by John Reitmeyer, Budget/Finance Writer of NJ Spotlight News | December 9, 2020 Will service cuts, higher property taxes be needed to offset the added financial stress? County and local governments across New Jersey are being hit with as much as a 10% increase in their mandatory employer pension costs even as most are still reeling from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Department of Treasury officials said the increase in annual pension contributions for fiscal year 2021 that are due early next year reflect technical changes that account for things like longer life expectanci...

Governor Murphy, Lt. Governor Oliver, Senate President Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Coughlin, Assembly Budget Chair Pintor Marin, and Senate Budget Chair Sarlo Announce Agreement to Include Millionaire’s Tax in Revised FY2021 Budget 09/17/2020 Governor and Legislative Leaders Also Announce $500 Tax Rebate for Middle-Class Families TRENTON – Governor Phil Murphy, Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, Senate President Steve Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, Senate Budget Chair Paul Sarlo, and Assembly Budget Chair Eliana Pintor Marin today announced that that the revised Fiscal Year 202...

FY-2021 State Budget At-A-Glance FY-2021 Revised Budget

MOUNT OLIVE – Acting on a commitment to deliver relief to communities who were not eligible for federal funding allocated through the CARES Act, Governor Phil Murphy today announced $37 million in support for 12 additional counties to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding will be made available to counties in three separate tranches under one Memorandum of Agreement. The 12 counties include: Atlantic; Burlington; Cape May; Cumberland; Gloucester; Hunterdon; Mercer; Morris; Salem; Somerset; Sussex; and Warren. These counties were ineligible for Coronavirus Relief Funding because their...

The New Jersey Association of Counties (NJAC) was pleased to host a lineup of virtual workshops for the fall of 2020 where (7) 60-minute long sessions focused on COVID-19 related matters such as emergency management, procurement, public health, human and social services, budgeting, labor, and general crisis management.  NJAC secured continuing education credits for all workshops and those that attended.  We thank all of our presenters for providing informative and educational materials.  Below are recordings of the workshops for you to view.  NJAC appreciates the support and generosity of our ...

The spread of the coronavirus and the response to it are almost unique among modern challenges in putting a burden on all the people of Earth. All governments at all levels too are already or will be strained by increased costs and reduced revenue. The federal government quickly created the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and started sending billions in pandemic aid to the states. Major population centers got a share of this CARES funding directly, but funding for the rest was rolled into the state grants and left to the states to distribute. New Jersey state government, ...

by John Reitmeyer of NJ Spotlight | June 29, 2020 In their first in-person vote since the start of the pandemic, lawmakers easily pass three-month spending measure Gov. Phil Murphy now has a stopgap budget that spends $7.7 billion between now and the end of September to ensure the state can operate after tax collections dropped and unemployment soared. The spending bill easily cleared both houses of the Legislature on Monday as lawmakers returned to the State House for in-person voting for the first time since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic. But it still requires the governor’s...

Tuesday - June 16, 2020 by John Reitmeyer of NJ Spotlight Loan would cover unemployment fund — which has paid out more than $6 billion in recent weeks — through end of October Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration is preparing to borrow nearly $2 billion in federal funding to ensure all out-of-work New Jersey residents will continue to receive unemployment benefits during the ongoing pandemic. The borrowing will backstop a state unemployment fund that has already distributed more than $6 billion in state and federal funds in recent weeks to jobless residents. The Murphy administration is pl...

March 17, 2020 “#COVID19 UPDATES: We’ve received 89 new positive test results since yesterday, bringing our statewide total to 267. Today is Day One of life in New Jersey under the aggressive social distancing measures we put in place yesterday to #FlattenTheCurve. I thank everyone who is taking these measures to heart, and urge others to follow their lead. If there is no reason to be out, don’t go out. I have sent a letter to Donald J. Trump requesting the assistance of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in constructing temporary hospitals to ensure our greater regional preparedness and help...