When delivering his budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year to lawmakers at the State House Tuesday, Gov. Phil Murphy hailed New Jersey’s economic growth and efforts to make the state more affordable for residents. Murphy proposed a $55.9 billion spending plan, pledging to fully fund the public education system for the first time in state history.
In an interview with NJ Spotlight News, Republican Sen. Declan O’Scanlon said, “I don’t think the governor understands the school funding formula.”
Murphy proposed a Corporate Transit Fee on big corporations with net incomes greater than $10 million to create a dedicated source of funding for New Jersey Transit, and that plan is getting a lot of attention. O’Scanlon said if that happens, “corporations are (just) going to increase prices,” adding that the state could have fixed the transit agency’s problems by reworking the overall state budget, without raising any taxes at all.
With regard to Stay NJ, a program that would give tax-relief benefits to many senior homeowners starting in 2026 at the earliest, O’Scanlon said the program “isn’t worth the press release paper it’s written on.”
