Dear Mayor,

Woodbine Mayor Bill Pikolycky and the League’s Executive Director Bill Dressel yesterday testified before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee in support of S-1470 and SCR-78 as positive and necessary steps out of our current transportation funding crisis. S-1470 would replenish the 22-year old Trust Fund and increase Local Aid funding (for municipal and county roads and bridges) from $150 million, per year, to $175 million. SCR-78 would seek voter approval for an amendment to the State Constitution to dedicate the entire 10.5 cents per gallon of the gasoline tax to the State Transportation system.

The bills were released by the Budget and Appropriations Committee and now await a vote on the Senate Floor. The companion measure to the Senate bill, A-2813, is scheduled for consideration by the Assembly Transportation and Public Works Committee this Thursday, March 9.

Absent passage of the legislation, the TTF will be completely bankrupt by June 30, 2006. All $805 million in constitutionally dedicated TTF revenues will be consumed by debt payments. The New Jersey Department of Transportation and NJ TRANSIT could be forced to shut down. And $150 million in annual Local Aid for municipal and county transportation projects will disappear. But even before June 30, the effects of inaction will be apparent, as municipalities and counties begin work on their annual budgets.

New Jersey's counties and municipalities are responsible for 88 percent of our roads and 39 percent of our bridges. Local roadways and bridges carry 55 percent of all traffic; and local governments maintain 32,810 centerline miles of roads, 2,498 major bridges and 4,584 minor bridges. In 2003, it was estimated that, for repair and maintenance of these assets - not for the construction of any new roads and bridges, but only to ensure the safety and utility of the current stock - we would annually need $211 million for county bridges, $7.5 million for municipal bridges, $44 million for county roadways and $112 million for municipal roadways for a total of $374.5 million.

Local officials know that these investments must be made. Failure to do so can compromise the safety of the public, the economic vitality of our communities and the security of our neighborhoods But, in order to pay for these improvements, absent a long-term commitment of increased funding to the Transportation Trust Fund, in general; and to the Local Aid Program, in particular, New Jersey's chronic and anachronistic over-reliance on the regressive and excessive property tax will intensify.

So, a long-term fix for the Transportation Trust Fund isn't only about roads and traffic and jobs and public safety. It is also a necessary first step on the road to property tax reform. An Administration and a Legislature dedicated to property tax reform have to first make certain that the problem doesn't get any worse, before they even start to think about how they can help the people of New Jersey to make it better.

Please contact your Legislators and urge them to support S-1470/A-2813 and SCR-78.