New Jersey Transportation Chief: Fund Will Be Broke After 2016
TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New Jersey's top transportation official says the fund that pays for roads and bridges will be broke after the next fiscal year.
Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox said Thursday at a Senate Budget Committee hearing that New Jersey's transportation trust fund has enough money for fiscal year 2016, but will run out beyond that.
Fox, New Jersey Transit Executive Director Veronique Hakim and Motor Vehicle Commission Administrator Raymond Martinez are testifying Thursday on Gov. Chris Christie's 2016 budget proposal.
The hearing comes after Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff testified this week and said the trust fund will use a combination of bonds, loan repayments and cash infusion from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to keep the $1.6 billion capital program solvent through June 2016.
The dwindling balance in the trust fund has prompted Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski to call for a 25-cent-per-gallon increase to the state's gas tax.
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