A “truly balanced” balanced budget, income tax cut, pension fund payments and education funding boosts were among the promises Gov. Chris Christie delivered during his annual budget address Tuesday.

But the devil will be in the details, according to Democrats, Republicans and others keeping a keen eye on how the Republican governor intends to spend every dime of the proposed $32.1 billion state budget.

“It’s a very bold budget and a very balanced budget, and I’m impressed in the way its being rolled out with a 10-percent tax reduction coming back to New Jersey State residents,” said Bill Fey, chairman of the Gloucester County Republican Committee. “It seems like he thinks we are on the road to recovery.”

Christie was again optimistic when he laid out his 2013 budget proposal. In January the governor said he could see New Jersey’s comeback. He iterated Tuesday that the state is in high gear for a turnaround, and asked naysayers to “join us to accelerate the New Jersey comeback this year.”

“It’s almost like there has been a collective decision that things are looking up,” said Ruth Mandel, Director of Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics. “The governor certainly claims things are getting better, and that has been a consistent claim of his.”

The budget address is an outline for the millions and billions the governor has to spend over the next year. The proof will be in the pudding when the budget numbers are released in the coming weeks and state Legislators on both sides of the aisle get a look at where the real nickels and dimes will be spent, she said.

Already the year’s biggest promise — a 10 percent across-the-board income tax cut — has received mixed reviews.

While 52 percent of respondents to an Eagleton Institute poll are in favor of the tax cut measure, 76 percent would prefer relief in property taxes.

Assemblywoman Celeste Riley (D-3, of Bridgeton) isn’t convinced that the income tax cut measure will yield the return that state residents are hoping to receive.

According to the Eagleton poll, New Jersey voters have been significantly overestimating their savings. About 35 percent of registered voters think a 10 percent tax cut would save about $500 a year. Eagleton’s reports suggest a household would need to earn more than $150,000 in taxable income to save $500 in state taxes.

Sen. President Stephen Sweeney called the tax cut an “income tax scheme” in the Democrat response to Christie’s address. He pointed out that those making $50,000 a year would only receive about $80 when the cut — which is set to be phased in over three years — is in full force.

“It’s not even your food bill for the week,” Riley said. “I think he (governor) is trying to make good by using this income tax and people hear, ‘oh, I’m going to get a break in my taxes,’ but it isn’t a real tax break. … That is not addressing their property tax issue.”

But a tax reduction is a tax reduction for Fey.

“It’s putting money back into the pockets of the hardworking people of the state,” Fey said. “People want it back in their wallets.”

At the same time Christie proposed the income tax cut, the governor also laid out his plans to increase K-12 school aid by $200 million, and increase funds to higher education by six percent to make state colleges more affordable. Plus he proposed allocating $1 million to fund a new Governor’s Urban Scholarship Program for inner-city students in New Jersey to attend college.

School funding is among the top issues for Gloucester County residents, according to Fey.

“The people on the southern end of the county are very interested in education (funding) and the Kingsway Regional School District, and making sure they get the relief they deserve and need,” Fey said.

Christie’s budget proposal includes an increase of $213 million over last year’s levels for elementary and high school aid.

While Riley said she is glad the figure is increasing again, taxpayers shouldn’t start cheering for school tax relief yet. The $8.8 billion for school aid still is not at the level it was before Christie cut it two years ago, she said.

“He is just bringing it back to where it was,” she said.

Christie has also proposed the next step in building the state’s employee pension fund “on a sound long-term track” toward being safer and more reliable.

His budget proposal contains a $1.1 billion state pension contribution, a payment that Christie has touted as the “single largest state contribution ever.”

“The claims he has made about balancing the budgets the couple years are false because he hasn’t paid what he should to the pension fund,” Caswell said. “There is additional money for the pension fund in this budget.”

Mandel added that a consistent investment in the pension fund could be a real step forward for the state.

