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State $60.7B budget approval likely going down to the wire

By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... New Jersey's next state budget - which must be adopted and signed by the governor no later than Tuesday, June 30 [2026] - appears poised to come down to the wire.
..... Governor Mikie Sherrill proposed her administration;s first fistula plan in March. [2026]
..... She was adamant about addressing the Legislature's penchant for pork spending, noting that "we simply can't afford" what she referred to as "previous administrations' bad habit of tacking last-minute giveaways onto each budget."
..... And in an exclusive conversation with the USA Today Network New Jersey editorial board this week [06/18/2026] she did not back down from that position.
..... Sherrill she expects to see a final number "pretty close" to her proposed $60.7 billion, because "we just don't have the flexibility: for additional spending.
..... "I put out our budget priorities in March, [2026] and a lot of what I said was 'I'm happy to negotiate. I'm happy to work with the Legislature, but any additions are going to require subtractions '" the governor said. "I don't want people suddenly turning around as usual and they go to bed at night and the budget is in one place and they wake up and it's signed and there's a billion more dollars in it. We're just not in a cycle like that."
..... Among the programs Sherrill is funding but scaling back is the Stay NJ tax relief program. It remains to be seen what the final product will look like, giving that the program is a pet project of Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.
.....In Sherrill's budget, the eligibility for Stay NJ would be capped at an income threshold of $250,000. with that shift, it would match the ANCHOR property tax rebate program. The payment amount would be capped at $4,000 in an effort to lower the cost of maintaining the program. The current cap is $6,500.
..... The governor included it in hr proposed budget because she understands that there are a lot of "middle0lcass seniors who are on a fixed income, who with the constantly increasing prices are really in trouble."
..... "We want to make sure that we stabilize that. ... I think we made some good changes to the program," she said. "I know the speaker has some different ideas of where he might like to see it. I'm open too some different ideas."

Sherrill seeks transparency

..... Sherill said she would love to have a process more similar to the was congressionally directed funds are set up in Washingtonian, where there is money for members' projects, because members know their districts best.
..... The governor said the process in the state now feels a "little cloaked to me," so this would be "changing culture and brining people along."
..... she explained that during her time in the U.S. House of Representatives she had to attest to the fact that she and her family were not benefiting specifically from projects she was seeking to fund and that they were things the community wanted it.
..... Sherrill said that as she has spoken with sate Senate President Nick Scutari and Coughlin, she feels they "all share this understanding that in these times, people want to know what governess's doing" and that their is a lot they all agree on and are not just "hammering out the details."

What comes next?

..... The governor said it is "probably ambitious" to think the budget will be on her desk next week [06/29/2026] but rather that it will "probably be going right up to the end."
..... Both Coughlin and Scutari declined to comment on the budget and the ongoing negotiations.
..... The governor explained that the bulk of the conversations she's had with legislators have been members-directed projects, which she thinks "makes a lot of sense" and are "what government should do," and that her issue is with the accountability and transparency of it.
..... Sherrill noted hat her administration has created a budget report card to let people track spending and to provide that accountability.
..... In recent years, the vast majority of the specific projects funded were those proposed by or to befit districts represented by Democrats. Sherrill said she is focused on addressing the affordability crisis in New Jersey, not partisan politics.
..... "The affordability crisis doesn't just target individuals. It's not a partisan issue," she said.
..... "It's across the board for working people here in New Jersey."

..... Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. email: sobko@northjersey.com

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