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.”
State lists 40 bridges that may need fixing fast, but the question remains what did they do with all the money in the Transportation fund ?
FEBRUARY 3, 2015, 4:25 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015, 10:12 AM
BY JOHN CICHOWSKI
RECORD COLUMNIST |
THE RECORD
As Governor Christie’s new transportation commissioner sees it, you don’t need a civil engineering degree to recognize some of the obvious weaknesses in the 40 bridges that his engineers have placed on the Department of Transportation’s high-priority list for immediate inspection, including the Route 3 link over the Hackensack River that’s now undergoing emergency repair.
Related: High priority N.J. bridges for 2015
“It’s quite simple,” Jamie Fox observed. “As anyone can see, our bridges are old and crumbling. If we don’t identify a dedicated funding source now, we’ll have no choice but to close more bridges to ensure public safety.”
In addition to the Route 3 span that connects East Rutherford to Secaucus, 12 of the 40 are in North Jersey — four in Bergen County, four in Hudson and two each in Morris and Essex. Replacing or rehabilitating all 13 would cost a minimum of $300 million — a preliminary DOT estimate that would surely rise sharply by the time work is completed.
NJ transportation fund or NJ transportation Slush fund
Readers Demand A Full Accounting of the NJ transportation fund before any New Revenue Sources are Sought
“The Federal Highway Administration tracks all revenues collected by states for use on transportation. The two main sources are the gas tax and tolls. NJ gasoline taxes are low, but the state’s toll collections rank second in the nation behind only the much larger New York. The result is that NJ actually has, according to the Feds, the eighth highest annual revenues to devote to roads and bridges of any state. And yet the NJ Transportation Fund is bust? Why you ask? According to a 2013 study by the Reason Foundation, NJ spends 8.4 TIMES the national average for every mile of road it maintains or builds… it’s not because of the low gas tax, it’s because of inflated union wage rates to build & maintain roads at 8X the national average.
Reader says , We all know that the transportation fund is a black hole of graft an corruption. Why else do the unions want it fully funded? Also gotta love how Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo sees no alternative other than raising the gas tax, but then in the next breath he proposes lowering or doing away with taxes on pension benefits!!! How are the two related you ask? Good question, but probably too difficult for our union hacks to answer because they love riding this gravy train.
He is sometimes referred to as “Senator Sanzari’ since his employer (Sanzari) benefits as a major road builder if the gas taxes are raised..and actually spent on road projects instead of just going into the general fund.
N.J. transportation chief orders immediate review of state’s bridges
JANUARY 20, 2015, 4:39 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015, 11:09 PM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
The fight over New Jersey’s nearly-broke transportation fund ratcheted up two notches Tuesday when Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox called for immediate safety inspections on every bridge in the state and local officials were warned not to count on $200 million in state transportation aid this year.
If the transportation fund is empty on July 1, that could throw into limbo an additional $100 million in matching federal aid for towns, endanger scores of road and bridge projects, and cause fiscal headaches for local officials. It also might increase pressure on the Legislature and Governor Christie to fix the transportation fund quickly, some politicians said.
Fox’s inspection order came hours after the collapse of an interstate bridge in Cincinnati, and after the department closed a smaller bridge in New Jersey that engineers discovered was unsafe.
“I’ve ordered an expedited review of all our bridges, state and local,” Fox said. “I’d rather be safe than sorry, so we know definitively whether we have any unsafe bridges.”
Fox’s move illustrates how depleted the transportation fund has become. Officially called the Transportation Trust Fund, it raises $1.2 billion a year, mostly from highway tolls and motor fuels taxes. After years of state borrowing against the fund’s revenues, however, nearly all of the money raised goes to paying the fund’s $18.2-billion debt, and little remains for repair or construction work.
Reader says We all know that the NJ transportation fund is a black hole of graft an corruption
We all know that the transportation fund is a black hole of graft an corruption. Why else do the unions want it fully funded? Also gotta love how Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo sees no alternative other than raising the gas tax, but then in the next breath he proposes lowering or doing away with taxes on pension benefits!!! How are the two related you ask? Good question, but probably too difficult for our union hacks to answer because they love riding this gravy train.
