New Jersey Future Statement on NJ’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget
TRENTON, NJ—The State Legislature has now introduced the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Overall, New Jersey Future views the budget for FY2025 as holding steady on our commitments to investing in infrastructure, affordable housing, and more to keep New Jersey on track to foster an inclusive state with economic opportunities for all. New Jersey Future has released the following statements on NJ’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget:
Chris Sturm, Land-Use Policy Director of New Jersey Future comments:
Development and redevelopment near our transit stations is imperative to create walkable communities with diverse residential and commercial opportunities. We need reliable and consistent public transportation to enable that type of development. This June alone Northeast Corridor NJ Transit and Amtrak trains experienced delays on 1 out of 3 days, reflecting an unacceptable state of disrepair for our country’s most heavily trafficked rail corridor and for a transit agency that boasts over 200 million rides a year. NJ Transit requires dedicated consistent funding for crucial maintenance and expanded service to assist New Jerseyans in getting across the state without relying on a private automobile. New Jersey is anteing up our commitment to our state public transit agency at the right time by establishing this momentous and encouraging dedicated funding stream to improve the essential service of NJ Transit. New Jersey Future is committed to working with partners to ensure fees raised in the Corporate Transit Fee will be unequivocally dedicated to NJ Transit’s needs.
Pete Kasabach, Executive Director of New Jersey Future comments:
In addition to reliable transit, New Jersey must do a better job of redeveloping the properties around its transit stations to maximize ridership and create more walkable, mixed-use communities. The latest effort by the Legislature and Administration to do this by having the Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) purchase and then develop NJTransit land is well-intentioned and moves the State in the right direction. We look forward to working with the Administration and NJEDA to ensure guidelines are developed for this initiative that incorporate good planning, resulting in development that maximizes long-term value for the state and produces appropriately dense and well-planned uses that meet state housing, climate change, and redevelopment objectives. It was disappointing that such a potentially important program was pushed through with little public notice or transparency.
Diane Schrauth, Water Policy Director of New Jersey Future comments:
The water issues in New Jersey never take a year off, and we are pleased that the Legislature and State have provided funding for water infrastructure to match federal investments in Fiscal Year 2025 in excess of what the Governor proposed, but disappointed that it doesn’t even match last year’s commitment. Let us be clear—the funding level in this year’s state budget doesn’t get us ahead. Updated projections indicate the total cost of water infrastructure needs over the next 20 years to total $30 billion, an increase of an additional $10 billion without accounting for updated rules and regulations around removal and prevention of PFAS in our water.
We are disappointed that our state leadership did not allocate funding to establish a water infrastructure research center at a higher education institution. A water center would study cost increases just like this and better inform our policymakers, advocates, and water agencies as they plan for the future and assist agencies in procuring more federal resources to address persistent water issues.
