TRENTON — Final revenue figures for last year’s budget were more in line with Democratic projections than those used by Gov. Chris Christie, according to an Office of Legislative Services memo obtained by The Star-Ledger. The competing revenue estimates were a key budget dispute between Democratic lawmakers and Christie this past June. Democrats wanted to use higher revenue estimates...
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The Office of Legislative Services believes state revenue projections this year are closer to Democrats' projections than Gov. Chris Christie's, according to a memo obtained by The Star-Ledger.TRENTON — Final revenue figures for last year’s budget were more in line with Democratic projections than those used by Gov. Chris Christie, according to an Office of Legislative Services memo obtained by The Star-Ledger.
The competing revenue estimates were a key budget dispute between Democratic lawmakers and Christie this past June.
Democrats wanted to use higher revenue estimates offered by the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services to increase funding for social service programs and education, along with property tax relief.
In their budget proposal, Democratic lawmakers increased final revenue projections for the fiscal year that ended on June 30 and planned to use the surplus to increase funding in this year’s budget. They also used the higher OLS projections to increase spending in this year’s budget.
Calling the Democratic plan a piece of fiction, Christie used his line-item veto power to lower the revenue projections and scale back spending. He said, “someone will have to be the adult in Trenton.”
The state’s three largest revenue sources — income, corporate and sales taxes — exceeded the governor’s projections last year by $100 million, David Rosen, OLS budget and finance officer, said in a memo issued today.
The Democratic budget expected the revenues to beat the governor’s projection by $112 million, Rosen said.
However, he warned that the figures are preliminary and don’t include the state’s other revenue sources. He said the final figures will be in the state audit released later this year.
He also said that it’s too early to discern whether the state is meeting or exceeding revenue projections in the current budget, but said “economic developments since June suggest the need for caution about the revenue forecast.”
Previous coverage:
• Christie says projections of extra state revenue show his economic policies are working
• Gov. Chris Christie rips Democrats' budget proposal, warns of more modest revenue projection