“Most people associate Presidents Day with sales at major department stores or the mall.  Actually, Presidents Day was created to honor our nation’s first President, George Washington.

President Washington was a truly selfless public servant. He put everything on the line to fight for our independence and expected nothing in return. He served two terms as President before  stepping down and returning to his fields. During his tenure, he even initially refused any compensation until Congress insisted as not to set a trend for future Presidents.

Politicians today could learn a lot from President Washington. Our county and country would no doubt be a better place if politicians always placed the needs of the taxpayer and resident above their own.”

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“Today’s decision from the State Supreme Court confirms what a lot of us knew about South Jersey Democrats…they like to play fast and loose with the law until they get caught.  It doesn’t matter whether its the Open Public Records Act, state ethics laws or residency requirements; Democrats just don’t get it.

The Mosquera blunder is one in a long line of Democrat violations that through the years tells me our area needs strong Republican leaders at the helm.  We’ll be working hard these next nine months to prove to our residents Republicans are ready to be the adult supervision and make the tough decisions that Democrats are simply incapable of.”

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On Wednesday, seven local nonprofit groups collaborating to help county families achieve self-sufficiency introduced the Heart of Gloucester County — a program that will provide services, referrals and encouragement these families need.

“We’ve teamed up to encourage and strengthen two-adult caregiver families,” said Bernadette Blackstock, executive director of the People for People Foundation — the lead agency in this project. “And we want to present this in an easily-accessible, single-entry resource hub. This will address everything from emergent needs to referrals to service-providers to free skills training and mentoring. We wanted to get everything under one umbrella, as well as provide one-on-one guidance and case management.”

Blackstock explained that two-adult families do not have to be married couples with children. Statistics show, she said, families that have at least two adults — which could be a combination of mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. — who provide care for the children have a better chance of reaching self-sufficiency.

Two-caregiver families in Gloucester County facing layoffs, catastrophic medical bills, issues associated with a special needs child or other temporary situations may qualify for assistance through Heart of Gloucester County.

The program will provide a “Warm Line” — accessible at 856-579-8252 — designed for families to talk to a live person about non-emergency needs, a chat line — an online service available at heartofgloucestercounty.org which allows users to connect with information specialists from home — and opportunities for taking life skills classes offered by the Center for People in Transition and Clayton Public Schools.

The Heart of Gloucester County has also partnered with Connective Mentoring Advocacy to help families find trained mentors and will provide a database of services available for Gloucester County residents. More information about the database is on the website.

The partner agencies involved in Heart of Gloucester County are People for People, the Center for Family Services, Clayton Public Schools, the Education Information and Resource Center, People in Transition, Senior Corps and the Volunteer Center of Gloucester County. It is being funded — in part — by the Pascale Sykes Foundation.

“This is a unique and exciting process made possible by the generosity of the Pascale Sykes Foundation,” said Blackstock.

Foundation President Fran Sykes said her organization is proud to be involved in the initiative.

“Two years ago, the Pascale Sykes ad hoc committee recognized the potential in South Jersey for foundation programs,” said Sykes. “We began talking with Gloucester County, and three other counties, and everyone seemed to be saying the same thing — ‘We have resources, but people don’t know what they are or have access to them.’ People need a user-friendly, accessible database for these resources.”

Sykes said the Heart of Gloucester County will offer a personal approach, getting to the root causes of families’ problems and addressing them.

“These agencies and individuals can now respond and change their resources to better serve the community,” said Sykes. “They can share data, skills and expertise. It’s an innovative and creative initiative that I believe can become a model.”

Blackstock asked all attendees of Wednesday’s presentation — social workers, mental health agencies, schools, human resource agencies, medical facilities, government agencies, etc. — to become listed resources, collaborating agencies and/or referral sources for the Heart of Gloucester County. She also encouraged those in attendance to become volunteers, many of whom are needed to man the warm line and chat line and help with other aspects of the program.

