N.J. budget that took effect July 1 assumes savings
Gov. Chris Christie at the Statehouse in Trenton in this February 2010 file photo. Despite being 2 1/2 months into a budget that assumes $50 million in savings from privatizing state services, officials said today they were not ready to say which programs can privatize.TRENTON — The state budget that took effect July 1 assumes $50 million in savings from privatizing some functions of state government. But today, two-and-a-half months into this year’s budget, state officials were not ready to say what programs the state plans to put in private hands.
At an Assembly Transportation Committee hearing, Democrats grilled Transportation Commissioner James Simpson and former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, who chaired Gov. Chris Christie’s task force on privatization, on the state’s progress towards meeting the $50 million goal.
Zimmer said the state would be able to save the money this fiscal year, although he did not have details.
"There is time for this to happen. I don’t have the specific progress report to date... But I’m quite confident that more than $50 million will be realized in savings," said Zimmer.
Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) said the testimony left him with "more questions than answers."
"I feel like we’re dancing here... Because you have nine months left to come up with $50 million," he said. "It’s in the budget. You would assume that when we’re voting on things in the budget, they would be real."
Zimmer’s report, issued in July, said the state could eventually save $210 million each year by privatizing functions that include motor vehicle inspections, state park concession stands, interstate rest areas, toll collection, state office parking lots, and highway emergency service patrols.
After the hearing, Zimmer said "we were able to identify so many potential savings that even if some don’t come to fruition, we’ll still meet the number."
Simpson laid out options for privatizing or scaling back the emergency service patrols, funded mostly from a federal grant. He said the $10.5 million to $12 million that funds the program would be better spent on road improvements. But he could not say when the DOT would implement a plan.
Treasury Department spokesman Andrew Pratt said the Christie administration is working on privatization plans.
"We do have an idea of how it will be done. But we’re going to come out with those proposals when they are fully formed and ready to go, and not before," said Pratt.
Democrats are skeptical of the privatization plans. They said Zimmer’s proposals reminded them of past efforts with bad results, the 1999 privatization of car inspections that in some cases left drivers waiting in line for four hours.
"As I reviewed the report, I felt like it was déjà vu all over again," said Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union).