Legislators added nearly 500 projects to the state budget to fund things like parks and prisons. Republicans blasted it as pork. (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)
The state released details Tuesday of the nearly 500 late changes Democratic legislative leaders made to the $56.6 billion annual budget in the hours before the full Legislature approved it in June, with money funding everything from baseball fields to domestic violence services to internet infrastructure in state prisons.
Lawmakers approved a total of 490 budget resolutions, which were publicly posted online this week — almost six weeks after legislators approved them.
Republican leaders blasted the delay and decried much of the spending as “pork.”
Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), the Senate’s GOP budget officer, called the resolutions’ publication “fantasyland transparency” that doesn’t fully explain how taxpayer money will be spent, sometimes hides who has advocated for special funding, and often fails to divulge legislators’ business relationships to the projects funded.
“This release of information is designed to technically comply with rules and designed to sound like it’s a level of transparency when that’s absolute garbage,” O’Scanlon said. “It’s transparency in name only, which is worse, quite frankly, than none at all.”
The resolutions offer just one sentence, sometimes just a phrase, for what the appropriation will support, even though some cost millions of dollars.
“Why is this money not being used in a more open, honest, transparent way that broadly benefits the people of New Jersey, the taxpayers that provided these funds in the first place?” O’Scanlon said. “It’s all going to pet projects of powerful legislators.”
Budget resolutions are requests for changes to the annual spending bill submitted by lawmakers or by the state treasurer. The sponsors of budget resolutions are required to disclose whether they or any members of their family have relationships with or are paid by organizations they are seeking to fund.
Democrats were the winners, snagging most of the last-minute budget add-ons — not a surprise in the Democrat-controlled Legislature. Twenty-nine Republicans had no budget resolutions approved, while three Democrats — Assembly members William Spearman and Shanique Speight and Sen. Angela McKnight — each had well over 200 approved. Senate President Nicholas Scutari sponsored 44 of the approved resolutions, while Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin sponsored eight.
Even critics acknowledged much of the spending is for worthy causes, such as expanded food assistance, domestic violence services, aid to colleges and universities, and community-based long-term care.
But there is also $4.2 million to improve the ShoreTown Ballpark in Lakewood, $2.7 million for a pedestrian project in Cranford, $500,000 for a water park in East Brunswick, $350,000 to improve tennis courts in Fanwood, and $250,000 for turf fields at a Berkeley Heights park.
The add-ons amount to hundreds of millions of dollars and should get more scrutiny, said Assemblywoman Nancy Muñoz (R-Union), the GOP budget officer in the Assembly.
“Sometimes the priorities are skewed — whether we need a new ballpark in one district versus funding like a public hospital, how do we make a determination?” Muñoz said. “Why not put these resolutions up to a vote in the budget committee? Then it’s on the public record right away, the public knows who introduced it, and they know who voted for it. The lack of transparency is the issue.”
Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin (D-Essex), chair of the Assembly’s budget committee, said the budget resolutions represent “a small portion” of the total budget, which typically is released in an initial form annually in late February or early March, giving the public and Republicans plenty of time to digest the details before the June vote.
The budget resolution process predates many sitting legislators, and all budget asks are subjected to “checks and balances” to ensure they’re worthy expenditures, Pintor Marin said. Legislators negotiate with legislative leaders to get their resolutions approved, she added.
“What you see there is a small portion of what the asks are,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin said the resolutions support “critical infrastructure and services to residents of our state, while reducing local costs to their communities.”
“We have followed all laws and rules of the legislature to make details of the budget resolutions publicly available so the people of New Jersey can see how this year’s budget will improve their communities and the lives of their families,” the statement from the Assembly Majority Office reads.
Senate President Nicholas Scutari’s spokespeople offered a statement saying the additional funding in the budget resolutions is part of a “fiscally responsible budget.”
“Every resolution that was included in the state budget is being made public, providing additional information on how the funds are being used to address statewide priorities and to meet the needs of local communities without added expense to local taxpayers,” the statement from the Senate Majority Office reads. “We are making effective use of resources to support services that will improve the quality of life for our residents, including additional funding for higher education and mental health services.”
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