New Jersey Tax Revolution Roundup: Taxing, Spending, Salaries, and Solar Energy Incentives

Some odds and ends for you to browse this evening.

From the Courier-Post Online:

The new head of Burlington County government has pledged to continue the tax-cutting policy of the county board of freeholders.

Freeholder-Director Bruce Garganio of Florence also said he was truly grateful for the opportunity to serve as director in his freshman year on the board....

"We owe this to the taxpayers of Burlington County," Bruce Garganio of Florence said of trimming the county property tax levy further during his state of the county speech at the yearly reorganization on New Year's Day in the Olde Burlington County Courthouse.

The Press of Atlantic City discusses how New Jersey's "incentives" (that's taxpayer money being funneled into selected businesses) are affecting the renewable energy market. Three highlights: Business owners with no experience, operators of solar facilities earning ten times the market value for energy (60 cents per kilowatt vs. 6 cents), and a lot of startups but no regulation.

The major attraction has been the state's financial incentives, which New York-based Global Solar Center called "the most generous incentives for solar power in the nation." The most notable one may be the Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, a credit-based system adjusted in 2006 to capitalize on the state Energy Master Plan's mandate that 20 percent of the state's energy come from renewable sources by 2020.

The use of the solar certificates has helped New Jersey grow its solar power industry in a hurry by making solar energy profitable.

Operators of solar energy sites, from large commercial facilities down to homeowners, can earn credits for every 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity they produce. The credits can be sold to other energy companies seeking to meet their renewable energy goals.

With a solar certificate, an operator of a solar facility can earn 60 cents per kilowatt hour, said Joe Isabella, director of the Vineland Municipal Electric Utility. In the traditional wholesale energy market, a kilowatt is worth about 6 cents.

In another sign of local fiscal pressure's ability to roll back entitlements that have gone too far, The Daily Journal reports that Millville is preparing to renegotiate its union contracts. It's pretty clear why:

Millville reached a contract with its firefighters in September 2008. The five-year deal gave firefighters a 3.6 percent raise the first year and 3.8 percent annual raises for the remainder of the contract....

Council 18 members -- who include maintenance workers, police dispatchers, parks and recreation employees, public works employees, utility workers and other City Hall employees -- received 3.6 percent annual raises for three years. The administrators received a five-year contract with 3.4 percent raise each year.

Let's do the math: The median annual salary for a firefighter is about $44,000, according to salary.com. If we started with that salary in September 2008 (it may have been slightly lower, but this is just an illustration of the numbers) then the salaries would be:

Year	Salary
2008	44,000
2009	45,584
2010	47,316
2011	49,114
2012	50,981
2013	52,918

For those of you playing the home game, that's an increase of 20% (((52,918-44,000)/44,000)*100) over the course of five years. Council 18 members see an 11% increase over three years, and administrators see an 18% increase over five years.

The Washington Post tells us that "State and local pensions plans are on path to failure":

Even if pension funds do manage to achieve that magical 8 percent average rate of return over the next 15 years, they will only have an average of 45 percent of the money they need to pay benefits, according to an analysis by state pension expert Kim Nicholl of PricewaterhouseCoopers. The picture for health benefits, which states are generally paying out of current revenue, is even worse.

It's worth reading the whole thing.

The Star-Ledger Editorial Board discusses a plan to tax students at local colleges and universities, highlighting why it's a misguided thought:

In fact, it’s an awful idea that burdens students and lets town officials delay tough spending cuts. It also frays the relationship between universities and towns, which should be collaborating on solutions instead of pointing fingers....

The resolution estimated the average municipality loses about 13 percent of the taxes it could collect "if all property within its borders were taxed." ... But taxing all property within a town’s borders would mean hitting up hospitals, churches and many other charitable and nonprofit institutions. Why should colleges be singled out?

There's more, too: Did you know that Seton Hall, although it's tax-exempt, pays "payments in lieu of taxes" and full taxes on its off-campus property? That adds up to $364,000 -- on top of which, it "contributed $500,000 toward a sports field for the South Orange-Maplewood community." This is a great editorial, not terribly long but very impactful, and also well worth reading.

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Obama's Team: "We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem."

This appears to be a bit of a distortion -- the speaker claims that he never spoke to members of the Obama administration -- but it's funny anyway, and I'd hate to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

A very big Thanks to Michigan member Mike Partridge who sent in this bit of humor, which was forwarded from a senior-level person at Chrysler. The date on this note was Sunday, July 19, 2009.

