TRENTON – Senator Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer) today released the following statement on the passage of the Democratic FY2012 budget plan and separate legislation to fully fund the state’s constitutional school funding formula through a surcharge on incomes over $1 million:
“After a year in which seemingly every promise made to our working families and seniors was broken, Democrats today stood together to reset our state’s priorities. After a year in which the very wealthiest residents were spared from any of the governor’s much-ballyhooed ‘shared sacrifice,’ Democrats today stood together to say that everyone must pitch in to correct the problems the face our state.
“For our schools and property taxpayers, additional school funding will ensure that public education gets the support it needs and residents will get the relief they deserve. Our seniors will once again see their homes protected by a renewed promise of property tax relief through the Senior Freeze. And our working families will benefit from a budget that puts its emphasis on fairness and honesty, not division and double-speak.
“The governor now has a choice to make. He can sign this budget and stand with us and the majority of New Jerseyans who are tired of the arbitrary cuts to the things that make us great as a state, or he can stand even further out into the political wilderness.”