to produce a fair, responsible financial plan that meets the needs of New Jersey’s hard-working residents while also dealing with the harsh realities we all will face over the approaching nine-month fiscal year.”

“I look forward to working with my fellow members of the budget committee, the speaker’s leadership team and the governor over the coming weeks to craft a budget that meets these goals,” Pintor Marin added.

EXPERTS WEIGH IN: PROS AND CONS

Local experts were also divided on the governor’s proposal.

The Roseland-based New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJCPA) said its members are deeply concerned that the plan looks the same as the “unworkable” budget introduced six months ago — plus $4 billion in new borrowing.

According to the group, the governor’s proposal to expand the millionaires’ tax and reinstate a 2.5 percent surtax on corporations will drive businesses and high-earning residents and their tax dollars out of the state.

It’s not a good time for either, the group charged.

“For more than five months, New Jerseyans have endured significant hardships and made difficult choices to overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19,” the NJCPA wrote. “The statewide business shutdown reduced revenues and operations of many businesses, leading to the loss of employment for more than 1.4 million of our residents.”

Despite the job losses, in a budget proposal that borrows $4 billion, the governor plans to make a $4.9 billion contribution to the public employee pension system – the largest in state history, the NJCPA said.

It would essentially equal the entire budget shortfall, the group said.

“Bonding that is undertaken as a last resort to meet the FY 2021 budget deficit should only be for critically important, one-time expenses, not a deferral of our well-documented imbalance in spending,” the NJCPA stated.

Some progressive groups criticized the draft budget, which needs to do more for immigrants, they said.

“New Jersey’s recovery from the pandemic will not be fully achieved without essential immigrant workers who are at the frontlines as healthcare workers, care providers, and warehouse, grocery store and agriculture workers,” said Maneesha Kelkar, interim director of the Newark-based New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.

“Yet, thousands of New Jersey’s immigrant families and workers have not received any unemployment benefits or COVID19 relief, despite paying into these programs,” Kelkar continued.

But other groups offered cautious optimism about the proposal.

Murphy’s plan got a tentative thumbs-up from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ) in Newark, which wrote that “there is much to be encouraged by” in the budget proposal.

“We are heartened that Gov. Murphy is investing $5 million toward early voting,” the group stated. “It is more important than ever to invest in broadening and strengthening our democracy. Early voting – which we have long called for – will do just that.”

The NJISJ stated:

“We are also pleased by the governor’s emphasis on investing in our state in this moment of crisis to ensure that the most vulnerable residents of New Jersey are not further harmed by government cuts. In particular, the proposal to establish a Baby Bond program for New Jersey to help reduce our state’s extreme racial wealth gap is a bold and welcome idea. For too long, public policies have supported asset development for well-off, predominately white communities while excluding communities of color, and this proposal is an important step in promoting wealth-building for families that have previously been left out of our state’s prosperity.”

The group praised other aspects of the governor’s spending plan, such as expanded funding to support universities and legislation to help renters and homeowners affected financially by the pandemic stay in their homes.

“We do, however, urge the governor to go further to invest in meaningful youth justice transformation, and to redirect funding from our state’s failing and half-empty youth prisons into community-based programs and services that keep our young people home—as we have continuously advocated for,” the NJISJ added.

Brandon McKoy, president of the nonprofit New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP), said that the proposed budget protects key state programs that workers and their families rely on.

“These investments — in public education, tuition assistance, tax credits for working families, and much more — are the building blocks of strong communities, a strong economy, and a strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” McKoy said.

“Unlike state budgets passed during the last economic downturn, this proposal recognizes that New Jersey must balance revenue shortfalls by ensuring wealthy individuals and big corporations pay closer to their fair share in taxes,” McKoy said. “Every dollar raised through new revenue is a dollar we don’t have to cut or borrow.”

McKoy said that Murphy’s proposed budget only falls short in one key area: it neglects immigrants who have been excluded from state and federal pandemic relief.

“Immigrants play a huge role in New Jersey’s diverse communities and local economies and deserve their share of state aid,” McKoy said. “We urge state lawmakers to do more to ensure that no one is left behind in the state’s recovery, regardless of where they were born.”

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