Chamber News Feed: New Jersey is located within a days drive of 40 percent of the U.S. population, a dream scenario for companies in manufacturing, freight and other industries. But its not one that necessarily will last forever. Members of the business community are sounding the alarm that if the state does not find a way to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund, a scenario they say is less than a year away, the state is in serious trouble. The time to do something, they say, is now. Gas tax increase is tough sell with lawmakers, voters and might not help anyway. “We dont want to get to a critical point where people wake up only when a disaster strikes, when a bridge falls in or something,” said Michael Egenton, senior vice president of government relations for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. And heres what business leaders say is the scary part: A potential catastrophe is just a small part of what could go wrong if nothing is done. If critical projects are abandoned and roads are no longer properly maintained, it could make hauling merchandise difficult and companies no longer will want to come to the Garden State. And New Jerseys oft-touted talent pool may slowly disappear as people look elsewhere to live and work. How did it come to this? The reason actually is pretty simple. After years of borrowing, current allocations to the trust fund are hardly sufficient to keep pace with past debt, never mind infrastructure work that may be needed in the future. As of next July, every penny the fund takes in will be needed for debt service. In May, in one of his final pieces of testimony before state lawmakers, former Department of Transportation Commissioner James Simpson explained where this road has led: fiscal year 2016 has a $620 million budget gap with no backup funding sources and nothing in the reserves. Basically, its worse than an empty coffer. Its one we still owe money for. Compelled by the urgency of that encroaching deadline, Robert Briant, Jr., CEO of the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association and member of the Transportation Trust Fund Authority, is sounding the alarm. “Transportation is what makes New Jersey work,” he said. “If you cant move goods and services, who is going to (use the ports) here? If you cant move your stuff from the manufacturing process into the market, why remain here (as a manufacturer)? Public-private infrastructure partnerships must make sense for N.J., and many dont. “Theres quality of life issues,” Briant added. “(New Jersey has) one of the longest commutes in the country, what employee will choose to spend it in a traffic jam?” This is not hyperbolic rhetoric, as Egenton was able to substantiate. This is 25 years of putting off a solution finally coming to bear. “The can has been kicked down the road too many times,” Briant said. “Theres no more can left to kick.” In recent years, Gov. Chris Christie has kept the fund afloat using money diverted from the proposed high-speed rail tunnel under the Hudson River, known as Access to the Regions Core, which he canceled in 2010. Critics blasted Christie, saying he took the funds to avoid raising the gas tax; the diverted money has totaled some $4 billion. In the current fiscal year, which began in July, up to $1.3 billion is being invested into state transportation projects across various agencies, while nearly that much, $1.18 billion, has to be apportioned to paying down trust fund debt and interest from years ago. The funds debt service payment will only be increasing over the coming years, Briant said, while “the constitutionally dedicated revenue we take in averages $915 million.” That means the fund will have to make up more than $300 million this fiscal year just to pay for debt service. “This is something that has been building throughout all the years, throughout all these administrations,” Briant said. “Now, weve finally reached this crescendo in which its no longer sustainable.” Good news: Turnpikes massive expansion is on time, on budget. While theres sure to be disagreement about how exactly the trust fund will be replenished, theres no quarrel about the fact that the clock is ticking. Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto announced in mid-August that the state Assembly will “spend the coming months hosting hearings on the problems and concerns surrounding our bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund and what it will take to meet our transportation needs.” Egenton doesnt anticipate those discussions or others will devolve into partisan bickering, or at least hes hopeful that it wont come to that. But he does expect that it will take some courage and outside-the-box thinking to come to a solution that adequately addresses this nightmarish situation. “But (what we dont need is) a simple Band-Aid approach,” he said. “We need to do this the right way.” Your Bernards Township Regional Chamber of Commerce Works for You!
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 10:26:39 +0000
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