“We need a partnership,” said Blackstock. “We want to bring everyone together, provide the appropriate services to our families and keep everyone in the loop.”

Jeanne LaBuz from the Center for People in Transition said her organization works with families “who have so many different needs.”

“We were eager to collaborate for success, and we’ve worked with People for People before and know they do great things for the community,” said LaBuz. “This collaboration will bring much-needed services to many more people. Within the program, we are providing life skills workshops to those who need them. Our recent workshops have focused on self-confidence, budgeting and computer skills.”

LaBuz said Clayton’s schools will also be offering workshops.

“This is truly a team effort,” she said.

Helen Antonucci, director of Senior Corps, said her group’s role will be to maintain the database.

“We started gathering data in August, verifying phone numbers and websites to make sure they’re up-to-date for our clients,” said Antonucci. “We want to ensure all of our information remains fresh and reliable so people can find the resources they need. We also want to add any programs agencies are having to our Heart of Gloucester County calendar. The truth is, a lot of people are unable to follow through. With this extra assistance, we can get them the help they need.”

Robbenmarie Insogno from the Center for Family Services said her organization has a long history of providing information and referrals to people in need, but it has previously been unable to give families the extended follow-up they often need.

“I think this will expose us to a new type of clients, clients who are relatively-stable but need short-term resources,” said Insogno.

And June Bretz, director of the Volunteer Center, said her agency will serve — primarily — to recruit volunteers for the chat line, the warm line and office help.

“We will also help in other areas of nonprofit management,” said Bretz. “Heart of Gloucester County will be a hub, a one-stop resource for finding real solutions. There’s a lot of energy and participation already, and we think it will be a success.”

To find out more about the Heart of Gloucester County, call 856-579-8252 or e-mail info@heartofgloucestercounty.org.

TRENTON — A state Supreme Court ruled today that Fourth District Assemblywoman-elect Gabriela Mosquera will not be permitted to take her seat in the legislature for missing the state Constitution’s durational residency requirement by more than a month.

The residency matter has been under review my New Jersey courts since December when Republican Assembly challenger Shelley Lovett — who ran against Mosquera in November and lost — questioned the Democrat election-winner’s residency.

After Mosquera lost in Superior Court with a ruling that voided the 19,000 votes she earned on Election Day, an Appellate Division court ruled days later to overturn the previous decision and allow her to take the oath of office.

Minutes before Mosquera was set to be sworn in, the Supreme Court issued a stay of her oath, which bought the high court time to fully review the case. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in late January and decided today that Mosquera did not meet the residency standard that has “a more than 200-year history that has never been questioned in the state court system.”

“We went to the Supreme Court as the losers, and we won,” said Matthew Wolf, an attorney with who worked for Lovett on a pro bono basis. “We are very very happy with the result.”

Mosquera’s attorney William Tambussi argued throughout the months of litigation that the Assemblywoman-elect played by the rules. A decade ago, a federal court injunction kept the state from enforcing the one-year residency standard.

“It (Supreme Court) didn’t focus on the fact that an election actually occurred under rules that weren’t enforced by the state,” said Tambussi, who argued in court that Mosquera did make an effort to know her constituents by campaigning and working as a confidential aid for a local mayor within the district.

THIRD ANNUAL VICTORY DINNER

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 7PM

BOTTO’S  ITALIAN LINE RESTAURANT, 1409 Kings Highway, Swedesboro, NJ 08085

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Senator Joseph Kyrillos, US Senate Candidate against Bob Menendez

$100 PER PERSON, CASH BAR

Email Jeff Morris for more details or for tickets: jmorris@gloucogop.com.

