I will protect your pensions. Nothing about your pension is going to change when I am governor. - Chris Christie, "An Open Letter to the Teachers of NJ" October, 2009

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Another Bill Collector for NJ

Another one is knocking on the door:
TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey owes the federal government more than $271 million after canceling a rail tunnel connecting the state with New York, according to a debt notice obtained Monday by The Associated Press. 
The letter from the Federal Transit Administration's chief financial officer to NJ Transit's executive director demands payment of $271,101,291 by Dec. 24. 
It's money the government wants New Jersey to repay for work done on the Hudson River tunnel before Republican Gov. Chris Christie terminated the project. The notification follows a warning letter earlier this month estimating the charges.
So, $400 million lost from the botched Race To the Top application. $14 million from the charter school screw up. $600 million from the millionaire-friends-of-Christie giveaway. Lord knows how many millions from failing to do one blessed thing to hold down health care premiums.

And now $271 million from the ARC tunnel.

Can I ask all you suburban voters who voted for Christie in droves three questions?

1) Was this the kind of fiscal management you thought you were voting for?

2) Considering Christie took away your town's and your school's state aid last year, do you think there's any chance you'll be getting any state aid this year?

3) Is your property tax bill going to go up or down?

Hey, don't be surprised. All the signs were quite clear. After all...

1 comment:

deciminyan said...

Don't forget the $600 million that NJ already spent on the tunnel - now a hole to nowhere, and the additional funds to remediate the sites that are already under construction. All in all, Christie's first year legacy is flushing over a billion dollars of taxpayer money down the toilet.