Monday morning. I attended a breakfast meeting where the speaker guest was David E. Cole, Chairman Center for Automotive Research (CAR and Professor at the University of Michigan). You have all likely heard CAR quoted, or referred to in the auto industry. news lately.

Mr. Cole, who is an engineer by training, told many stories of the difficulty of working with the folks that the Obama administration has sent to save the auto Industry . There have been many meetings were a 30+ year experienced automotive expert has to listen to a newcomer to the industry, someone with zero manufacturing experience, zero auto industry experience, zero finance experience and zero engineering experience, tell them how to run their business.

Mr. Cole's favorite story is as follows: There was a team of Obama people speaking to Mr. Cole (engineer, automotive experience of 40+ years. and Chairman of CAR). They were explaining to Mr. Cole that the auto companies needed to make a car that was electric and liquid natural gas (LNG) with enough combined fuel to go 500 miles so we wouldn't "need" so many gas stations (a whole other topic). They were quoting BTUs of LNG and battery life that they had looked up on some web-site.

Mr. Cole explained that to do this you would need a TRUNK FULL of batteries and a LNG tank as big as the car to make that happen. and that there were problems related to the laws of physics that prevented them from....

The Obama person interrupted and said (and I am quoting here): "These laws of Physics? Whose rules are those? We need to change that." (Some of the others wrote down the law name so they could look it up.) "We have the congress and administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem That's why we are here, to fix these sorts of issues."

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Obama's Supporters Think The Soprano State's Leaders Are Doing A Great Job

Want Yet Another Reason not to vote for an Obama-nation? How about the fact that his backers think New Jersey legislators are to be commended?

N.J. eco-group backs Obama, gives lawmakers high marks
2 senators, 8 congressmen get perfect scores

A state environmental advocacy group yesterday announced its endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president and gave New Jersey's two U.S. senators and eight of its 13 congressmen perfect scores for their environmental records.

Environment New Jersey based its report card on 10 votes between January 2007 and February 2008 that involved combating global warming, promoting clean energy, protecting air and water, and opposing offshore drilling, Executive Director Dena Mottola Jaborska said at a Statehouse news conference.

So if you're interested in the kinds of things that make Obama friends, it's business-unfriendly government. And half-measures aren't enough. You have to really hate business. For example:

Erica Elliott, Garrett's [Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5th Dist.)] spokeswoman, called the congressman's poor marks "an unfair representation," and issued a list of his environmentally-oriented advocacy. It includes his introduction of a bill to expand the National Wallkill Wildlife Refuge in Sussex, and his support of getting a toxic waste site in Ringwood re-listed on the Superfund National Priorities List.

Scott, of course, scored the lowest in the state, which may be good or bad, but I certainly can't tell from the negative picture painted by this environmentalist group. After all, look at who they like:

Voting environmentally friendly 100 percent of the time were U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, both Democrats, and Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.), Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), Robert Andrews (D-1st Dist.), Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.), Bill Pascrell (D-8th Dist.), Steve Rothman (D-9th Dist.), Rush Holt (D-12th Dist.) and Albio Sires (D-13th Dist.).

80% or them are Democrats, of course, including some of our worst, and I have to suspect that LoBiondo and Smith are RINOs; especially when you consider who also scored low alongside Rep. Garrett: Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), and Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-7th Dist.). You don't get a Democrat until you tie him with another Republican for a 69% score. Clearly "bipartisan":

"Being green in the Garden State is a bipartisan issue and we applaud our delegation's environmental heroes, especially the leadership from Sen. Menendez and Sen. Lautenberg," Mottola Jaborska said.

Sounds like a lot of Jaborska to me.

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NJ Residents Support Offshore Drilling!

As Emporor's Menendez and Lautenberg continue to fiddle at the expense of New Jersey's taxpayers, a new poll sheds some light on what the people in our state think about their policies on energy.

From MyCentralJersey.com:

With the cost of gasoline hovering near $4 a gallon, a majority of New Jersey residents say they would support drilling for oil off the Jersey coast, according to a Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released today.


Fifty-six percent said they would favor drilling for oil or natural gas off the Jersey Shore, while 36 percent opposed the idea.

So, slightly more that 1/3 oppose drilling offshore but Senator Menendez can send me a letter speaking down to me on energy policy that contained nothing of any substance that would help people. But, out politicians say, "let them eat cake!".

New Jersey's political leaders have traditionally fought against offshore oil drilling, and they said they would continue to do so, in spite of the poll results.

"New Jersey's coastline is the lifeblood of our economy and a fragile environmental treasure that helps shape our way of life, and the governor intends to fight any attempt to jeopardize it," said Sean Darcy, spokesman for Gov. Corzine.

