Dear Mayor:

As you know, by June 30, 2006, the Transportation Trust Fund will be completely bankrupt. 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.

On November 23, League President, Mayor Herb Stiles of Elmer, and Immediate Past President, Mayor Peter Cantu of Plainsboro, wrote to Governor-Elect Corzine, urging decisive action on this crisis.

On Thursday, December 8, Mayor Cantu, who also Chairs our Transportation Trust Fund Reauthorization Committee, spoke at a State House Press Conference with other representatives of “Transportation New Jersey” – a coalition that includes several government, citizen, commuter, business and labor associations, united to seek reform and replenishment of the Fund.

In part, Mayor Cantu said, “New Jersey’s counties and municipalities are responsible for 88% of our roads and 39% of our 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 HAVE to be made. … 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. …

“This issue should be resolved before competing priorities, and the pressure to put together a budget, make reforming and replenishing the TTF even more difficult. The best way to address and resolve this crisis is during the Lame Duck session of the Legislature.”

Then, at a hearing of the Assembly Transportation Committee, Mayor Cantu endorsed A-3414, which would begin to restore public confidence in, and restore the fiscal integrity of, the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF). The provisions of this act would protect the future of the fund by limiting bonded indebtedness, and by putting a check on the ability of the Department of Transportation and the Legislature to exceed that limit. Further, it would maximize the amount used for needed road and rail work by eliminating, over a six-year period, expenditures, from the TTF, for salaries and overhead by the Department of Transportation and the New Jersey Transit Corporation.

Please contact your State Legislators and urge them to address this issue as soon as possible. Also, urge them to support A-3414. If you have any questions, contact Jon Moran at 609-695-3481, ext. 21.