Let the Cuts Begin
Posted February 12, 2010

Three hundred seventy-five.

That's the number of state programs slated for budget cuts under Governor Christie's plan to slash state spending and balance our state budget.

Speaking yesterday before a joint session of the state legislature, Christie announced a fiscal strategy far more aggressive than any we have heard in recent memory – a strategy that allows us at last to say our state has taken a step in the right direction. To be sure, it is only the first step on what will be a long road to fiscal sanity, financial stability, and economic growth. But it is a significant step, nonetheless.

Among the key actions in the governor's plan are:

• Freeze state spending across a range of programs. Christie noted, "We will freeze the spending of unspent technical balances across a wide array of state programs. This includes everything from unspent funds to upgrade energy systems in state facilities to those aimed at assisting local government in their consolidation plans."

• Cut the subsidy for New Jersey Transit. Christie stated, "New Jersey transit will have to improve the efficiency of its operations, revisit its rich union contracts, end the patronage hiring that has typified its past, and may also have to consider service reductions or fare increases. But the system needs to be made more efficient and effective."

• Reducing school aid – but not by more than the amount a district has in its surplus. "Many school districts in New Jersey have surpluses that were not a part of their fiscal year 2010 budgets. This is because they were either not anticipated – so called excess surpluses – or were placed in a reserve account – so called reserve surpluses," Christie explained. "I am reducing school aid in a way that ensures that no district will have aid withheld in an amount that is greater than its surpluses."  And he emphasized, "Our solution does not take one penny from an approved school instructional budget. Not one dime out of the classroom. Not one text book left unbought. Not one teacher laid off. Not one child's education compromised for one minute. Not one dollar of new property taxes will be needed. "

Additionally, Christie pledged to "sign strong [pension] reform bills" sent by the legislature to his desk.

All in all, the governor's plan institutes more than $1 billion in "reductions and reforms," including $475 million in school aid withholding and $550 million in state spending cuts.

Even Christie, however, noted this is only the beginning: "In just over a month, I will come before you to lay out my plan for fiscal year 2011 and beyond. The challenge next year will be even greater. The cuts likely will be even deeper. The reforms will, of necessity, be even more dramatic."

Indeed, the path pointing back to fiscal health promises to be rocky. But we applaud the governor for his strong stand and for taking the first of many tough – but effective – steps necessary to make New Jersey once again a place families can afford to call home.

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