Letter to Jon Corzine

omega

Explorer
Born and raised in Jersey, lived in Scranton and out by Lake Wallenpaupack, in PA for a number of years, moved back to Jersey in the late 80's Living paycheck to paycheck in my "cushy" state job (NOT cushy).

Not all that happy with what's going on,especially since they are re-valuing property so taxes are going to go up even more! The thought has crossed my mind to leave, but with 4 little ones in a great school system, the timing isn't right.

as for the Gov. don't expect to see him bite his lip in a Clintonesque style and say " I feel your pain." It ain't gonna happen. for one, he is just not a very good communicator. I have never in all my years as a journalist seen a politician so ill at ease in front of the camera. Which leads me to believe he is in this for other, what some might call "purer" reasons (I can hope at least, can't I?).

He knows money, he knows budgets, he just doesn't know the politics of budgets, and this year was a wake up call to both sides. the legislature got a good indication of how he will be to deal with, pretty much by the book as I see it, and he got an education of the politics of state budgets.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,670
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Pines; Bamber area
Its a start

BY TOM BALDWIN
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

TRENTON — A new age in watching television arrived Friday, when Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law a measure allowing Verizon to sell TV service statewide and compete for customers against the local cable companies.

With an eye on ensuring apartments and multi-family units aren't skipped, Corzine also issued an executive order that directs state regulators to adopt rules that make sure the state can better monitor the network's construction and puts the Department of the Public Advocate in charge of enforcing parts of the new law.

"Taken together, the bill and the executive order will help ensure that all of New
Jersey's communities receive the benefits of meaningful cable television competition as quickly as possible,'' Corzine said in a news release.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,670
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Pines; Bamber area
At least he's thinking

Income tax cut mentioned as way to spur state's growth
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/4/06
BY JASON METHOD
STAFF WRITER

Gov. Corzine said Thursday that New Jersey's income taxes are high enough to make the state less competitive with surrounding states, and that he would not support raising income tax rates to offset the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes.

Corzine added that he believed the income tax rates were so high that they were near the point where they could be cut, which in turn might spur economic growth and bring more money into the state's coffers.

"I have a . . . view that you could almost lower taxes on income and generate revenue," Corzine told the Asbury Park Press editorial board.
 

Teegate

Administrator
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Sep 17, 2002
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I think he finally made a good move signing the TV bill.

Guy
 

Teegate

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BEHR655 said:
I bet FIOS (fiber optics) has Comcast nervous.

Steve


They spent quite a bit of money trying to stop it.

My moms neighbor has the 20.0MB Internet service and loves it. As soon as the TV service is available they are hooking up so I may get to see it soon.

It is interesting how fiber optic works. You can't cut into the lines that come from the pole because they are optics, so if you need 150 feet they use lets say a 200 foot wire and just wrap it up in your house. It also uses a backup battery in the event of electrical failure because it needs electricity to work. He had the service put in a few months back and the battery must have had an electrical strike which seems to be quite common in my moms development. Anyway, it went bad and they already had to replace it.

Guy
 

Boyd

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That's interesting. They just ran fiber through Medford right before I moved away... I would have loved to upgrade to FIOS but I can't get it here. However, your story highlights a concern for the newer forms of IP based telephone service. I don't think they will ever "harden" it as much as the old analog system which carried its own power and had lots of redundancy. But I suppose this is "progress" and eventually they'll come up with solutions.

Of course Comcast is also selling telephone service now, and they have a pretty impressive infrastructure. I'm sure they aren't happy about that cable bill, but they should do alright. Heh, I'm playing both sides of the street there... I own stock in Comcast and Verizon :)
 
Boyd said:
Of course Comcast is also selling telephone service now, and they have a pretty impressive infrastructure. I'm sure they aren't happy about that cable bill, but they should do alright. Heh, I'm playing both sides of the street there... I own stock in Comcast and Verizon :)

It's interesting that Comcast thought it was OK to offer phone services but got upset when Verizon announced they were going to offer television. Also, I always thought it sucked that there was no cable compitition. This should be a good thing.

Steve
 

Boyd

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BEHR655 said:
It's interesting that Comcast thought it was OK to offer phone services but got upset when Verizon announced they were going to offer television.

Surely it comes as no surprise that big corporations promote their self interest? The "interesting" part is probably who voted which way on this legislation, and why :)
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,670
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Pines; Bamber area
So far so good. If it fails, it is because of special interests, home rule, and pwer hungry uncooperative politicians, not Jon Corzine. What other governor had the hootzpah to put everything on the table:

Corzine makes vow: Action, action, action

Introduces ambitious plan for overhaul of property tax system in N.J.
By PETE McALEER Statehouse Bureau, (609) 292-4935
Published: Saturday, July 29, 2006

TRENTON — The ideas Gov. Jon S. Corzine presented Friday were certainly ambitious, if not necessarily new.

In an address that kicked off a special session of the state Legislature, Corzine detailed his plan for tackling the traditional culprits that keep New Jersey property taxes rising at more than 6.5 percent per year. He would replace an unfair school-funding formula, overhaul an antiquated public employee pension system, chip away at unmanageable state debt and provide more incentives to merge local governments and the services they provide.

The Wall Street CEO-turned-governor said he expects many skeptics, but he vowed to win over the people of New Jersey with results.

“As the public knows, ideas to reform and reduce property taxes have been debated ad infinitum,” Corzine said. “The public has a right to ask — ‘What is the difference with this effort?' Let me tell you. Action, action, action. Now. Before the end of the year. Our citizens demand it, they deserve it and we need to produce. Action.”

