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GSCS will in the Chambers' Gallery to hear Governor Corzine's Budget Message today....Attached are articles related to today's Budget Message The Record/NorthJersey.com , Tuesday March 10, 2009, “ Highlights” State Budget Message
March 10, 2009 Corzine budget includes higher taxes, worker furloughs THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Record –Star Ledger Statehouse Bureau, ‘Corzine offers 'pain on every page' of $29.8B budget’Sunday 3-8-09
Star Ledger - 'Lawmakers say Corzine's budget will cut funding for schools, towns' March 09, 2009
Star Ledger - 'Corzine lets state's largest teachers union keep costly health plan', March 08, 2009 Sunday
March 10, 2009 'Cherry Hill looks at school budget cuts'
Courier-Post
The Record/NorthJersey.com , Tuesday March 10, 2009, “ Highlights” State Budget Message
$29.8 billion in spending will be proposed for fiscal 2010, down about $3 billion from the current $33 billion.
Revenue: $2 billion will come from President Obama’s stimulus package. Additional revenue will be raised by increasing the tax on incomes over $500,000 a year and hiking taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.
Savings: About $500 million will be saved if state employee unions accept a wage freeze and 12 unpaid furlough days. Another $500 million will be cut from the $1.7 billion property tax rebate program. Rebate checks will be reduced or eliminated for all but seniors and residents making less than $50,000 a year.
March 10, 2009
Corzine budget includes higher taxes, worker furloughs
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Payroll taxes will increase, state workers must take 12 unpaid days off and forgo raises, and property tax rebates will shrink or disappear in the bad-news budget Gov. Jon S. Corzine will propose today.
Corzine's $28.5 billion budget is certain to contain deep cuts that will return spending to 2006 levels.
"This is a brutally tough budget that cuts to the bone and provides essential lifeline services in this state and nothing else," Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. said after being briefed on Corzine's spending plan Monday.
Senate President Richard J. Codey said conditions are the most dire he's seen in 35 years in the Legislature.
Details of the proposal have leaked over the past couple of weeks, as Corzine narrowed his choices amid a deepening recession with rising unemployment, mounting state debt and falling revenue. As late as Monday, lawmakers who had been briefed on the proposal said some aspects of the budget had not been finalized. The plan requires legislative approval.
A payroll tax increase for New Jersey's 250,000 businesses seemed all but inevitable.
State officials who have been briefed on the budget said the $270 million that Corzine promised to pump into the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund probably won't be enough to avoid triggering an automatic tax increase July 1. The tax is triggered when the unemployment fund dips below a certain threshold measured on March 31.
Labor Department spokesman Kevin Smith said the fund is paying $75 million a week in claims, nearly double that of last year. The fund's balance is down to $126.6 million.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the budget, say a tax increase of about $70 per employee is likely.
Corzine is also looking for concessions from public employee unions in closing a multibillion-dollar budget gap. He has in recent weeks threatened layoffs if the unions don't agree to give up their negotiated pay raise of 3.5 percent and take one unpaid day off a month beginning in July.
Bob Master, political director of Communications Workers of America District 1, the largest of several state worker unions, said the unions were open to compromise.
However, two state officials with direct knowledge of the budget said the unions would agree to forgo their wage increase in the coming year if Corzine dropped the furlough plan and agreed not to lay off anyone.
No deals have been struck.
Many New Jerseyans will see their property tax rebate checks disappear.
Only the rebates of senior citizens and those earning under $50,000 will be preserved, according to the officials.
Last year, rebates cost the state about $1.7 billion. The checks provide relief against the nation's highest property taxes, averaging $6,800 a household.
The governor and the entire Assembly are up for re-election in November.
Other elements of his election-year budget are said to include:
Adding Powerball to the list of lottery games in which New Jersey participates, generating about $10 million. New Jersey would become the first state to participate in two multistate lottery games.
Raising taxes on liquor, wine and cigarettes, which would generate about $30 million. Beer is not included.
Reducing municipal aid about 2 percent.
