"This must change and this budget is a start," Corzine said in a Statehouse address. "It's certainly not designed to please, but it is a prudent blueprint to meet difficult economic circumstances, correct past mistakes, and lay a foundation for a responsible future."
Corzine said his proposal called for the second-largest spending cut in state history and would represent only the fourth time in more than 50 years that the budget would be smaller than the one adopted the previous year.
The governor said he tried to minimize the impact on ordinary citizens. "In this budget, government takes the spending hit, not our hard-pressed taxpayers or the most vulnerable," he said.
But if adopted by the Legislature, Corzine's budget, which proposes no new or increased taxes, would affect millions of New Jerseyans in ways large and small.
More details of the proposal are scheduled to be released today.
Property tax rebates for those earning above $150,000 would be eliminated; rebates for those earning between $100,000 and $150,000 would be reduced.
State aid to municipalities would dip by $190 million to $1.8 billion, with communities of fewer than 10,000 people bearing the brunt of the cuts. Those municipalities would be strongly encouraged through state grants to share services or consolidate with their neighbors.
The state would cut funding for charity care at hospitals by 15 percent, to $608 million.
The governor's office has not yet confirmed other proposed changes, which may include copayments for Medicaid patients, closings of several state parks, less aid for some low-income workers, and reductions of hours at motor vehicle agencies.
Ingrid Reed, director of the New Jersey Project at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, called the budget proposal "remarkable, for New Jersey."
