TRENTON – Senator Ellen Karcher, D-Monmouth and Mercer, a leading advocate for ethics reform in New Jersey and a member of the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services, issued the following statement today regarding Governor Corzine’s State of the State address:
“Governor Corzine today called on the Legislature to help move property tax reforms through the political process as swiftly as possible, and to be a meaningful part in the efforts to reign in runaway property taxes in the Garden State. We heard his words, and are willing to do our part to bring immediate, and lasting, relief to taxpayers who face some of the highest property taxes in the nation.
“That said, unless we also take a serious look at government corruption, waste and abuse of public dollars, the reforms we enact in the year ahead, and the savings realized from those reforms, will be for naught, swallowed by the greed and personal enrichment of an unscrupulous few.
“Governor Corzine acknowledged that we need to clean up our house if we’re serious about helping taxpayers in New Jersey. I wholly agree, and will work with my legislative colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the coming year to make long-sought property tax reform, and necessary ethics reform, a reality in the Garden State.”