Adding a 4 percent to 5 percent surcharge to taxes paid by residents earning more than $250,000 a year.
The Record –Star Ledger Statehouse Bureau,
‘Corzine offers 'pain on every page' of $29.8B budget’
By Clair Heninger and John Reitmeyer, Sunday March 10, 2009 05:00AM
Gov. Jon Corzine is expected to propose a state budget "with pain on every page" today, raising taxes on businesses and the wealthy, requiring wage givebacks from state worker unions, and cutting property tax rebates and aid to towns.
The governor's $29.8 billion budget strives to protect the working poor, the elderly, the disabled and the schools while seeking sacrifices from millions of other New Jerseyans, according to officials and lawmakers who were briefed Monday. Even $2 billion from President Obama's federal stimulus did not soften the blow for many.
Corzine's speech is scheduled to begin at noon at the Statehouse. It will be shown live on the Legislature's website.
Shell-shocked Democrats, emerging from a briefing session with Corzine Monday, said the national economic crisis forced agonizing choices.
"This is a very, very tough -- a brutally tough budget that cuts to the bone and provides essential lifeline services in this state and nothing else," said Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden). "This is a budget that has pain and tough decisions on every single page."
Approximately half of the stimulus money goes to Medicaid, and much of the other $1 billion to education, according to two officials briefed on the plan. The officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the governor's proposal.
Property tax rebates would be preserved at current levels for seniors, the disabled and those making less than $50,000 a year. Households earning between $50,000 and $75,000 a year would get two-thirds of the rebate they received last year, officials said.
That would save about $500 million from the $1.7 billion spent last year on the popular program, which included staggered rebates for households making up to $150,000 a year. Those making less than $100,000 got an average of $1,115 back, while the elderly and disabled got $1,266.
Corzine is also expected to propose raising taxes on cigarettes, wine and liquor, as well as a one-year income tax increase on residents making more than $500,000 a year, officials said.
He will also warn businesses that they will face a $350 million payroll tax increase starting in July to shore up the dwindling Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, officials said. The state will be able to pay about $150 million into the fund next year - following a $270 million infusion last month, plus more than $200 million from the stimulus package, officials said.
But that will not be enough to avoid automatically triggering a payroll tax increase of about $88 per employee per year, officials said.
"The pain, if you want to call it that, has been dispensed as evenly as humanly possible," said Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex). "Both school aid and municipal aid will see a very small, de minimus reduction."
Corzine also wants to achieve up to $500 million in savings by asking state worker unions to agree to 12 days of unpaid furloughs and forgo a previously negotiated wage increase. The governor has also been laying the groundwork for layoffs of up to 7,000 people if no agreement is reached.
Bob Master, a spokesman for the Communications Workers of America, the largest state worker union, said Monday that negotiations are ongoing but "no agreements or compromises have been offered or made."
"We will be meeting with the administration over the next several weeks to discuss proposals that will save jobs, include shared sacrifice and maintain the integrity of collective bargaining in New Jersey," Master said. "We will oppose any attempt to balance the budget solely on the backs of working families."
Star Ledger - Lawmakers say Corzine's budget will cut funding for schools, towns
March 09, 2009 14:35PM
Gov Jon Corzine's new state budget will maintain property tax rebates for seniors and lower-income residents, but cuts funding for school districts and municipalities, legislative leaders said today.
Senate President Richard J. Codey ( D-Essex ), said Corzine is planning to keep some property tax rebates in his budget, but fewer homeowners will qualify for them this year.
"I think you're going to see a cutoff that's raised," Codey said after leaving a meeting with Corzine and other legislative leaders in the State House.
Corzine is scheduled to present the fiscal 2010 budget at noon on Tuesday. The budget is expected to be roughly $29 billion, about $4 billion lower than the current plan. Corzine is forced to cut spending because state revenues like sales and income taxes are declining rapidly in the troubled economy.
Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) said the rebates would go to seniors and lower-income residents
"The governor realizes those folks who are making $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year are having the toughest time," he said.
