file photo Boyd Loving
N.J. lawmakers: ‘Close’ on plan to extend transportation fund
FEBRUARY 4, 2015, 1:38 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015, 5:31 PM
BY JOHN REITMEYER AND DUSTIN RACIOPPI
STATE HO– USE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
State lawmakers on Wednesday tried to assure anxious local officials that they are close to reaching an agreement to extend the state fund that pays for road, bridge and rail improvements in New Jersey.
The lawmakers, however, provided no new details about what that plan could look like even as the state comes closer to the date the current funding source will go broke, and as they await a state budget proposal later this month from Governor Christie.
And for all their talk of agreement, the legislative leaders who participated in a panel discussion as part of the New Jersey League of Municipalities’ annual mayor’s legislative day in the State House also showed ways in which they still remain deeply at odds on the transportation issue — particularly over the potential for raising New Jersey’s gas tax.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said he and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, D-Secaucus, have been in talks to come up with a plan for extending the state Transportation Trust Fund, which is set to run out of money in a few months, and now are “close.”
“I think we can come to a solution,” Sweeney said. “I hope we can get an agreement with the administration.”
https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-lawmakers-close-on-plan-to-extend-transportation-fund-1.1264286
What ever they decide hopefully we can continue to go deeper into debt instead of raising the gas tax to pay for it.