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Gov. Christie to address a special joint session of the Legislature
BY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
SECOND UPDATE
Gov. Chris Christie's office late Thursday announced the governor will address a special joint session of the Legislature next Thursday, Feb. 11, regarding the state's 2009-10 budget's $2 billion deficit.
Earlier Thursday, Christie spoke with both Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex) to request the joint session.
The budget crisis New Jersey is facing appears to only be getting worse.
David J. Rosen, the Grim Reaper of the New Jersey state government's fiscal nightmare, appeared before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Thursday and told them the deficit legislators and the governor must overcome when crafting the 2010-11 budget by June 30 could climb as high as $11 billion.
Rosen, the budget and finance officer for the non-partisan state Office of Legislative Services, also warned the legislators that even if tax revenue should grow at a rate of 4 percent or 5 percent annually, it will take until 2014 for the government to recover to where it was financially in 2008.
Rosen said the deficit Gov. Chris Christie is facing as he creates his first budget may range from $8 billion to as high at $11 billion "depending on who is looking at the problem.
"Whichever number you choose, it's a problem of great magnitude,'' Rosen said. "Governor Christie has taken revenue (forecasting) off the table as part of the solution so the budget problem for people crafting the budget will be more difficult than it was last spring.''Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) the committee's new chairman, replied to Rosen that the Legislature overcame an $8 billion deficit when creating the 2009-10 budget that ends June 30.
"Hopefully, without a lot of drama, we can work together and solve this $8 billion problem,'' Sarlo said. "This committee needs to once again put theatrics aside and simply go about its business of righting New Jersey's fiscal ship. Hyperbole, doomsday predictions and staged hysteria may make for snappy headlines and pull quotes, but they will not close these deficits. Only bipartisanship and hard work will."
Rosen also told legislators that as they prepare to confront the 2010-11 deficit, they must work with Christie to solve a $2 billion deficit that has arisen in the 2009-10 budget because of lower than expected tax revenue that the budget expert described as the worst economic downturn since The Great Depression.
Rosen said that as officials attempt to shape the 2010-11 budget, they can expect $1.1billion less in tax revenue because the 1-year millionaires income tax hike has expired, that overall tax revenue could be down $1 billion and that as much as $2.4 billion in federal economic stimulus aid that helped the 2009-10 budget will not be allocated a second time.
Rosen also said that in forming the budget, officials face a public employee pension contribution of $2.5 billion to $3 billion, a $600 billion increase in school aid and a $1 billion increase in Homestead Rebate costs.
"The situation we find ourselves in today when looking at the current year and at next year (this spring) is largely a function of the economic collapse we have seen in the last two years,'' Rosen said. "The current economic downturn began in January 2008 and, measured by economists, ended last fall. Obviously for a lot of people, that hasn't turned up yet.''
Rosen said that sales tax revenue for December could be positive for the first time in 20 months but the amount the state hopes to collect would still be 12 percent lower than two years ago. He said that, overall tax revenue collections were down 6 percent in 2009 compared to 9 percent in 2008. He said that means that any increase in tax revenue would still bring in an amount 15 percent lower than 20 months ago.
Rosen said that in 2008, the worst year for income tax collections, revenue was down 18 percent. It was also the worst year for sales collections with revenue down 14.8 percent.
Continuing with the grim statistics, he said reality tax revenues were down 40 percent, the corporate business tax revenue was down 25 percent, insurance taxes revenue down 16 percent, casino revenue down 14 percent, inheritance tax revenues down 9 percent, and motor fuel tax revenue down 5 percent.
Wearing one of these Football jerseys would symbolize a hard core fan at one point of time. And despite the fact that loyal football fans will always be the biggest market for these and other football sportswear items and collectibles, interest in jerseys has been divided over the years. In fact the authentic football jersey is an item of fashion and style to many, in particular among the youth. Casual fans are now more likely to purchase authentic jerseys. Even though the market for the official Football jerseys has increased, fans at times have to wait for orders to be filled.
Besides football, there are sport jerseys like hockey and basketball that are regularly seen being worn by fans; however the authentic football jersey is still perhaps the most popular sports-related article of clothing. For sure, there's something about watching a nail-biter of a game while at the same time sporting a jersey with the name of your favorite player emblazoned across your back that makes you feel like part of the action. Besides Football jerseys are just about as much a sign of the change of seasons as late summer dips in temperature and the first falling leaves of autumn.
There was a time when people complained that Super Bowls were dull or anticlimactic. Not recently, though: The past two years, the Super Bowl has been the best game of the NFL season. Giants over Patriots, then Steelers over Cardinals — both were fantastic contests, both were decided by touchdowns in the closing seconds.
Both offered the signature plays of their seasons — the David Tyree
helmet catch was the signature play of that season, James Harrison going the length of the field for a touchdown as time expired in the first half was the signature play of last year’s campaign. Will the Saints and Colts give the international audience a third consecutive fantastic Super Bowl? A signature play that purists will reminisce about decades from now?