State aid to public school districts will be reduced and aid to municipalities would also shrink, Codey said, but he did not say by how much.
"The pain, if you want to call it that, has been dispensed as evenly as possible," Codey said.
Core health and safety programs are the only ones that aren't on the chopping block, Roberts said.
Corzine, meanwhile, is still seeking savings from state workers through a wage freeze and furloughs or layoffs, the lawmakers said.
Star Ledger - Corzine lets state's largest teachers union keep costly health plan
By Susan Livo, March 08, 2009 Sunday
To avoid a legal fight with New Jersey's largest teachers union, the Corzine administration has agreed to spend as much as $20 million to allow thousands of its members to keep seeing doctors enrolled in an expensive health plan the state abolished last year.
Under an agreement completed two weeks ago between the State Health Benefits Commission and the New Jersey Education Association, more than 100,000 active and retired public employees can delay moving into a cheaper managed health care plan until the end of the year. The state had originally wanted them to switch to the new plan by April of last year, according to Department of Treasury officials.
Treasury spokesman Tom Vincz acknowledged that the agreement gives union members several more months of enrollment in "the most expensive program in existence."
But, he said, it ensures there will be a smooth and peaceful transition into a health care system that will eventually save more than $90 million a year.
The health insurance program the state abolished last year was a throwback to the pre-HMO era, when people selected their own doctors and didn't have to pony up anything for premiums or co-payments or go through a primary care physician for permission to receive treatment.
The agreement not only benefits the 77,000 active and retired school employees who belonged to the more expensive plan last spring. It also allows another 23,000 state workers and 17,000 local government workers in the plan to continue to see other medical professionals outside the new managed care network.
Treasury officials estimate the agreement could cost the state, local governments and school boards $17 million to $20 million in medical claims, Vincz said. He could not estimate how the cost would be split between the three. The agreement will cost another $1.8 million to execute, according to the contract.
Though the concession to the union is especially costly given the state's $7 billion budget shortfall, state officials said the new plan will eventually reap huge savings -- $56 million for the state and $37 million for schools and municipalities, for a total of $93 million annually.
The new plan, a preferred provider organization or "ppo" called NJ Direct, contains a pool of doctors who have agreed to accept set rates.
"This is a major plan that will save the state and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 10 years alone," Vincz said. "To get this done we had to make sure the transition was smooth, and this agreement was critical to that -- a fair price for what is saved in return because it ends in less than a year and the savings are permanent."
By reaching the agreement, the Corzine administration averted a legal battle with the teachers union, one of the largest and most influential unions in the state.
After the state awarded the contract to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield in November 2007, retired members of the NJEA wasted no time appealing the decision. The appeal would have been heard by an administrative judge, but it never got that far.
"NJEA was concerned about our members being put into a new, different network and abruptly losing access to their current doctors," NJEA spokesman Steve Baker said. "The original contract had no allowance for a transition period, which we felt was necessary."
The state went ahead and rolled out Horizon's new plan, but agreed to delay putting the terms in force, giving more time to members of the teachers union to find new doctors or settle their relationships with the old ones. In the deal reached last month by the State Health Benefits Commission and the union, the grace period will last through this year.
In exchange, the union agreed to withdraw its appeal and not file any other litigation, according to the agreement. The School Health Benefits Commission, an entity created in July to make decisions on insurance coverage for schools, also agreed not to challenge the agreement.
The spokesman for the active and retired members of the NJEA said the agreement makes sense for everyone involved.
"It's important to keep in mind the transition was very beneficial to the state of New Jersey. It allowed them to save a significant amount of money. As citizens of the state, we wanted to cooperate with that," Steve Baker said, spokesman for the NJEA.
"But we also didn't feel like our members should be penalized. This a very reasonable accommodation ... allowing people in one network to have a smoother transition so they didn't switch doctors immediately," Baker said.
William Dressel, executive director of the League of Municipalities, a lobbying organization for local governments, said he wasn't aware of the agreement, and was troubled the state would ink a deal without consulting others who would be affected by it.
