Parks, Jobs, and the Repeating Cycle
Posted April 22, 2008

Several weeks ago, the New Jersey Department of Environment Protection (DEP) recommended drastic changes to New Jersey’s park system as part of an overall cost-cutting plan inspired by Governor Corzine’s recent epiphanous commitment to thrift.
In a move which DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson called “significant” and “painful,” she proposed closing nine state parks, reducing services at three more, and cutting off-season hours at all state park locations across the board.

Although the state is indicating it may renege on the closures before the final state budget is passed, if implemented, they would have saved approximately $4.5 million in worker salaries and park upkeep. Yet, what Jackson failed to mention is that at the same time she was advocating shutting parks down, the DEP was pressing ahead with its plans to build two new parks, which according to the Vineland Daily Journal would cost four times as much as the closed parks would save.

The Journal notes that the parks, which are planned for Paterson and Trenton, each carry a $10 million price tag.

How does the state justify the $20 million spending spree? According to DEP Assistant Commissioner John S. Watson, Jr., the money for the new parks would come from a fund legally designated only for construction projects. And what revenue funds this fund? Watson’s answer, as the Journal notes, is a $15 million carve-out from corporate business taxes. Because the taxes are specifically targeted for park construction, the DEP cannot spend them on current park maintenance.

Yet, Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington) puts into words the question this scenario begs, “You do [build] more parks and you can’t keep the other ones operating? That doesn’t make sense to me.”

It doesn’t make sense to us, either!

What also doesn’t make sense is that the state, which according to the National Tax Foundation ranks 49th in the nation in business tax climate, is taxing businesses to build parks that the state can’t afford to maintain!

And speaking of New Jersey businesses…

Last month, the New Jersey Policy Research Organization (NJPRO) released a report entitled New Jersey's Tax Climate - How Taxes are Affecting New Jersey's Industrial, Commercial, and Small Business Sectors. This report indicated that between December 2000 and December 2007, New Jersey’s private sector created an average of only 543 new jobs per year, as compared to 70,000 jobs per year during the 1980s and 1990s. Meanwhile, public sector jobs skyrocketed by 54,800 during this same seven-year period.

The report states:

Almost 94% of the newly created jobs in New Jersey from 2000 through 2007 were in the public sector which contributes to increased public budget costs. Increasing employment in the public sector during a period in which the State is in a budget deficit, forces elected officials and public managers to either re-prioritize spending or raise taxes.

Which taxes? Well, for one, perhaps the corporate tax, which NJPRO ranks among the worst ten in the nation and which apparently goes to build parks that the state can’t afford to maintain!

Does the cycle never end? 

We’ve said it before, and we’ll continue to say it as long as necessary: New Jersey cannot continue its spending binge and expect taxpayers to foot the bill. Businesses are leaving the state; residents are leaving the state, and before long, only the government will be left. Perhaps that’s why New Jersey is creating so many public sector jobs…so at least when the mass exodus ends, Trenton will still have some people to tax.

 

Archive