TRENTON — New Jersey voters,
in addition to deciding competitive Senate and House races, will also
decide the fate of $500 million in bonds that would be used for a host
of school-related initiatives.
At
the top of the ticket is the Senate race, with Republican Bob Hugin as
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s top opponent. There are six other
candidates running on third-party slogans, including Green Party
candidate Madelyn Hoffman and Libertarian Murray Sabrin.
All
12 of the state’s House seats are on the ballot. Democrats currently
control seven, and Republicans occupy five. State offices are not on the
ballot this year.
The only question on the ballot
Nov. 6 asks voters whether to approve the $500 million in new debt for
school security, county colleges, vocational schools and water
infrastructure. The constitution requires new debts obtain voter
approval.
Specifically,
$350 million would be used to provide grants to county vocational
school districts and school security projects. Also, $50 million would
go to county college projects and $100 million would go to support water
infrastructure projects across the state’s more than 600 school
districts.
The
Legislature and Gov. Phil Murphy approved the bipartisan measure to get
the question on the ballot, but not without a disagreement over how much
the bonds should be.
Murphy halved the legislative
proposal from $1 billion to $500 million, citing the state’s already
heavy debt load. Debt service in the current fiscal year tops $4
billion, and New Jersey ranks in the top five states for tax-supported
debt.
Murphy estimated
the total debt payments on the initial proposal would range from $1.7
billion to $2.2 billion over 30 years, depending on interest and other
factors.
Republicans have consistently
called for steeper spending cuts to help the state’s strained budget,
but expressed frustration that Murphy, a Democrat, halved the bond
proposal, which nearly all supported.
Republican
state Sen. Steve Oroho said in a statement that the smaller bond
issuance won’t go far enough to address schools’ needs. To rein in the
state’s finances, he suggested overhauling the state’s public worker
pension and health benefits.
Murphy
has shown little interest in pursuing such reforms, which would be
likely to entail cuts. Instead, he’s called for organized labor to lower
costs.
2 comments:
VOTE "NO" - Congressional Candidate Seth Grossman did a terrific 10 minute explanation on why this is another dirty tax increase pushed by the Democrats & old, establishment Christy Republicans. An easy "NO VOTE" for every taxpayer in New Jersey.
Agree!!!!
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