2012 HONOREES

Tom Decker, East Greenwich Committee
Phil Barbaro, Elk Mayor
Dave Deegan, Franklin Committee
Vito Genna, Franklin Committee
George Shivery, Greenwich Township Mayor
Dennis Clowney, Harrison Township Deputy Mayor
Mike Carrow, Newfield Council
Russ Johnson, Pitman Mayor
Bob Diaz, South Harrison Committee
Robert Schenk, South Harrison Committee
Joanna Gahrs, Swedesboro Council
John Dominy, Wenonah Council
Paul Lader, Wenonah Council
Ray Chintall, West Deptford Mayor
Sam Cianfarini, West Deptford Committee
Frank Connor, Woodbury Council
Lester Lockman, Woodbury Council
Harry Trout, Woodbury Council
Nick Armano, Woolwich Committee
Alex Elefante, Jr., Woolwich Committee

PROGRAM BOOK OPPORTUNITIES  - Congratulate your favorite elected official and support the Party with an ad

Costs

Outside back cover – $250
Inside front cover – $250
Inside back cover – $200
Full page – $150
Half page – $100
Quarter page – $60

Please note: Email ads as pdf files or Illustrator eps files with embedded photos and fonts to jmorris@gloucogop.com. Use your name in the file name. If mailing a paper copy of your ad, please send ad materials to Jeff Morris, 660 N Broad St., Woodbury, NJ 08096. Send checks payable to “Gloucester County Republican Executive Committee, PO Box 503, Woodbury, NJ 08096.

Please return ads and payment before February, 23, 2012

WOOLWICH TWP. — Clearview Regional High School has punched its ticket to the mock trial regional competitions as they cemented their undefeated county record with a win over also undefeated Kingsway High School Saturday morning.

Serving as the defense to the fictional Pat Hopper in the case of State vs. Hopper, in which the defendant was accused of burglary and theft amidst accusations of prejudice, Clearview looked calm and composed as they went up against Kingsway High School’s tough prosecution at their school early in the morning.

But for both teams, the final round admittedly came with a litany of nerves that the high schoolers had to fight through, with both teams vying for their chance to go onto the regional and, ultimately, the state competition.

“My mind is racing when I’m up there,” said Chris Grabert, a senior at Clearview Regional High School and a lawyer for the winning team. “It’s a nice taste of the big time.”

But for Clearview, the next challenge comes with the regional competition on Tuesday, giving the students only two days to prepare for the next round. Sponsored by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, the mock trial competition will now move onto the regional round as the district round finishes up, where Clearview will most likely face even stiffer rivals from around the southern New Jersey.

“It’s nerve-wracking going up against higher opponents,” said Vanessa VanBrill, also a senior at Clearview and a lawyer for the winning team.

And while the competition serves as an early proving ground for the future law students of the world, the winning team stayed modest with their win, with VanBrill admitting she probably wouldn’t want to take up the profession after high school and Grabert saying that while he was definitely interested in going into the field, he would start with a degree in English before moving on into law.

For Kingsway High School, the story of their undefeated record on their route to the regional rounds ends here with the loss to Clearview. However, with only one loss and a handful of new members heading up the team, the future still seems bright even with the team now out of the competition.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing,” said Thomas Sharp, a lawyer for Kingsway.

“I feel like we came a long way,” said Sharp. “I’m very proud of our performance.”

While Kingsway seemed equally confident in their approach, presenting their arguments to convict the defendant Pat Hopper of bias theft and burglary, they admit they also succumbed to their nerves on stage, with members worried about holding their papers straight and fidgeting on stage.

“It’s very nerve wracking,” said Sharp as fellow mock lawyer Megan DeGeorge laughed about waking up the morning before and trying not to vomit before leaving for the competition.

And in a last sign of good will toward both the teams, as the jury composed of three students from each school went to deliberate and come back with a verdict, they came back after only a few minutes and told the judge that they were unable to reach a verdict on the case.

“I was shocked to learn that one of every three homeless people in this country is under the age of 18 and that 1.6 to 1.7 million people under 18 will experience homelessness this year,” DeFranco said.  “When asked, homeless kids often say that one pair of jeans would make them feel normal and like everyone else. This was a worthwhile project that the students eagerly embraced.”

