TRENTON – State Senate President Pro Tempore Shirley K. Turner, D-Mercer and a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, made the following statement today following Governor Corzine’s Budget Address:
“I am honestly very concerned with where this proposed budget takes New Jersey. It takes no action to reduce our local over reliance on property taxes. By keeping school and municipal aid flat once again, this budget proposal continues to place the financial burden on seniors and working families to fund local programs and schools.
“I am also deeply bothered by the proposed $300 million cut to higher education funding. This will only lead to higher tuitions for our students, increasing costs for those who can least afford it. We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on stem cell research facilities, yet we are cutting funds to the schools that will train the scientists who will work there. These cuts seem to work against our goals of growth and prosperity.
“It is now time for the Legislature to take this budget over the next three months and mold it into a document that better reflects the needs of seniors, students and working families living on main street.”