Corzine’s Budgeting

The way the Corzine administration handles money is comical. So much for the magic of Wall Street coming to the governor’s mansion.

Today it was reported that municipalities will see a deep cut in aid for the year.

The state Department of Community Affairs said it would provide $17.7 million this fiscal year in extraordinary aid to towns that contended they’ll have to cut essential services unless they substantially increase their property tax rates. The state provided about $26 million last year.

Far be it from me to criticize spending cuts. But this isn’t a cut in spending as municipalities will offset the decreased aid with property tax increases.

Ah yes, the property tax shell game. Trenton recieves “credit” for spending cuts, but taxpayers still support the spending.

The former CEO Wall Street lamented the cuts:

“I wish there were more,” Corzine said. “There are huge demands with regard to the needs of some of our less economically well-off cities. There are special situations that show up on a regular basis, but again we’re resource constrained.”

There is more, Governor Corzine.

The cut in extraordinary aid is $8.3 million. Just today we learned of building tunnels for snakes, opposums, and other critters that will cost us $9 million.

If you don’t want to deny the critters their transportation, there’s always the administrative costs for the rebate program. You remember, dear reader, the rebate program. Governor Corzine and his allies in the statehouse who want to be re-elected in November are doling out property tax rebate checks this year. The cost to do so is over $10 million. It’s astronomical, I know. That is the slippage.

Of course, there should be no rebates to begin with. Returning money to the taxpayers indicates too much was collected. Rather than return the money, keep it, spend it, and then reduce the tax rates (permanently) since the state is collecting more than it needs.

That will not occur, however. In New Jersey, we continue to raise taxes. The rebates this year are being paid for by the sales tax increase last year. The state did not need that increase as it did not spend all of the money. We know this because it has been sitting there to fund this year’s rebates.

And why are we having a rebate this year? Because all of the statehouse wants to be re-elected in three months. The statehouse is controlled by the same party that Corzine belongs to.

To summarize: the state will provide a property tax rebate to homeowners right before the election. Then property taxes will rise because the state has cut aid to the municipalities. That means your property taxes will increase.

The taxpayer gets nothing out of this transaction. Democrats retain control of government in Trenton. Understand, dear reader, there’s plenty of money to fund the municipalities. The Wall Street wizard has just decided not to look out for you.

Also blogged on this date . . .

One Response to “Corzine’s Budgeting”

  1. By Bob on Aug 2, 2007

    Charles Stile must be an eCache reader. His column today is spot on with what is happening with the rebates.

    But as you spend the cash, here are some things to consider:

    # Property taxes will continue to soar. Billions have been sent out in checks over the past eight years, and not a dime of it has kept rates from rising. In fact, the amount of money we have paid in property taxes has climbed by 55 percent over that time.

    The Legislature vowed last year to study and address the underlying forces behind rising property taxes. But the six-month drone-a-thon never even identified the root cause of runaway taxes. Is it cuts in state aid to towns and schools? Expensive after-school programs or expensive firefighting equipment? Duplicate services in small town after small town?

    The session closed without accomplishing much except this: bigger rebates. Reform? We’ll get back to you on that.

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