Senator Kevin O’Toole, (R-40), issued the following statement regarding Governor Corzine’s  presentation of his toll road monetization plan to New Jersey mayors at a League of Municipalities conference today.  Senator O’Toole is a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

            “Today Governor Corzine spoke to New Jersey’s mayors about his plan to begin reducing New Jersey’s debt. In 1982 New Jersey’s debt stood at $2.3 billion, by 2001 the state’s total debt was $16.2 billion. Today, only six years later the state’s debt has more than doubled to $34 billion.

            “In order to reduce our debt load Governor Corzine has proposed creating a Public Benefits Corporation (PBC) which would issue bonds guaranteed by toll revenue from the Turnpike, Parkway, Expressway and Route 440.  The bonds would be used to reduce the state’s debt by half and to refinance the Transportation Trust Fund which repairs our transportation infrastructure.

            “The governor’s proposal is very ambitious and complex and it must receive a full and fair hearing before both houses of the Legislature. However, the Corzine Administration has not released any of the details of his plan that would allow us to properly evaluate and analyze his proposal.

            “Additionally, the timeline that the governor is proposing for the introduction and adoption of his toll hike plan should be extended. In fact, a hearing on the proposal is scheduled to take place next week in the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, before any documents are released or a bill draft circulated. I agree with Senate President Codey that we should not rush a proposal that will affect generations of New Jersey taxpayers through the Legislature.

            “Until a bill is introduced, members of the Legislature will not know the scope of the governor’s plan or be able to consider what the short and long term implications are for the taxpayers of this state. We must be allowed the time to properly analyze and evaluate this very complex proposal.

            “I would encourage the governor to release all of the documents that we have repeatedly asked for related to the toll hike plan so that we can work with him to craft a responsible budget for Fiscal Year 2009.”