"I would have preferred it was done through a legislative process where we would have been able to evaluate the costs," Dressel said.
"We're told to run government like a business and be concerned with public dollars," Dressel added. This agreement "has the impact of driving up costs and ultimately property tax dollars."
The agreement also gives the 117,000 employees a potential break on co-pays for doctor's office visits.
The contract requires employees to pay $10 per office visit until they reach $400 for an individual or $1,000 for a family. But under the amended contract, after they reach that threshold they will be reimbursed for future co-pays once a year if they apply for them.
The Corzine administration and members of the Legislature have been talking about reducing the cost of the state health benefits plan since 2006. At that time, Treasury officials predicted the cost of providing health benefits would rise from $2.1 billion to $3.6 billion by 2010 unless the state scaled back its spending.
This is not the first time Corzine has withdrawn a part of the contract expected to save the state money.
The contract, settled in February 2007, called for retired teachers and other retired government workers for the first time pay a share of their health benefits, saving the state $2 million over four years.
Four months later, Corzine and the Legislature repealed that provision, allowing retired employees to continue getting free care if they signed up for a "wellness program" requiring them to undergo physical exams and participate in programs that promote healthy living.
March 10, 2009
Cherry Hill looks at school budget cuts
By BARBARA S. ROTHSCHILD
Courier-Post Staff
The school board will discuss the 2009-10 district budget and also hear a report from its Facilities Advisory Committee at its work session tonight.
Both topics have been heavily affected by the economy -- fueling the district to cut the projected budget rather than suggest raising the tax levy, and to hold off on a bond referendum to address aging facilities.
This year's $171 million budget carries a tax levy of $3.19 per $100 of assessed value. A resident with a home valued at the $140,000 township average pays $4,460.41 in school taxes.
The board is examining ways to trim up to $10 million from the current budget to allow for increases in contractual obligations including salaries, and in areas such as transportation, health benefits and out-of-district placements.
The district implemented a budget spending freeze earlier this school year and hopes to reserve $4 million to $5 million from the current budget to support next year's operations.
As part of the federal economic stimulus package, it is also estimating an additional $1 million in funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It also anticipates an appropriation of $250,000 from its School Age Child Care program and $70,000 in revenues from the Special Education Medicaid Initiative.
The wild card is state aid, due out later this week.
"Figuring state aid will be flat, we are still looking at a $3 million to $4 million gap," district spokeswoman Susan Bastnagel said.
The state awarded $17.1 million in aid to the district for the current school year.
Under new Department of Education guidelines for budget reduction that need to be addressed over a three-year period beginning in 2009-10, Executive County Superintendent Margaret Nicolosi asked the district to look for cuts among custodians, nonmandated educational assistants, and in health insurance costs.
Other areas of potential cuts include athletic and co-curricular activities and professional development, elimination of high school courses with low enrollment and equalizing class size across all three middle schools.
The district plans to introduce a preliminary budget on March 17.
A committee report from the 30-member community task force charged with looking at ways to replace the district's aging facilities -- the oldest school, Kingston Elementary, is nearly 54 years old -- is expected to take into account the current dearth of funds and the bleak economy.
The report will ask the board to move forward with planning and design work so it can proceed once funding is available or economic conditions improve. There are no plans in the current economic climate for a bond referendum, which had been previously considered for as early as January 2005.
In 2004, an earlier task force had recommended tearing down Kingston school and replacing it with a new facility on the same grounds. Since then, state construction funding has dried up and costs have risen. Other aging facilities and rising transportation costs have forced the district to look at everything from renovations and/or large additions to consolidating schools on fewer sites.
Reach Barbara S. Rothschild at (856) 486-2416 or barothschild@camden.gannett.com
Additional Facts
IF YOU GO
The Cherry Hill school board's work session will begin following a special action meeting tonight, 7 p.m., at Malberg Administration Building, 45 Ranoldo Terrace. The board will take action to approve bills, draw the position of school board candidate names on the April 21 ballot and make several appointments.
