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Kenny: ‘Dedicated Parks Funding Will Benefit Urban Areas’

TRENTON – Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny, Jr., the Senate’s lead sponsor on SCR-105, a measure to dedicate a portion of the State’s Corporate Business Tax (CBT) to State and local park maintenance, issued the following statement today regarding Assembly consideration of his measure. The resolution was unanimously approved by the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee and the Assembly Budget Committee:

“A thriving park infrastructure is key to the quality of life in many of our urban communities. Through today’s Assembly action, we’ve taken the first steps to ensuring that they will be appreciated for years to come.

“In many of our State’s cities, park land is the only open space available for children to play, and families to appreciate nature. Unfortunately, since parks are so vital to our recreation, many urban parks fall into a state of disrepair due to overuse.

“However, with a constitutionally dedicated revenue source, derived from the CBT, we can ensure that the money is there for proper park maintenance, so that we can pass down our valuable parks to future generations. By tapping an existing revenue stream, we can preserve our parks without added cost to New Jersey taxpayers.

“I expect that we will be taking this up in the Senate very soon, and have already received early bipartisan support for our efforts. As a Legislature, I think we’ve come to understand that our parks are not a Democratic issue, or a Republican issue, but rather, a New Jersey issue. It is incumbent on this Legislature to support our State and local parks, to do justice to our nickname as the Garden State.”