As we continue to say at NJ Tax Revolution, until we threw this entire pack of bought-and-paid-for politicians and replace them with a representative government of, by and for the people of New Jersey, we will continue to feel the pain of their incompetence.

Read the entire article here.

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Why I miss Tip O'Neill - Plastic Pelosi turns off the lights

The House of Representatives has turned into a complete circus. When the Democrats took over the House, they and their leader Nancy Pelosi promised that they would lead through bi-partisan agreement. And the big joke is that they have done nothing of the sort. From the Crypt:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House, turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.

Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, arguing that Pelosi's refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy. They have refused to leave the floor after the adjournment motion passed at 11:23 a.m., and they are busy bashing Pelosi and her fellow Democrats for leaving town for the August recess.

I get very tired of this Democratic congress who claims to represent the people while the people WANT ENERGY RELIEF. Both Florida and California residents want drilling for the first time in decades. But elites like Plastic Pelosi are not interested in what citizens really want. That is why he book rates so high in Amazon's ratings...NOT.

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They apologize for slavery but won't act on energy!

From the Associated Press:

The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.

"Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past," said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

But apparently, when it comes time to really help people in the United States, the House will not even vote on Energy legislation due to political reasons. From Reuters:

A partisan election-year battle over high gasoline prices and a Republican push to open more U.S. coastal waters and federal land to oil and gas drilling has brought work in the U.S. Senate to a halt.

God forbid they would do anything that would help everyday voters with gas prices. The House and Senate have stood idly by for too long while this country has no coherent energy policy. During the Clinton years, drilling in Anwar was passed. Clinton vetoed. And each year this country is more and more dependent on terrorist supporting nations for our oil. Losers every one.

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CAGW - Tell your representative you want energy independence!

From the Citizens Against Government Waster comes a great utility. Follow this link and tell your Senators and Congressman that you want action on oil and gas policy!

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Democrats Don't Really Believe in Conservation

Suppose you have a limited resource. More is available, but you'd have to take measures that have have a risk (though only a risk) of ill effects to get it. It would take some time for the good effects to occur -- the world doesn't react instantaneously to a policy change -- but everyone in your state depends on it, and currently available alternatives are minimal and have not shown signs of increasing radically.

If you're a New Jersey Democrat and the resource is oil, you don't care: the stuff is staying where it is.

Drilling also would yield little oil, take at least a decade to bear fruit and do nothing to bring down gasoline prices, said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

"It makes little or no sense to most of us to be drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf anywhere, but particularly in the Atlantic and the mid-Atlantic. ... in specific," Gov. Jon S. Corzine said. "I think it's a nonstarter strategy."

"What we need to do is be moving to alternative energies and most importantly, conservation," he said.

But oil isn't the only precious resource that could be extracted from New Jersey. Remember, the second speaker here is the same Governor Corzine who wanted to spend a dozen years octupling our tolls. (A gallon of gas would cost $32 if we increased its prices proportionally.) That would have taken a decade to extract the money from us, it would have damaging effects on our economic climate, and it would have done nothing to bring down the price of government.

Yet "conservation" of this precious and limited resource, our money, is the last thing on their minds.

And consider: speculation helps drive the price of gasoline. Drilling now could shift markets. The speculation that comes from drilling would help New Jersey. But speculation about tax increases would hurt New Jersey by driving business and people away. You only have to look one state over to see proof, where a pro-business governor is helping a neighboring state drain our people and our jobs.

So yes, Democrats and Republicans alike, on the demand side, let's conserve both oil and money. Drive less (especially in gas guzzlers if you don't need them) and spend less (especially in cases where there's no immediate social benefit). And on the supply side, let's make more of each, oil and money, available for the public to use.

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Why New Jersey is Ridiculous

My wife sent me this, so consider her our guest blogger for the day.

I signed an online petition and sent an email to my senator telling him I wanted him to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by (what a thought!) using our own oil. Turns out that senator is Robert Menendez, and somehow in this electronic transaction I was put on a mailing list to get his e-newsletter. It contained a speech he gave on the floor of the Senate that was all about why increased oil drilling is wrong, so I read it, knowing my email petition would probably fall on deaf ears.

Of course, since I've been reading The Soprano State I kind of know that those ears don't actually listen to me, the voter, even if I, the voter, were a Democrat, because all our NJ politicians, it seems, are the products of political machines. The only machine I run with any efficiency is the washing machine, so obviously what I think hardly matters--forget that I pay high property taxes, and forget that I pay NJ to pay "farmers" like Christie Whitman not to not-farm the land they're not-farming while not paying much in property taxes, forget that my husband's income goes to help pay all those pensions that government folks are racking up at two or three a piece, or the no-show jobs in--well, everywhere in NJ, and....

