Team Allen: It’s Time for New Jersey Government to Live Within Its Means

Candidates call for Legislature to cap and reform state spending

Burlington--  7th District Senator Diane Allen, and Assembly candidates Brian Propp and Nancy Griffin today announced their plan to make New Jersey more affordable by cutting state spending and reforming the budget process.

Team Allen’s plan for spending reform would:

      Cap growth in state spending at the rate of inflation plus population growth

      End the practice of “Christmas Tree” spending by requiring all appropriations to be submitted in bill format

      Require recurring expenses to be funded by recurring revenues and not one-shot budget gimmicks                       

            “For too long, Trenton politicians have refused to make the choice that families across the state make every day- to live within our means,” said Allen.  “Over the last five years, state spending has increased by $8.3 billion- and all we have to show for it are 94 tax increases, flat funding to suburban school districts, and skyrocketing property taxes.  New Jersey is unaffordable because state government has been maxing out its credit card and passing the bill on to our taxpayers.  It’s time to stop.  Working families have been abused enough.”

            “Capping state spending at the rate of inflation plus population growth is a common sense solution to a problem the Legislature has been ignoring for too long,” said Propp.  Our taxpayers are not a bottomless ATM, and they shouldn’t be forced to endure watching legislators of any party run up their tab with more and more wasteful spending that ignores our priorities like school funding, municipal aid, and property tax relief.    This proposal would for the first time force New Jersey to fund these priorities and then remove its hand from taxpayers’ pockets.”

            “Surely we can fund essential services and provide a better quality of life for the people of New Jersey with the annual increase this proposal would allow,” said Griffin.  “But it would also require the State to eliminate the wasteful programs and Christmas Tree items that have been bloating the state’s budget.  We already have a law that requires us to balance the budget.  Let’s pass a law that requires that budget to be responsible and respectful of the taxpayers.” 

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