Gov. Christie transition team unveils sweeping N.J. restructuring plan

By Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau
January 22, 2010

TRENTON -- The policy blueprint for the Christie administration reads as follows: A state government that does less, but does it better.

A raft of transition reports released today provides a glimpse into Gov. Chris Christie’s options as he inherits a state he calls "broke," with suggestions ranging from consolidating or eliminating some agencies to freezing salaries for public employees and teachers.

Prisoners could be double-bunked in their jail cells. School construction projects could be halted mid-stream. Some state-run facilities for children and the disabled could be shuttered. Subsidies could dry up for horse racing and New Jersey Network. And 27 people working for state authorities could lose their salaries, which are higher than the governor’s.

The reports’ language is by turns scathing and sympathetic to the outgoing Corzine administration, but consistently describes a state that is technologically backward and either understaffed or poorly staffed. They mirror major themes of Christie’s campaign, especially the need to change New Jersey’s reputation as hostile to business growth — though environmentalists read it as a retreat from critical protections.

Christie called the 19 reports — prepared by subcommittees he appointed — "full of bold ideas and recommendations" and promised to review the "unvarnished assessments of our state government, its strengths, weaknesses and failures."

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Christie will need the signoff of the Democrat-controlled Legislature to enact many of the suggestions, including a sales tax holiday and asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment requiring a super-majority to raise or add taxes.

"There will be a give-and-take. There will be philosophical differences in some areas," Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) said.

Reaction was not as muted from the New Jersey Education Association, the powerful teachers union already at odds with the new Republican governor’s stance on school choice. NJEA spokesman Steve Wollmer said it would be illegal to freeze teacher salaries, as one report recommends if other public employee salaries are frozen in the next budget year.

"You can’t just terminate a contract unilaterally," Wollmer said. "These are just recommendations. These aren’t on tablets coming down from the mountaintop."

The reports also call for an immediate expansion of charter schools, including five to 10 new schools in low-performing districts in time for next fall, and an audit of the Schools Development Authority to determine whether planned school construction projects should proceed.

The SDA, identified as "solvent through March of 2010," is among several authorities flagged as challenges for the new administration. The Highlands Council is called "a disaster on multiple levels," punishing landowners and local governments with too many layers of regulation beyond its mission of environmental protection. And problems at Sports and Exposition Authority, reportedly facing a $38 million budget shortfall that taxpayers will have to cover in 2010, call into question its "entire mission, structure and even very existence."

To solve a "broken" business model for the sports authority and horseracing, the report says the state should integrate operations of the Izod Center, PNC Bank Arts Center, the Atlantic City Convention Center and Rutgers University, and consider including the Prudential Center and the new Giants/Jets Stadium in that plan. Horseracing would need changes to become self-sustaintable.

The reports also carry major warnings for New Jersey’s transportation system, long considered the backbone of the state’s economy. Potential potholes include a public referendum on a gas tax increase, a $200 million deficit in the 2011 NJ Transit budget that could lead to service cuts or fare increases, another bond sale in 12 to 14 months to bolster the depleted Transportation Trust Fund past 2011, and limited tolling of select highways.

There was also a style point close to the new governor’s heart: Christie should tone down his forceful rhetoric against state workers unions until he creates support. When "the timing is right and his support staff has done their job," then "the governor can use his talent to get the public, the legislature and the media behind this endeavor," one of the reports says.