New Jersey transportation officials this week faced the Assembly Budget Committee, whose members grilled them on the looming standoff surrounding the Transportation Trust Fund, set to run dry in early August, according to acting transportation commissioner Richard Hammer.
Despite legislators’ calling the situation a "crisis," Gov. Chris Christie last month said it was merely a "politically driven mischaracterization," a position echoed in committee by Hammer, spurring a back-and-forth over the severity of the situation.
"There is plenty of time for collaborative efforts to take place between the legislature and the governor to come up with a solution. I'm not sitting here today saying there is a crisis. I do not believe there is one," Hammer said.
"This is as close to D-Day as one could possibly get," countered Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee. "I don’t get why I’m so concerned and all the professionals seem to be fine."
The state’s Transportation Trust Fund pays for $1.2 billion in maintenance and repairs each year through the NJDOT's capital budget, including road repairs, bridge replacements, new buses and train station improvements. As of next year, however, no new money will be available for such projects. Without new funding, the amount of debt paid will outweigh all revenue sources, which includes nearly $600 million from the state's gas tax.
"We have a $1.6 billion number in front of us that doesn't seem to have a revenue source," said the committee vice chairman, Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester), referring to NJDOT's 2017 capital plan. "We have a capital list here that we all like and would like to see even thicker. But it's working with numbers that don't even exist."
Legislators have spent years brainstorming new ways to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund, but all proposals have either failed or been ignored. Christie did not include any solution for the fund in his fiscal year 2017 budget.
Despite the uncertain funding future, NJDOT is still operating as if money was in place, Hammer said. Bridges or roads won't stay open if they're deemed to be dangerous and crews are still performing regular maintenance, he said.
