Corzine Presents His Austerity Budget for New Jersey

New Jersey governor Jon Corzine is proposing major budget cuts to key state programs, including state workers, property tax rebates, and aid for towns and hospitals.
   
The looming cuts include new Medicaid co-pays, eliminating some property tax rebates, laying off state workers, and trimming welfare rolls.

Corzine gave his budget address before the sate legislature on Tuesday. He said New Jersey has a government its people can't afford.
   
The $33-billion budget proposed $2.7 billion in cuts as Corzine looks to right state finances plagued by annual budget deficits, high taxes, and mounting debt.
   
Democratic legislative leaders say they are going to review the cuts for possible changes, but acknowledged the need to slice spending. Republicans want spending cuts, but blasted plans to pare rebates.
   
The plan needs legislative approval. The state constitution requires a budget be adopted by July 1st.

Some residents worry that Corzine's proposed state budget cuts will be devastating to the most vulnerable, forcing some to go hungry or skip needed medicines.
   
State treasurer David Rousseau said the administration tried to protect education, public safety, the most vulnerable residents and low- and mid-income property taxpayers as much as possible, but it was impossible to shield even those groups entirely.
   
Phyllis Salowe-Kaye of New Jersey Citizen Action says she fears the budget will be balanced on the backs of the poor.

KYW's Paul Kurtz reports that at least one economic expert thinks Governor Corzine's budget proposal is a head-on attempt to address the state's budget deficit.
  
Jack Worrall (below right), an economics professor at Rutgers University in Camden, believes Corzine's decision to slash the budget across the board is a bold move, borne out of necessity:

"His hands are tied to some degree. Property taxes are obviously very high, the sales tax is very high. The income tax is not low, so he is between a rock and a hard place."

Worrall says the cuts will be good medicine for a state that has spent too much in the past, although he acknowledges that some New Jersey residents will suffer in the short run.