Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-Mercer/Middlesex) praised the passage of a democratic budget that restores funding for a number of critical programs that the Christie administration had scrapped, providing much-needed property tax relief to beleaguered New Jersey homeowners.
“This budget gets back to our core values, particularly when it comes to providing property tax relief for seniors, investing in public education, and creating better access to health care for working families.
“For the past year, low and middle income families across the state have been struggling with the impact of the Governor’s devastating cuts in municipal and school aid. We’ve heard their cries and we have responded with a compassionate budget that exemplifies the meaning of true ‘shared sacrifice,’ not one that simply asks the least fortunate among us to sacrifice.
“In the 14th district alone, schools are poised to receive nearly $23 million in additional aid. This is a tremendous boost, particularly for towns like Monroe and Hamilton, which had suffered significant cuts under the Governor’s previous budget.
“We also fought to protect seniors in this budget by allocating an additional $60 million for the Senior Freeze program, which will particularly help those on fixed incomes who might otherwise have to choose between paying their property taxes or buying much needed prescriptions or paying their utility bills.
“This is a humane budget, one that I am proud to support,” said Benson.