Credit: Edwin J. Torres/ Governor s Office
File photo: Before the coronavirus pandemic hit New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy delivered his original budget proposal for the 2021 fiscal year, on Feb. 25, 2020.
With COVID-19 vaccinations underway and business restrictions slowly easing, Gov. Phil Murphy plans to propose a state budget plan Tuesday for what many hope will be a year of robust recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
However, as New Jersey’s economic outlook appears to be brightening, Murphy faces pressure to make progress on some of the state’s most difficult fiscal challenges while still managing the ongoing health crisis.
Also hovering over the budget approval process is the November gubernatorial election, which will see Murphy attempting to become the first Democratic governor in decades to win reelection to a second term.
Murphy urged to end NJ Transit, clean energy fund diversions
Published: February 21, 2021
Governor Phil Murphy signs an executive order requiring NJ TRANSIT to release monthly rail performance metrics at the Bay Street Train Station in Montclair on August 19, 2019. Edwin J. Torres/GovernorÕs Office.
TRENTON In advance of Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget plan being proposed Tuesday, groups have begun publicly pressing for him to end longstanding budget practices that shortchange priorities.
Among the issues on that lengthy list are NJ Transit, which uses money from its capital program to pay operating costs, and the Board of Public Utilities clean-energy funds that are perennially diverted from their intended purpose to offset costs at NJT and elsewhere in state government.
Stop raiding Clean Energy Funds to plug holes in NJ Transit budget, advocates say to Murphy
Updated Feb 17, 2021;
Are two “green” goals competing with each other for funds in the state?
A group of transit, environment and social justice activists say that’s happened by raiding funds from programs intended to clean the air and promote energy conservation to fund NJ Transit. The group called Jersey Renews wrote to Gov. Phil Murphy, asking him to fix the situation that has sent federal Clean Energy Funds to support NJ Transit’s operating budget for 11 years.
Specifically, the coalition of 65 community, church, environmental, labor and transit advocates called on Murphy to end the diversion and find a dedicated source of funding for NJ Transit’s operating budget in the fiscal year 2022 budget that Murphy is scheduled to deliver next week.