By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
In a likely prelude to their gubernatorial debate Tuesday, ambassador and former Goldman Sachs executive Phil Murphy and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno went Friday before the state chapter of the AARP to offer different remedies for the state’s property tax woes, an issue both agreed was paramount in the minds of voters.
Murphy, the front-running Democrat ahead by double digits in a recent poll, and Guadagno, the Republican, appeared separately at a conference the organization had in the Princeton Marriott, to sit down with Ingrid Reed, formerly of the Eagleton Institute, for a talk-show style interview.
In their remarks, they sought to touch on concerns people have about being able to continue living in a state with the highest property taxes in the country.
“For too long, New Jerseyans have been promised the moon and stars by any number of candidates for office, on both sides of the aisle, I might add, each coming up with their own special plan for property taxes,” Murphy said.
He noted that the biggest portion of the property tax bill goes to fund public schools, despite the Christie administration under funding education by more than $9 billion “over the past eight years.” He has proposed fully funding education.
“Funding public schools and public education isn’t just about kids’ educations, it’s also about property tax relief,” he said. “Each dollar we put back into our public schools is a dollar we don’t have to ask for from property tax payers.”
Guadagno said it is “still too expensive to live in New Jersey” and called property taxes the main issue in the campaign. She has proposed tying residents’ household income to what they pay in property taxes.
“You should never pay more than five percent of your household income for your school property taxes,” she said.
In her remarks, she pivoted to portray Murphy as a candidate who has “promised to raise your taxes,” including hiking the sales, income and property taxes and reinstate the estate tax.
“He’s made promises that he can’t keep,” she said of $75 billion of additional entitlements, including free community college and universal health care.
In their remarks, Guadagno and Murphy sought to transcend party labels.
“I’m not partisan for the sake of being partisan,” he said. “And it must be said, certain crises we face as a state began a long time ago, long before this administration.”
Guadagno, the standard bearer for a party with Gov. Chris Christie having low job approval ratings, urged the audience to “set aside your party affiliation for just one minute.”
“This campaign is not about Washington D.C., this campaign is not about who’s the governor today,” she said. “This campaign is, quite frankly, about your pocket books.”
She differed with Christie over his veto, earlier this year, of a plan to end the state Department of Treasury’s control of the police and firefighters pension fund. Murphy also touched on public employee pensions.
“We have no choice but to stand up and meet our obligations,” he said of funding them. “We have to get there as fast as humanely possible because there’s no other choice. We’ve left public sector employees and retirees at the altar, now, for essentially twenty years.”
The two of them are set to debate for the first time Tuesday at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, followed by a second debate Oct.18.
A Monmouth University poll released Oct. 3 showed Murphy with a 14-point lead “among likely voters,” 51 to 37 percent. But the Guadagno campaign said Oct. 4 that its internal polling has the race closer, with Murphy up seven points.
