Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine ordered $400 million cut from the state’s $29 billion budget by Dec. 1 and asked lawmakers to suspend new spending measures until he leaves office.

The reduction is needed to keep the budget balanced until Republican Christopher Christie’s inauguration as governor on Jan. 19, Corzine said in a statement today. The Democrat lost a re-election bid to Christie on Nov. 3.

October revenue collections are below target and the U.S. recession is placing pressure on programs such as Medicaid, a federal-state program that helps pay for indigent health care. Corzine didn’t disclose the scope of the revenue drop.

“My administration will continue to live up to our responsibility to maintain a fiscally balanced budget during the next two months,” Corzine said in the statement, referring the length of gubernatorial tenure. “I will not allow politics to stand in the way of doing what is right.”

Brittany Bramell, a spokeswoman for Christie, didn’t immediately return a telephone call or e-mail seeking comment.

The proposed measures are twice as much as Corzine sought last month after the state Treasury Department reported revenue fell $190 million, or 3 percent, below projections for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The $29 billion spending plan approved in June by Corzine and the Legislature is $4 billion smaller than the prior 12-month period.

‘Tough Decisions’

Thomas Bell, a spokesman for state Treasurer David Rousseau, didn’t provide details on October receipts.

“Governor Corzine is making the tough, necessary decisions to ensure that the state budget remains in balance throughout the remainder of the current fiscal year,” said Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, a Republican from Westfield. “Additionally, I join with him in calling for no new spending during the lame duck session of the Legislature.”

The state projects $28.7 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, said Tom Vincz, another Treasury spokesman. Payroll accounts for $4.5 billion in the budget and health benefits for current and retired employees amount to another $2 billion that can’t be touched, he said

New Jersey is set to make $2 billion in debt payments in the fiscal year, he said.

“These are constitutional obligations and we have to fulfill them,” Vincz said in a telephone interview. The additional $200 million in cuts “is about cutting the operating costs of government.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey, at tdopp@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 5, 2009 17:45 EST