TRENTON — The Democratic state budget proposal scheduled for votes today in the Senate and Assembly budget committees would allow Cooper University Hospital's cancer institute in Camden to get $11.14 million sooner than Gov. Chris Christie's budget would have allowed.. An earlier post on nj.com incorrectly reported that the Democrats' budget proposal would add an extra $11.14 million in...
Cooper University Hospital in Camden. Under the Democrats' proposed budget, the hospital could receive $11.14M to benefit a new cancer center and medical school sooner than it would in Gov. Christie's budget proposal.TRENTON — The Democratic state budget proposal scheduled for votes today in the Senate and Assembly budget committees would allow Cooper University Hospital's cancer institute in Camden to get $11.14 million sooner than Gov. Chris Christie's budget would have allowed..
An earlier post on nj.com incorrectly reported that the Democrats' budget proposal would add an extra $11.14 million in funding.
Under Christie's proposal, Cooper would only receive the $11.14 million after it spent all funding coming from other sources first. The Democrats' budget would change the requirement, and would allow the hospital to receive the state money if it can simply show it has its other funding "available."
"We're not getting new money," said George Norcross, Cooper's chairman.
John Sheridan, Cooper's president, said financing for the project would be harder to put together under Christie's terms.
"We're suggesting that in order to make the bond financing go more smoothly," he said. "This is the normal way to do it."
Derek Roseman, spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said said the switch was just a "technical change."
Treasury spokesman Andy Pratt declined to comment, saying he needed to review the budget provision first.
Rowan Medical School, also under construction, would get $2.77 million in funds that it left unused during the last fiscal year. The school, a partnership between Cooper and Rowan University, plans to enroll its first class of students in the fall of 2012.
Roseman said Rowan was eligible for the money last year, but "my understanding is that because there was an administrative issue they couldn't access that money — but they were fully entitled to it ... that language changed this year, so the can actually get the money."
Cooper and two other hospitals — the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick — would each get an extra $2 million for their Level 1 trauma centers under the Democratic budget.
The budget proposal was announced by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) on Thursday, the same day he agreed to strike a provision in his pension and health benefits overhaul bill that drew criticism because it was seen as benefiting Cooper. Unions have attacked Sweeney for his close relationship to Norcross over the last months.
Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Christie, declined to comment.
By Salvador Rizzo and Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau