TRENTON, N.J. – Assemblyman Hal Wirths is calling on Democrats to consider freezing spending for next fiscal year. He says that necessary spending increases on obligations need to be maintained, and hard decisions need to be made on discretionary spending.
“New Jersey is already in a poor fiscal condition, and we are not sure how revenues will play out in the coming months,” said Wirths (R-Sussex), the Assembly GOP budget officer. “Obviously we need to pay our bills first and foremost. Tough decisions need to be made to make sure the budget is truly balanced a year from now.”
Over the weekend, treasury officials discussed with lawmakers plans to freeze discretionary spending for the current fiscal year, but did not indicate for how long. Murphy proposed increasing spending by $2.2 billion for fiscal year 2021. The fiscal year 2020 budget was $38.7 billion.