Truly, one should not read The Soprano State if you wish to live in this state and not go insane with fury.

So anyway, I read his little speech, and it sounded like a fairly well-polished presentation for a seventh grader whose parent wanted to make sure little Robbie got the environmental message across--it spat out all the typical unthinking anti-oil, poor environment talking points with all the melodrama of an overconfident twelve-yr-old who doesn't know how little he knows. In short, he exhorted whoever he was supposedly talking to NOT to drill because:

1. Drilling would not increase the oil supply for at least ten years, so there's no point

2. Drilling is evil because it will--not could, but will--ruin our Jersey beaches, as well as the beaches of east Florida, Virginia, North Carolina--he actually left out a lot of states between Jersey and Florida, so I'm wondering how strong geography is in NJ schools--by oil spills.

3. Oil companies have leases and aren't using them, so why give them more area to explore?

4. Alternative fuels and increased fuel efficiency is the way to go.

Really, the guy's strategy seems to be that drilling is bad because it will ruin our beaches, if we do it it won't help prices now anyway, and hey, even if more drilling was the answer those big bad oil companies should just drill where we want there to be oil and find it there. But since they won't, because oil companies must be as stupid as people who pay NJ taxes, then obviously the answer is alternative fuels and efficiency.

In my soon-to-be mailed response to the lovely letter I was sent by my senator (I'm sorry, but I looked at the nice paper and pretty letterhead and thought, "Dude, you had my email address, that's so much cheaper than what mailing this pretty letter cost!") expressing regret that we disagreed on oil drilling, I indicated that I felt that the reason we disagreed was that much of his thinking on the matter is mistaken. It's OK, Senator, in NJ we don't expect much perfection in our elected officials anyway, so I'm willing to educate you with what little a NJ housewife and mother knows....

Take #1--the "psychological impact" as everyone's calling it, of increasing US oil production, will mean the price will go down even if it takes time for the supply to increase. Certainly it will be better than relying on #4, which is just wishful thinking via legislation.

#2 So, despite the fact that some pretty huge hurricanes of recent memory hit the Gulf of Mexico and yet west Florida seems to not be awash in oil from the rigs in the Gulf, we're to assume that we'll all be wiping ducks with paper towels once drilling starts off the East Coast.

#3 Yeah, obviously if they have leases, there must be oil in them, and no, say, lawsuits or regulations make it tough economically to explore and find the oil that might or might not be there in a timely fashion. There have been enough articles on this topic recently that if you need me to debunk the "empty oil field" myth, you aren't reading enough as it is and probably won't finish what I write, so I leave you to Google or not.

#4: alternative fuels and fuel efficiency, neither of which currently exist or help to any meaningful extent, somehow is better than that drilling that won't help for ten years, even though there's absolutely no reason to think it will make a difference in ten years, either, or at all. "Investing in clean, renewable energy" he says--Wow, cool, we have that? Then why have we been mucking around with all this messy oil and gas? Bring it on! What, oh, we need to spend government money to come up with some clean, renewable energy....Hmmm, sounds an awful lot like those wonderful cures stem-cell research was supposed to yield--didn't we Jersians give the governor a clear message about the wisdom of "investing" state money in that one? And weren't we right?

Yes, his plug on how Japan's cars are all required to have mileage of 35 or 350 or some high number of miles per gallon sounds great.

Only, have you noticed how many SUVs are out there on our roads? Why is that? I drive a 15 passenger van our of necessity because I have seven kids, and yet I look around and see SUVs as wide and often as long as my van. What do they have going for them, aside from the manly-factor? Safety and room. Safety and room declines as mileage increases. High mileage, after all, means small and light, small and light means easily smushed...We who live with Jersey drivers don't like "easily smushed" carrying our kids. We like "five star crash test rating" and "Stow N Go seating."

