Last week I started talking about the State of the State and now it is time to continue in that same vein. The first thing I will address is my favorite subject- Taxes!
The Governor said in his address that “Property taxes were increasing seven percent a year for a decade before we arrived. The last half decade, on our watch and under our 2% cap, have averaged 1.9%. With more reform, we could do even better.” That might be true for some, but in many cases with all the loop holes in the property tax cap law many people have found out that they have gone up (many) multiple times each year over the supposed limiting cap. One way to get around the cap is just to reevaluate the properties more often and raise their worth. You might be wondering how does the worth get raised, well has an ex-neighbor sold their home for a well above market price? If so it makes your house worth more and thus your property taxes go up without worrying about the property tax cap. There are other exceptions in the law that you could sail a large ship through; in easy to understand language- the cap is worthless for the most part!
Christie went on to say “That’s how we’ve achieved historic levels of state investment in our schools system, with more than $12.8 billion in funding for our schools this year. That’s how we’ve continued to make progress with revitalizing schools in some of our lowest achieving districts in Newark, Camden and Asbury Park.” Well if you take a good look Newark, Camden and Asbury Park students are not graduating at a rate that is anything to crow about. It is the old story; throwing money at a problem will fix it every time. Well if you believe that then I have a very nice slightly used state capital building for you to buy. Spending large amounts of money in an indiscriminate manner only guarantees that corruption will take place and most of the monies spent will not get to those who need them the most.
He went on to state “And one of the achievements that I’m proudest of – we’ve helped thousands of people whose lives have been devastated by drugs to get the help they need. Instead of prosecuting a failed war on drugs – a war on our own citizens – we’ve classified drug addiction as the illness it truly is, and worked to treat and rehabilitate some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Last year alone I signed ten new laws to address this issue, and today we’re going to talk about the next steps we need to take to continue making progress.” Well I have to agree that some progress has been made, but we are in the middle of massive heroin (drug) epidemic! Many get hooked on prescription pain pills and then find it is cheaper to use heroin. Something must be done to address the rehabilitation program problem(s); one being that there are not enough of them and another is that there is no way for a judge to commit a heroin addict to go into rehab. These are just too many people suffering and I am not talking just about those on drugs, but their families, friends and those they steal from to feed their habit.
The Governor then went on to say “Instead of accepting the cynicism and mediocrity of inaction here in New Jersey, we’ve shown what it means to achieve policies of consequence, principle and compromise.
Instead of hiding from our problems or pretending they don’t exist, we’ve confronted them openly. More often than not, we’ve done it together, as Republicans and Democrats. We don’t agree on everything, but we don’t have to – as long as we keep talking to each other and trying to do the right thing.” The problem is that Christie is now a lame duck governor and the Democrats are trying to score points with the New Jersey voting public. They are still trying to get signed into law some very stupid ideas and no I refuse even to talk about them now. For what the legislature is doing is ignoring very important issues, like property taxes for nonsensical legislation that has feel good connotations.
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
