TRENTON, N.J. – Assembly Republican Leader John DiMaio and Assemblyman Hal Wirths said New Jersey’s lagging unemployment rate, business closures, increased spending and lack of sustainable property tax relief contest Gov. Phil Murphy’s feel-good talking points in his budget message he delivered on Tuesday.
Murphy’s proposed fiscal year 2023 budget increases year-over-year spending by $2.5 billion, over 5%, to $48.9 billion.
“Murphy mentioned property taxes 26 times in his speech but is doing nothing to fix the root problem that cause the issue of property taxes,” DiMaio (R-Warren) said. “There are some things that we could be doing to make substantive changes. If the governor and the Democrats were serious, they would return the $2.6 billion dollars of energy receipts that belong to the municipalities. And they would also do something to address the sick day payouts.”
“This should have been the year of real reform. We are still spending more money than we are taking in. How many households do that? How many businesses do that? Not too many for too long,” Wirths (R-Sussex) said. “We need to start spending within our means and this was a great opportunity the governor had and they missed it. Hopefully, working with my colleagues here and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle we can get some reform and get some of the hard earned taxpayer’s money returned to them. ”
