State budget could lower pork spending and change tax rebates
By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Trenton lawmakers are obliged to adopt a state budget for New Jersey, as the state's current fiscal year ends on June 30. [2026]
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Will they be able to get Governor Milie Sherrill's proposed $60.7 billion budget - almost certainly modified with amendments - to the finish line by that deadline? that remains to be seen.
..... In recent years, negotiations between the governor's office and leaders of the Assembly and state Senate have run down to the wire at the end of June. Legislative committee mentions have been called at the eleventh hour; governors have signed adopted spending plans for different from their own proposals.
..... What will happen on Governor Mikie Sherrill's first watch as the state's chief executive?
..... Before reaching the governor's office in January, [2026] Sherrill campaigned on a promise of more transparency and accountability in her administration.
..... Once in the Statehouse in February, [2026] Sherrill said she did not plan to raise taxes on New Jersey residents and that her proposed state budget would look for savings to "fix Trenton's historic spending problems."
..... "The hard truth is we're gong to have to make sum tough choses to deliver for people long-term. To get to affordability," Sherrill said in her address to prosed New Jersey's next spending plan before both houses of the Legislature at the Statehouse in Trenton on March 10. [2026]
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"I refuse to put off fro tomorrow what we have to fix today."
..... Sherrill addressed the Legislature's penchant for pork spending as well, noting that "we simply can't afford" what she referred to as "previous administration' bad habit of tacking last-minute giveaways onto each budget."
..... But Republican lawmakers ear worried that things will be business as usual, with the end of the month approaching.
..... There are at least a few things hat may have made it into the final budget that have already been publicized and have drawn criticism form the minority party.
..... Sherrill announced plans to increase funding for the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative, which Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco and Senate Republican Budget Officer Declan O'Scanlon have said they did not approve of, noting that her proposed budget called for reduced funding for dozens of nonprofit organizations.
..... "These cuts hurt organization that support veterans, protect victims of domestic violence, provide services for people with disabilities, combat food insecurity, help families facing serious illnesses, and care for seniors and children - many of which provide services that government cannot easily replace," Bucco said in a statement. "the impact will be felt in communicates across New Jersey but somehow, the governor is proposing to spend more than $2 million to defend individuals who enter this country illegally."
What will happen to Stay NJ?
..... Among the costliest tax rifler programs in the state's history, Stay NJ was introduced legislatively in the run-up to the fiscal year 2024 budget and perceived funding for three years without paying anything out to New Jersey property tax payers.
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The first two Stay NJ checks are being sent out to qualifying New Jersey seniors, but that's as far as the accumulated $1.2 billion can cover.
..... The law that cerated Stay NJ requires full pension payments, full school funding payments and a surplus of at least 12% to be built into the budget as prerequisites for funding the program. The surplus was not 13% when the budget was signed during the last two years, but budget language allowed for a workaround.
..... Sherrill has proposed a scaled-back version of he plan, but it remains to be seen what exactly the final product will look like, given that the program is a pet project of Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.
..... In Sherrill's budget, the eligibility of Stay NJ would be capped at an income threshold of $250,000. It would match the ANCHOR property tax rebate program with the shift.
..... The
payout amount would be capped at $4,000 in an effort to lower the cot of maintaining the program. The current cap is $6,500.
..... It's still going to cost the state about4700 million, which is up form $280 million last year. [2025]
What come next?
..... The plan for fiscal year 2027 - which will run from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 - is a major factor in how the state government will function by dictating what departments and programs are funded.
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Sherrill presented a proposed budget with a price tag of $60.7 billion in March [2026] and than handed off her plan to the Legislature, where it has been analyzed and questioned through public hearings with each government department for months.
..... Now, wit weeks to go, negotiations between the governor's office and legislative leaders on what the final bill will look like heat up.
..... If the budget cycle repeats recent tradition, a final budget bill will land on Sherrill's desk hours before the current fiscal year ends a t11:59 PM on June 30. [2026]
..... Through it would be unlikely - given Democratic control of both chambers of the Legislate and the governor's office - in the event the budget bill does not get signed, state government shuts down.
..... There have been two shutdowns in state history: for 10 days in 2006 and the days in 2017.
..... Katie Sobko cover the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: sobko@northjersey.com