With that, Corzine kicked off what will either be a historically productive five months for the state Legislature or the type of colossal failure that encourages voters to put a new party in power.

Bicameral committees of the Legislature will meet as soon as next week to propose legislation dealing with four issues connected to property taxes: school funding, state employee benefits, government consolidation and a citizen's convention on property taxes. Each committee must recommend legislation by Dec. 3.
Members of the six-person committees — each with four Democrats and two Republicans — will be announced Monday.

The blueprint Corzine presented — if followed by the Legislature — would limit any future property tax increase to 4 percent. It would also replace the current property tax rebate checks with direct credits deducted from municipal property tax bills.

While those ideas drew applause, others will undoubtedly invite strong opposition from public employee unions, teachers unions and other special interest groups.

“There's going to be a lot of people who want the status quo,” said Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex. “It's not going to be easy.”

The effort to entice local governments to consolidate and share services may face the strongest resistance, but many see it as the most crucial component of the session.

“The key to this whole process is the regionalization and consolidation of municipal and school districts,” said state Sen. Nicholas Asselta, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic. “The compensation issue is key, because districts and municipalities need to understand there will be a financial reward to property taxpayers in those communities. Unfortunately, (the promise of a) better-educated kid doesn't always cut it.”

Corzine proposed using $250 million from this year's 1-cent increase in the sales tax to provide financial incentives “so powerful that towns, counties and school districts will have little economic choice but to share and reduce costs.” This year's budget, by comparison, includes $15 million for shared services.

Corzine said he also supports the regionalization plan put forth in May by Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., D-Camden, Gloucester, and his caucus, calling it “creative.” Roberts and Corzine clashed earlier this month over the state budget, leading to a seven-day shutdown of state government. On Friday, Roberts offered only praise, calling Corzine's speech “powerful, ambitious, challenging and constructive.”

“We're all very much on the same page,” Roberts said.

The special legislative session likely will still be active when Corzine begins negotiations on a new contract with state workers unions. Corzine said he would like negotiations to start as early as September.

Many of the reforms, Corzine said, would come through the collective bargaining process. He advocated for a two-tier pension system that would raise the retirement age, require increased contributions toward health coverage and start a switch toward defined contribution plans for new or recent hires.

That prompted concern from Assemblyman Nelson Albano, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, who said he liked most of the ideas in Corzine's speech but thought those types of pension changes should be limited to new hires only.

Aside from the two-tier system, Corzine said other changes — to eliminate pension padding or pensions for political appointees — should be enacted “almost immediately.”

State Sen. Bill Gormley, R-Atlantic, who expects to serve on the pension committee, introduced legislation this year to raise the retirement age from 55 to 60. He said that measure would help save money in the future, while Corzine's plan to allow municipalities to charge impact fees to developers would help lower property taxes immediately, particularly in Pinelands growth districts.

Corzine also called for a new school aid formula that “recognizes the needs of every child, regardless of zip code.”

“We must acknowledge that many of our aid formulas, especially school aid, are outdated, ineffective and outright unfair,” Corzine said.

Another plan would seek to reduce billions in state debt by possibly selling or leasing state assets. The New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway will be among the items under consideration.

All of the proposals need approval from the Legislature, which will surely have plans of its own. Corzine said his ideas serve only as “a blueprint of principles and the elements of a plan,” but he cautioned that if the Legislature does not take real action by Jan. 1 he will push for a citizen's convention on property taxes.

“This special session is an extraordinary opportunity to bring real change to the system,” Corzine said. “We cannot let this moment pass. We must make history.”
 

Frolickin

Explorer
Apr 21, 2003
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Millville, NJ
rdowens.net
It doesn't matter in Millville. The city government contracted with Comcast for a 15 year exclusive contract. No other company can offer cable in the city. And on top of that, the city has Comcast charge a two percent tax/fee which is kicked back to the city.

Couple that with special legislation that will allow another company to charge two cents more in sales tax (despite the town being a UEZ) that will be returned to the out-of-state developer (whatever happened to no taxation without representation?) and pretty soon you realize that the "little guy" is continually being shafted.
 

Boyd

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bobpbx said:
“The key to this whole process is the regionalization and consolidation of municipal and school districts,” said state Sen. Nicholas Asselta, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic. “The compensation issue is key, because districts and municipalities need to understand there will be a financial reward to property taxpayers in those communities.

This sounds fine to me, but will probably meet some heavy opposition. A lot of places have already fought hard to keep their little school districts. My daughter is grown and has moved away, so it's fine with me :) When we first moved to the area in 1994 we were interested in Medford Lakes and checked out their elementary schools. We were amazed by how poor the physical condition of the buildings was, the low test scores and other things. The taxes there were also high to support the small district, but the residents resisted every attempt to consolidate (although the they are in the Lenape Regional High School district). People in that community were dead set on having little neighborhood schools where their kids could walk and bike home for lunch. Those schools were the only thing which kept us from moving there at the time.

bobpbx said:
Another plan would seek to reduce billions in state debt by possibly selling or leasing state assets. The New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway will be among the items under consideration.

Again, I don't really have a problem with this but I know that others will because the companies who operate toll roads in other states are all foreign and suddenly that's not very popular. I'm all for anything which reduces the number of state agencies with their inherent political appointees and inefficiency. But Christie Whitman wanted to privatize a number of things and IIRC, that didn't turn out so well.

But I certainly give Corzine credit for trying. It will be interesting to see what happens.
 
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