SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Gov. Jon Corzine’s plan to reduce debt in the state of New Jersey, specifically his plan to increase the highway tolls 800 percent by 2022, has been met these past few months with skepticism from both the public and members of the Legislature.
Corzine’s plan also includes limiting state spending and having voters approve when the state borrows money. However, it is the idea to increase the highway tolls by 50 percent in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 that has gotten the most attention and the most resistance.
Many Democrats do support the plan, however, and there have been a few Democrats with alternative plans, like Sen. John Wisniewski (D) and Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D).
Lesniak’s plan involves increasing the gasoline tax by at least 6 cents and increasing the highway tolls to a lesser extent than in Corzine’s proposal.
Lesniak said that they need to increase the tolls by 50 percent this year because the Turnpike Authority has said that this is the minimum increase that must occur to fix up the roads and make the highway safe.
“It has everything to do with the TurnpikeAuthority,” Lesniak said. “We need to go ahead and do that.”
Lesniak agrees with Corzine’s toll hikes, for the most part.
“Forty percent of the tolls are paid for by out-of-state residents,” he said. “That’s certainly better than having it all paid by New Jersey residents.
However, he does not agree with how much the tolls will increase.
“It’s a little excessive,” he said. “It’s really too high for the public to handle.”
Lesniak thinks a 50 percent increase now and a 50 percent increase five years from now would pay for certain infrastructure improvements and bridge work.
Sen. Joseph Cryan (D) also supports the governor’s plan.
“We’ve got to do something about the debt,” he said.
As an alternative to tolling the turnpike, Cryan believes that tolls should be placed on Routes 78 and 80.
“These roads are untouched,” Cryan said. “There are plenty of people who go over the border in Pennsylvania to go to the Holland Tunnel, the Lincoln Tunnel.”
The state transportation trust fund will run out of money in 2011. This is one of the reasons for the possible toll hike.
“Nobody likes increases, but I hope we deal with it sooner than later,” Cryan said of the increasing money in the trust fund.
Cryan added that he would not support raising the gas tax, like Lesniak would.
Will the governor pay attention to these alternative strategies?
“He did say that he’s willing to listen to alternatives right now,” said Jim Gardner, a spokesman for Corzine.
The Republicans in the Legislature do not agree with Corzine’s proposal at all.
“We need to be focused on the longterm,” said Rep. Bill Baroni (R). “To the towns I represent, South Brunswick,Monroe and Cranbury, it would be damaging. There would be a significant number of trucks off the turnpike and onto Route 1 and Route 130. The people of New Jersey already pay too much in taxes and tolls.”
Rep. Thomas Kean (R) agrees.
“It would be the largest fiscal gimmick in history,” he said. “It’s like using one credit card to pay off another state credit card. It would cripple the state’s economy.”
Kean also disagrees with the gas tax.
“The state doesn’t have enough credibility to raise the gasoline tax,” he said. “We need to show the people of New Jersey that we can spend less than we spent last year.”
Kean also said that the gasoline tax is supposed to be used for capital expenditures only, not to reduce the state’s debt.
Baroni said the key is simple: spend less and renew the transportation trust fund.
Gardner said that these decisions will be made after the balanced budget is put into place. The deadline is July 1, although he said they would like it to be wrapped up ahead of that deadline.
So far, there has been $7.3 million spent on “legal work, a traffic and revenue study and an engineering study for the toll plan,” according to Tom Vincz, a state Treasury Department spokesman. He added that the studies have been put on hold for the time being.