The State auditor's report on "Distressed Cities" aid also says $153 million program slated to spend an extra $25 million this year
12TH District Legislators Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon said today that a report by a state auditor outlining numerous failures to comply with state statutes governing the program confirm exactly what they’ve been saying for months.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars distributed with virtually no oversight”, said O’Scanlon, a member of the Assembly Budget Committee. “I’d say it was unbelievable, but sadly, given what we suspected, it’s not surprising at all. My fellow budget committee members and I have been asking for documentation and were stonewalled. Now we understand why. This should outrage every taxpayer in the state of New Jersey .”
“Considering the fact that the debate has finally shifted from ‘should we cut the budget?’ to ‘where do we cut?’, it would seem to me that this program is a prime candidate for a serious cut in funding”, added Beck. “If someone can explain to me why we should be cutting municipal aid to fiscally responsible suburban towns, while Camden will be receiving $60 million this year from a supposedly temporary program they’ve been on for 9 years now, I’d like to hear it.”
According to Casagrande, an equally outrageous part of the report was the auditors finding that the program is actually projected to require an extra $25 million over and above the $153 million in the current budget.
“It’s bad enough that this program, which we now know has had virtually no oversight, was scheduled to dole out over $150 million of taxpayer dollars to towns which, in many cases, have exhibited questionable financial practices for years. Now we find out that it’s actually going to be $25 million more than that. At a time when we’re scrounging for every dollar, we’re going to actually expand the most dysfunctional program in the state? It’s insane. But unfortunately it’s par for the course in Trenton .”