When Gov. Jon Corzine unveiled his $38 billion debt restructuring plan, he welcomed alternate proposals that would achieve the same fiscal goals — paying down half of New Jersey’s $32 billion of outstanding debt and financing transportation infrastructure.
Last week a fellow Democrat, General Assemblyman Jon Wisniewski of Middlesex, who chairs the Transportation and Public Works Committee, offered an alternative proposal.
While Corzine would like to form a public benefit corporation to oversee the state’s toll roads and implement toll increases of 50% to help fund the restructuring plan, Wisniewski’s plan would allow the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to continue managing the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.
Wisniewski’s plan includes toll hikes that are smaller than Corzine’s proposal to boost tolls by 50% beginning in 2010 and continuing every four years until 2022. Wisniewski’s toll increases would finance widening projects and a backlog of infrastructure improvements.
To support the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority, which will be depleted of funds in 2011, Wisniewski proposes increasing the gas tax by 18 cents over the next three years and then adjusted it for inflation based on the consumer price index each year thereafter. Along with commercial rent increases at rest stops, he estimates that the TTFA will have $1.6 billion annually to support transportation needs throughout the state.
As for paying down half of the New Jersey’s $32 billion of outstanding debt, the lawmaker endorses selling or leasing the state lottery, which could generate $10 billion.
Wisniewski stressed the state needs to adopt spending cuts. “Instead of rushing to implement the governor’s plan, this plan, or any other alternative, we should listen to the electorate and look to make serious cuts to state spending first,” he said in a press release.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll shows that 73% of residents oppose Corzine’s plan to increase tolls by 50%. The poll also indicated that 31% would choose a sales tax increase as their first choice in raising revenue, followed by 23% who support toll hikes, and 13% each who back gas tax and income tax increases.