Has the senator been to a baby shower in Jersey recently? Well, even in this day and age these are mostly women's affairs, so perhaps he should be forgiven for his ignorance. In the lovely suburbs, these are soup to nuts affairs, in which the new mother has the SUV on the registry right between the high chair, car seat, and "travel system" (AKA stroller)--in fact, these days you can even get the fabric of the former to match the latter three items, along with the play-n-go and bedding and wall decals. After all, what's even safer than a cute little Volvo? Something ten times heavier than a Volvo that can drive right over and crush it without waking the baby, and that would be the biggest darn SUV that one can put gas into five times a day. Does the senator really think that the same women that will buy special sleepers because the latest SIDS superstition is not using blankets, have video monitors to watch the baby 25/7, buy organic baby food to avoid toxins, heed all warnings to use sunscreen or special SPF fabrics to protect Baby from the sun, and get high chairs with five-point harnesses and five-star crash-test ratings, will entrust their precious cargo to a light tin can that gets 35 miles to the gallon? Maybe a minivan, fine, those are fairly safe and have the bonus of not having to climb up eight feet with Baby in your arms to get to the car seat, but the best minivan mileage out there does no better than 26 mpg and that one is so compact as to barely fit the matching play-n-go. We have a Turnpike to drive, we have a whole continent to ride around on, and he wants us to be like Japan? What kind of driving do they have to do? Do they even have room for our toll booths?

What does the good senator think will happen when we "invest" lots of (taxpayer) money into alternative fuel options and require all cars to get 35 miles to the gallon, and then the cost of oil stays high, our "invested" money is gone, and those light little cars lead to an increase in accident fatalities? Even a $500 Britax car seat can't work a miracle when the car it's in is efficient but "easily smushed."

I think, perhaps, we Garden State moms will be pretty pissed the first time one of us weeps, "If I only I had been driving our Windstar..."

I think, perhaps, our Senator should get a clue. Oh, and some more oil. Drill, open the Strategic Oil Reserve and dump some out on the market, whatever, but don't tell us what cars to put our children in just so you can stand on anti-US-oil principle for, as we've seen, no good reason.

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Corzine kneejerk rejection of drilling!

From NJ.com:

"I think it will only reinforce the instincts of New Jersey's blue-leaning independents to more solidly get into that camp," Corzine said. "I think New Jersey will be solidly blue this fall."

The Democratic governor spoke on a conference call with two others, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley and Florida Sen. Bob Graham, to bash McCain's proposal as a "flip-flop" and a "cave-in" to President Bush's policies. Bush today urged Congress to lift the long-standing offshore drilling ban, following McCain's statements this week that allowing each state to decide on drilling could help bring relief as gas prices surpass $4 a gallon.

So Corzine gets a few of his liberal friends together and out of hand dismisses John McCain's proposals to change our energy independence. He pretends that New Jersey is in play in this election. That is a silly joke. New Jersey will vote for the politician who clearly advertises that he will raise taxes every time.
and we know which one that happens to be. Why didn't he have three governors on the call instead of two...

Crist was among the Republicans expressing support for Sen. John McCain's call for lifting the federal moratorium along the Outer Continental Shelf and giving states a share of petroleum revenues as an incentive for them to allow oil and gas drilling off their coasts.

"We have to be sympathetic to the pocketbooks of the people of Florida and what they're paying at the pump for gas, and balance that with: Is there any way that our state might be able to contribute in terms of resources to have greater supply and therefore lower prices?" said Crist, who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate.

"If that's possible, through good technology or whatever it might be, I think an open-minded person understands that we ought to at least study it."

So while Corzine reflexively says no, the governor of Florida (not the senator from Florida who Corzine trotted out to pretend he was in charge) showed that he has an open mind both to the voters and to change in technology. No one wants spoiled beaches. New Jersey gets them just be being in close proximity to the trash dump that is often New York. But what if China decided to start drilling 90 miles off the New Jersey coast? Seem improbable? That is what is happening to Florida. And who would you trust to drill for oil and take care of the beaches, China or the US?

Corzine also shows why he knows nothing about energy commodities.

Corzine said allowing domestic drilling has "nothing to do with the price of gas today, next month, next year or even five years from now."

To call Corzine a foolish man is to be too kind by half. These prices made it to where they are based on oil speculation. Even the Saudis recently said that fundamentals do not justify the price of oil right now. What does? It is clearly speculation. And what fuels this speculation? One thing is that the US can be relied on to ignore its own energy reserves and has no coherent energy policy. Can't build refineries, can't drill for oil, can't burn coal, can't have nuclear energy, can't can't can't. And it is Corzine and limousine liberals like him who are responsible.

If this country made a strong statement that we will:

1. Commence exploration projects immediately in Anwar and promising areas off our coasts
2. Start building refineries again
3. Advance clean coal burning technologies for natural gas
4. Look to better alternative fuels instead of BURNING OUR FOOD!!!!!

The markets would react and the price will come down. Energy speculators are laughing all the way to the bank when fools like Corzine get up and spew their anti-citizen rhetoric. But then, the governor doesn't have to pay his gas bill, does he.

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