Christie’s $807 Million Budget Jam Tires Investors: Muni Credit
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Chris Christie told a fiscal summit in Washington last week that the traffic scandal dogging his administration will be a career “footnote.” New Jersey’s governor may be right, as revenue shortfalls, credit downgrades and rising pension costs threaten to define his legacy.
The state must have a 2015 spending plan in place six weeks from now, and Christie has proposed New Jersey’s biggest budget ever, at $34.4 billion. More pressing is a 2014 shortfall of $807 million, mostly from missed estimates on income-tax collections, that needs to be filled by June 30.