New Jersey Passes Rushed $54.3 Billion Budget Amid Questions Over Math Errors and Public Input

Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed a $54.3 billion budget for the new fiscal year, only hours after the New Jersey legislature approved it. The vote came on the last day before further delays would have triggered a state government shutdown.

The speed of the process has raised questions about whether the budget's figures are correct and has left almost no room for the public to review or comment on the plan.

Peter Chen, a senior policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, a progressive think tank focused on budget policy and priorities, said he had been told the bill has serious technical flaws. "We've been told that there are substantial technical problems with the bill, that the math doesn't add up, and there will have to be substantial corrections," he said. He added that on Wednesday night the budget committees voted on a budget that no one had seen.

Chen said it is not unusual for lawmakers to tidy up a budget bill after passage, but called this year's rush particularly egregious. "One of the biggest problems is we can't be sure that this is actually the budget," he said.

Legislative committees approved the spending plan Wednesday night without public comment, just meeting the deadline needed to send it to the full legislature on Friday and avoid a shutdown. Chen said the pattern undermines transparency: public hearings come first, the bill appears at the last minute, and it is voted on with little or no public input.

Murphy presented his budget proposal to lawmakers four months ago, which started negotiations over a final plan. Even so, the budget and several other bills were fast-tracked through the legislature this year. Benjamin Dworkin, director of the Rowan University Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, said it was surprising that the budget, perhaps the biggest bill lawmakers handle in a given year, fell victim to those dynamics. He noted that the midnight Friday deadline created extenuating circumstances.

The budget funds several new policy initiatives. It sets aside $100 million for a property tax cut for seniors that takes effect in 2026 and is expected to cost $1.2 billion per year in future budgets. It also adds a $200 million tax credit for film production companies, expanding an existing program that encouraged Netflix's plan to turn Fort Monmouth into a 290-acre production studio.

In addition, the spending plan doubles the child tax credit for families earning up to $80,000 a year. Expanding the credit was one of Murphy's priorities, and it will now range from $200 to $1,000 per child under age 6. Dworkin said affordability has been the focus of the legislature, especially Democrats, since the 2021 election.

Chen supports the child tax credit but said he would have liked to see more programs of that kind prioritized over measures that benefit the wealthy, such as corporate tax breaks and the end of the surcharge on corporations with more than a million dollars in profit. The child tax credit will cost $120 million a year, while the film tax credit will cost an additional $200 million. "Who should the state be giving money to? Netflix or low income families and children?" Chen asked.