(6TH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT) – Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Louis D. Greenwald and Assembly Higher Education Committee Chairwoman Pamela R. Lampitt (both D-Camden) released a comparative analysis prepared by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services (OLS) Thursday illustrating the harm Gov. Christie’s budget vetoes will have on residents of the 6th Legislative District.
“If Camden County residents thought things were bad last year, when Gov. Christie raided school district surpluses and cut school aid, then they are going to be appalled at the governor’s education funding, compared to what the Democrats responsibly proposed,” said Greenwald (D-Camden).
The 6th Legislative District will lose significant funding thanks to Gov. Christie’s cuts to the Democratic budget. The governor’s cuts will slice local school aid by 19.8 percent, or $38.39 million, compared to the Democratic plan.
“The governor’s cuts to the Democratic education funding plan effectively hamstrung the educational future of our children,” said Lampitt (D-Camden). “We believe both suburban school districts should be treated fairly when it comes to school funding, but sadly the governor thinks otherwise.”
The Fiscal Year 2012 budget, sponsored by Greenwald and supported by Lampitt, that passed the Legislature on June 29 included hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for suburban and rural districts across the state that was to have come from imposing a new income tax levy on those 16,000 residents making more than $1 million a year. The millionaire’s tax was estimated to generate more than $600 million, which under the Democratic budget, would have been used to help offset property taxes while also increasing educational services. Instead, Gov. Christie’s vetoed the funding.
“Residents across the 6th District struggling to make ends meet will now have to reach deeper into their pockets to fill the gaps in education funding Gov. Christie’s budget axe left in the Democratic budget,” said Lampitt. “Meanwhile, the state’s millionaires enjoy tax breaks.”
“The plain fact of the matter is Gov. Christie reduced the amount of aid that school districts in the 6th District would have seen under the Democratic budget by vindictively and callously using his veto power,” said Greenwald.
