Beck wants state spending cuts, property tax reform
Assemblywoman stops in Millstone on travels through District 12
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

"Residents have a hard time being able to continue to pay taxes to fund schools. A new school-funding formula is needed." - Nancy Grbelja Mayor

MILLSTONE - Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck made an appearance at the July 18 Township Committee meeting.

Noting the "great attendance" at the meeting, Beck, a Republican, said she travels to meetings all over District 12, which includes 14 towns in Monmouth County and two in Mercer County.

While she had the floor, Beck announced that she would host a hearing regarding Academy buses from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at Monmouth County Library Headquarters in Manalapan. She said numerous commuters in the area have called her regarding problems with the Academy line on Route 9.

Beck also used her time at the meeting to discuss the state budget, which passed on June 22.

Beck said she voted against the budget because it authorized $2.7 billion in new spending, but not one of the 50 line-item cuts totaling $1.5 billion that her colleagues suggested.

"That kind of partisanship doesn't serve us well," Beck said.

Beck said the state is spending more money than it brings in, which is resulting in a $2.2 billion structural deficit.

Beck alleged that money for the state's 2007 Homestead Rebate Program will come from the money it will collect from the recent sales tax increase to 7 percent.

"We won't have enough revenue to do [the rebate program] in 2008," she alleged.

Beck said she "finds it disturbing" that the state is in such dire financial straits that Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine has considered selling its highways.

"We've got to rein in some spending," she said. "There's no other option."

Beck's advocating for reductions in overtime pay for state employees, reductions in the state's motor vehicle fleet and cuts to the $250 million paid to state employees who are political appointments.

"I'm fighting the fight," she said.

Beck said state spending has increased by 10 percent this year. The increase includes more money for schools and municipalities, but Beck said it does not make up for the fact that Millstone and other towns she represents have been flat-funded by the state for the past five years.

Schools are the main reason for property tax increases in District 12, according to Beck. She said a new school-funding formula is critical to making sure towns in her district get their fair share of state funding.

Mayor Nancy Grbelja told Beck that flat state aid has hit the Millstone Township School District hard.

"Residents have a hard time being able to continue to pay taxes to fund schools," she said. "A new school-funding formula is needed."

Grbelja said Beck is helping the township's school district get better representation on the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education. Since Millstone does not have its own high school, its students make up more than half the population of the Allentown High School in the Upper Freehold Regional School District. However, Millstone is only allowed one representative on the regional school board.