a Speaking Up Column
by Judith Cambria, LWVNJ Fiscal Policy Director
April 28, 2000
Editor and columnist Fran Wood asks a valid question about New
Jersey’s transportation system: Can we afford the cost of
doing nothing? The answer: no.
Two equally valid questions are: Will the proposed Congestion
Relief and Transportation Trust Fund Renewal Act provide a
long-term stable and dependable transportation funding structure?
Can the state and its taxpayers afford high existing and
increasing debt payments caused by heavy borrowing for the
foreseeable future? The answers: no.
The last question is: When will legislators take the
responsibility for massively increased transportation spending
rather than "robbing Peter to pay Paul" by diverting existing
revenues from the General Fund to the Transportation Trust Fund?
The answer: not until business and industry, labor, and citizens
unite to demand our elected representatives act responsibly.
Responsibly means passing the tax increase(s) to provide adequate
fiscal resources for essential rail, road and transit needs. It
means reducing borrowing that is driving up future debt repayments
which undermine the state’s ability to continue high levels
of transportation improvement in the future.
Business and labor recognize the need for increased funding to
provide a stable and dependable source of revenue. The Keep New
Jersey Moving Coalition "is focused aggressively on its key
priority -- a stable and reliable revenue source, not another
stopgap step, to pay for New Jersey’s massive highway,
bridges and public transit needs."
Six major New Jersey newspapers know what has to be done.
Writing about the $500 million transportation bond issue last
November, all called for the legislature to act: "come up with a
stable and sensible funding "; "begin to face up to its
responsibility to find more money for the trust fund"; "loves
spending money but shrinks from the idea of hiking taxes ...
legislators simply will have to show a little courage"; "we are
tired of watching a game of three-card monte that our
grandchildren will pay for"; and "dedication of a gasoline-tax
increase ... is the proper way to finance the trust fund."
The proposed transportation legislation is another "temporary
fix." It does not increase state revenues, it shifts them from
other state programs to the Transportation Trust Fund. It
continues heavy borrowing.
Borrowing by the Transportation Trust Fund now totals $5
billion. Annual debt repayments will reach $433 million in 2001.
Future costs include payments for $635 million borrowed for light
rail projects by the Economic Development Authority, for $500
million in transportation bonds authorized last year, and for $2
billion or more in borrowing allowed by the proposed legislation
over the next four years.
In the future, we face paying more than $700 million in debt
repayments before we can spend a dime on roads, bridges or public
transit improvement.
Business, labor and citizens must unite and tell our
legislators: Don’t put us on the wrong road. The choice is a
lower tax increase now which will reduce future borrowing and
increase pay-as-you-go, or far greater tax increases in the
future. No more passing the buck, it just gets bigger.