Community members interested in participating can drop off jeans to the Chestnut Ridge Middle School Main Office.

The Gloucester County Improvement Authority plans to use the bond – paid back over 15 years – to open a new cell at the landfill in South Harrison Township that is expected to accept trash ash for three years.

While the freeholder vote passed by a majority vote, Republican board members Larry Wallace and Vince Nestore opposed the county’s backing of the bond, and voted no Wednesday.

“It’s crazy to bond for 15 to 20 years for something that is going to last two to three years,” said Wallace. “It’s like buying a very expensive car on your credit card and making the minimum payments for the rest of your life. It’s bad to do business that way.”

While the individual cell – which is set to be open and accepting trash by the end of the year – is projected to be operating for three years, Gloucester County Improvement Authority Executive Director George Strachan said it’s a part of the bigger picture at the 138-acre landfill site.

“This is one cell that is part of a larger expansion of our Solid Waste Complex,” Strachan said Thursday, adding that the complex is permitted to operate as a landfill through 2026, and there is enough acreage at the location to continue opening cells until about 2031.

When a cell is filled, it requires maintenance and monitoring for more than 1,000 years after it is closed, Bruner said.

“The (cell) site’s useful life is three to five years, depending if it takes more ash than raw trash,” said Chad Bruner, Gloucester County administrator. “But the landfiull is there for perpetuity. You have costs forever with the landfill.”

The county often backs GCIA bonds because the authority is not a taxing agent, according to Bruner.

The authority generates revenue through tipping and other dumping fees associated with the county’s Solid Waste Complex; grants; MediCare and Medicaid reimbursements at the GCIA-operated Shady Lane Nursing Home; and trash dumping contracts with other counties.

Strachan said the authority has stability in repaying the debt due to a 10-year agreement with Wheelabrator – Gloucester County’s trash incinerator. Wheelabrator incinerates Gloucester County’s trash, and the ash is dumped into the landfill in South Harrison.

Gloucester County would dip into its budget to help repay the bond only if the authority is unable to pay, in cases like authority bankruptcy, the administrator said.

“The only way we would have to pay anything toward it is if they default, which is very unlikely. That has never happened in the history of the landfill,” said Bruner. “They have always paid their obligations.”

Bruner added that is it likely the authority will pay down the $5.7 million sooner than the 15-year bond life.

County Democrats vote to guarantee almost $6 million in debt for Improvement Authority after agency lost $16 million in three years

Woodbury, NJ – Democrat Freeholders voted Wednesday night to put county taxpayers on the hook for $5.75 million in Gloucester County Improvement Authority bonds.  The Improvement Authority is an “independent” agency that operates the County landfill, DREAM Park, Child Care Center and the Shady Lane Nursing Home.

Over the last three years, the DREAM Park, Child Care Center and the Nursing Home have operated at a combined loss of $16 million.  Republican Freeholders Larry Wallace and Vince Nestore don’t think it’s fair for county taxpayers to guarantee debt for an agency that doesn’t have their act together.  In addition, taxpayers have little say as to what goes on at the Authority.

“Members of the public who approach the Freeholder Board with problems about the DREAM Park or Improvement Authority are met with the same dog and pony show,” said Republican Freeholder Larry Wallace.  ”Director Damminger and company proclaim the Authority’s “Independence” when it’s convenient but then continue to back more and more debt while gifting them precious county assets.”

Close to two weeks ago, Democrats voted “for no good reason” to transfer the 114 acre lot the Nursing Home and Child Care Center rest on to the Improvement Authority for $1.  The property is valued at close to $8.5 million.

“In its simplest form, this continues to be a raw deal for the taxpayers of Gloucester County,” added Republican Freeholder Vince Nestore.  ”The Improvement Authority gets all the benefits while the taxpayers bear all the burden.”