In a move to curtail state level spending, former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler has joined a movement to change the state constitution. He said excess state funds beyond operating expenses should be send back to local municipalities rather than left for the state to find ways to spend.
The state has a variety of ways of taxing the public, from sales and income taxes to disguised revenues that come through casino, lottery, or business taxes. And Schundler, who is getting ready to hit the road in support of legislation to curb excess spending by the state’s highest officials, believes the concept of helping municipalities and school districts is simple: get the state to stop spending money and shift tax money back.
Under legislation proposed by several key people in the state Senate and Assembly, the state would be banned from spending tax revenues without getting approval of people through a public referendum.
“This is very simple,” he said during a telephone interview last week. “It would put limits on what the state could spend without seeking approval from the people, and would require the money be distributed back to the school districts and municipalities.”
Schundler, sounding as if he is running for office, said he would help promote legislation that would curtail the state’s ability to borrow money.
“I don’t believe Gov. [James] McGreevey will cut spending unless we make him,” he said.
Schundler believes political forces in Trenton cannot control their own spending and so the legislative would set limits that would keep them in check.
The legislation, which was previously sponsored in the Senate by Sen. John Bennett, will have to be reintroduced after the new year when the new legislature convenes.
“The government is supposed serve the people,” Schundler said.
The New Jersey State Constitution requires that before our state government borrows money, it must first obtain the approval of New Jersey’s citizens through a public referendum.
One reason the framers of the constitution required this is because they knew that if politicians could spend money without being immediately accountable for collecting it from taxpayers, they would be tempted to give it away like water to the politically powerful, creating huge debts for the future.
Schundler believes about 10 years ago, New Jersey’s left-leaning State Supreme Court began interpreting an constitutional safeguard against excessive borrowing into non-existence, and state borrowing has been exploding as a result, just as the framers feared could happen.
Schundler’s goal
The idea is to bring more of the taxes people pay in sales and other ways back to the places where they are needed most, and keep the state from spending at will.
Schundler said he has been talking to various groups about the tax problems and how local groups might put pressure on their legislators to push for the constitutional amendment. He said groups would begin a campaign to press for the legislation after the first of the year.
“There is an enormous amount of money that goes to Trenton,” he said. “But it stays at the state level and gets spent there, instead of being sent back to where it is really needed. What happens is the state wants to spend the money to keep people there happy when that money could be used to address needs on a local level.”
He said the money should be spent by cities and towns, and that property taxpayers should not have to bear the burden of local costs when the state has money that could help.
“It is clear that we cannot provide basic services with property taxes alone,” he said, “and this isn’t something that’s the fault of this governor alone. There is a succession of governors that don’t or won’t understand. If we do not distribute the other tax money more fairly, then the future of our cities will be Camden. If we find a better way to fund our municipalities and school districts, we can have vibrant cities.”
Schundler said the state’s population has not grown as significantly as the costs seem to indicate.
“Many people simply abandoned the cities,” he said. “That’s partly because policies make it nearly impossible for cities to provide services.”
Schundler said, however, that the proposal would benefit suburbs as well as cities because it would provide more revenue for basic items like police and fire, without increasing the burden to property taxpayers.
This legislation would not prevent the state from spending money if there are worth projects, but forces the state to seek approval for spending initiatives on a state level by referendum.
Next November
Schundler said the legislation could be on the ballot as early as next November if 60 percent of the legislature passes it this year. Otherwise, the issue could be put on the ballot in two years provided a simple majority passes it each of the next two legislative years.
“We’re going to begin the process in January,” he said. “We’re just finishing up with the research and getting the software in place.”
Schundler believed the bill could have significant support if people like North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco – who is both state senator and a mayor – get behind it.