Blondy876
<br><font color="Blue">The Tag Fairy stopped by to
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2003
- Messages
- 3,124
No details have been relseased yet but it will be good to get things up and running again. I wonder how long it will take for the casinos to get going.
Updated with the NJ.com article:
Tentative budget deal struck
Gov. Jon Corzine and New Jerseys Assembly Speaker have struck a tentative budget deal, signaling an end to the government shutdown that furloughed tens of thousands of state workers, closed state courts and parks, and halted gambling at Atlantic City casinos, four sources with knowledge of the deal said.
The specifics of the agreement were expected to be announced later today, along with a timetable for reopening state offices and casinos and resuming other services. The governors office said it will hold a news conference after 4 p.m., but offered no other details.
The breakthrough came on the sixth day of the stalemate and between Corzine and Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), who remained at odds over Corzines proposal to fill a billion-dollar shortfall by raising the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent. Roberts wanted a mix of taxes and spending cuts, and insisted that any new revenues in the $31 billion budget be used to relieve property taxes.
Two sources said the compromise plan keeps intact Corzines sales tax hike for a decade, but calls for a 50 percent of the new revenues - an amount that would dedicated by a constitutional amendment - to be set aside to offset property taxes. In a nod to Roberts, the plan also leaves open the annual possibility of increasing that percentage dedicated to property tax relief, the sources said.
The full legislature is expected to consider the proposal later today or tomorrow.
Corzine sent the proposal to the budget committee last night. In a speech this morning to the joint legislature, he urged lawmakers to end the standoff. "We can do this today! Today! Today!" he said, remarks that drew sustained cheers from within the chamber.
At noon, the governor strode into Roberts office in the Statehouse. Within the hour, word of a deal began to bubble around the capitol.
Around 2:15 p.m., Sen. President Richard Codey (D-Essex) walked out of the governors office and told reporters: "We're negotiating and we're close. Simple as that."
Several Democratic Assembly members who were in Roberts' camp said they were now willing to accept the new proposal.
"I support the speaker's proposition that we should have the full billion in the sales tax towards property tax relief. But it's not going to happen, and this represents a middle ground," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex).
Updated with the NJ.com article:
Tentative budget deal struck
Gov. Jon Corzine and New Jerseys Assembly Speaker have struck a tentative budget deal, signaling an end to the government shutdown that furloughed tens of thousands of state workers, closed state courts and parks, and halted gambling at Atlantic City casinos, four sources with knowledge of the deal said.
The specifics of the agreement were expected to be announced later today, along with a timetable for reopening state offices and casinos and resuming other services. The governors office said it will hold a news conference after 4 p.m., but offered no other details.
The breakthrough came on the sixth day of the stalemate and between Corzine and Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), who remained at odds over Corzines proposal to fill a billion-dollar shortfall by raising the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent. Roberts wanted a mix of taxes and spending cuts, and insisted that any new revenues in the $31 billion budget be used to relieve property taxes.
Two sources said the compromise plan keeps intact Corzines sales tax hike for a decade, but calls for a 50 percent of the new revenues - an amount that would dedicated by a constitutional amendment - to be set aside to offset property taxes. In a nod to Roberts, the plan also leaves open the annual possibility of increasing that percentage dedicated to property tax relief, the sources said.
The full legislature is expected to consider the proposal later today or tomorrow.
Corzine sent the proposal to the budget committee last night. In a speech this morning to the joint legislature, he urged lawmakers to end the standoff. "We can do this today! Today! Today!" he said, remarks that drew sustained cheers from within the chamber.
At noon, the governor strode into Roberts office in the Statehouse. Within the hour, word of a deal began to bubble around the capitol.
Around 2:15 p.m., Sen. President Richard Codey (D-Essex) walked out of the governors office and told reporters: "We're negotiating and we're close. Simple as that."
Several Democratic Assembly members who were in Roberts' camp said they were now willing to accept the new proposal.
"I support the speaker's proposition that we should have the full billion in the sales tax towards property tax relief. But it's not going to happen, and this represents a middle ground," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex).
