Why does bigger state have smaller budget?
James Rocco
577 words
07/03/2008
The Daily Journal
English
(c) Copyright 2008, The Daily Journal, Vineland. All Rights Reserved.
By James Rocco
Pennsylvania is a larger state than New Jersey. The two largest cities, Pittsburg and Philadelphia, are more populated than any New Jersey city. I'm sure there are many more miles of state, county and municipal roads in Pennsylvania that have to be maintained than run through New Jersey.
If all of the above is true, then why does the New Jersey budget total $33 billion after the governor slashed $3 billion from the original proposal while Pennsylvania only needs $29 billion to run its state government?
Everyone knows that New Jersey's property taxes are the highest in the nation. The exact same single-family home built by the same developer in Delaware enjoys a $1,500 property tax bill, while the property tax in New Jersey is more than $6,000.
Oh, by the way, Delaware does not tax a state pension while New Jersey does. There is no sales tax in Delaware. How do these states manage to provide services to their residents? Maybe it can be called efficiency. Are you still wondering why so many people are moving out of New Jersey every year?
The so-called pension reform bill sounded like a real big step in the right direction. It turned out that it really only affected new hires and didn't really address the current pension problems. Part-time employees are still enjoying full-time benefits at taxpayers' expense. Stronger pensions reform bills were offered in the Senate, but really never considered by the whole legislative body. Nice spin job put on by the administration. Maybe we have too many state employees and political patronage jobs. (I added the emphasis!)
Consider the facts that less municipal aid, paying for state police services in 2009, and even charging municipalities for work performed by state inmates, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that your property tax bill will certainly see an increase next year.
The governor did decide to eliminate Lincoln's birthday as a state holiday, but he will probably give state workers off the day after Thanksgiving anyway. It is not an official state holiday. Dual office holding and pension padding is still alive and well in the Garden State, although future public officials will be prohibited from participating in this perk. State, county and municipal workers should be demanding real pension reform or the state pension system will no doubt be out of money in the not too distant future.
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