A Transportation Plan that Won’t Bleed Taxpayers

December 16, 2008

Contact: Brad Schnure / (609) 292-5199
Senator Tom Kean

A Transportation Plan that Won’t Bleed Taxpayers

Editorial by Tom Kean Jr.

Published in The Star-Ledger on Tuesday, December 16, 2008

New Jersey Republicans agree with Democrat Gov. Jon Corzine on two key points concerning the future of transportation in our state.

First, a swift and safe system of highways and mass transit is vital to our state’s economic vitality and the quality of life for millions of commuters. Second, transportation projects can play a crucial role in reviving an economy that’s been sputtering for the last six years.

That’s why Republicans shake their heads in disbelief at the governor’s stubborn insistence that taxpayers must first submit to new tax or toll increases, as well as bear the burden of unconscionably expensive borrowing gimmicks, to get the transportation network they need.

The governor’s stubbornness is driving up project costs to unacceptable levels. It’s obvious that the governor needs to stop pushing for new revenue and start spending taxpayers’ money on their priorities, not Trenton’s.

Let’s face it: Taxpayers don’t believe there is no money in a $34 billion budget for new transportation projects, and they are right. The budget is 50 percent higher than it was just six years ago. Democrat leaders in Trenton simply refuse to take any of the new money and dedicate it to transportation. They have other priorities.

Republicans have had a better plan since May, and anyone who has given it an honest read realizes that its proposals are based on common sense and fiscal responsibility.

Here is the Republican plan — take $500 million, or less than 1.5 percent of the current budget, and dedicate it to transportation.

Here’s how it would be accomplished. The state budget now diverts $570 million in transportation fees to programs other than highways or mass transit. Using $500 million of those fees in the way they were meant to be used would fund every important transportation project through 2014, including the new rail tunnel into Manhattan that the governor insists can be fi nanced only with toll increases.

It’s enough money to pay the debt service on a modest amount of bonds as well as finance some projects directly. Because the plan relies on less borrowing, a far smaller amount would go to debt payments and more would be spent to create jobs than under the patchwork plan the governor has thrown together.

Democrats insisted in June that reallocating that much money was impossible. Yet every year of his administration, Corzine has moved far larger sums around in his budget as priorities changed. It’s quite possible to make budget changes of this modest size, even when there is a deficit.

To help the governor along last May, Republicans identified $1.3 billion in savings. These weren’t phony savings designed to score political points, as the governor al leged. After dismissing the plan, the governor signed bills that used some of the same savings he re fused to consider for transportation.

Here are potential savings that can still be used to finance transportation projects vital to the state:

$107. 3 million in “special municipal aid.” Why did Republicans pick this program as a source of savings? Because the state auditor turned up strong evidence that the program is being used to divert money to a few politically connected cities, with little or no accountability for where the money is going or how it is spent.

$68 million through eliminating political appointees. Anyone who understands state government knows there’s room to cut patronage and managerial employees. Republican budget experts concluded that $68 million was a modest amount of savings.

Any of 64 other suggested savings totaling more than $1 billion. During the budget session, Republicans identified 64 other areas of potential savings, including scaling back pension and health programs that are so generous that even appointees to obscure commissions that meet just once a month have qualified for benefits. All the savings proposals are listed on www.senatenj.com.

Freeing up fees for dedication to transportation projects isn’t just vital to avoiding higher taxes and tolls. It’s necessary to ensure a stable source of transportation funding.

Our new president has promised decisive measures to cut gasoline consumption, including put ting 1 million new plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015. It makes no sense to tie 10- or 20-year projects to new taxes on fossil fuel at the same time that our nation is trying to switch to alternatives for environmental and national security reasons.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, gas taxes are an increasingly unreliable source of income. Dedicating fees lowers the risk that lawmakers will have to impose greater burdens on state residents or delay needed projects.

In tough times, Republicans be lieve the best alternative to new taxes is to go back into the state budget with the resolve to identify those vital needs that must be funded. Savings for those vital needs, such as transportation, can be found in programs that are either wasteful or that can be cut back with hard but necessary sacrifice until the economy recovers.

Raising taxes or tolls during a recession is not the way to speed up economic recovery, especially when we live in a state where the total burden of taxes, tolls and fees is so high that it forces thousands of middle-class families and elderly residents to move out each year.

Tom Kean Jr. is the Republican leader in the state Senate.