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FINAL EDITION NJ.COM

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2010

IN SPORTS

Girls teams advance in basketball tourney
North Hunterdon and St. John Vianney earn Tournament of Champion victories. Page
35

5 WAYS THE BUDGET WILL AFFECT YOU
Property tax rebates are being cut 75 percent. And don’t look for a check in the
mail — the money will come as a credit on property tax bills in May 2011. A reduction
in state aid to municipalities and school districts by more than $1.2 billion in
total. If Gov. Christie doesn’t get new laws limiting property tax increases, local
government may raise the tax — or drop services and lay off workers. One group
that will have to dig deeper to fund its prescriptions is seniors. Co-pays on name-brand
drugs could increase from $7 to $15, in addition to a $310 deductible. Student financial
assistance would be cut $15.2 million. Tax credits for high-tech businesses will
be cut in half, to $30 million. Few of the 2,112 line items in the budget were not
touched. Long term, the calls for public employee pension reforms and push for laws
allowing towns and school districts to get the upper hand on employee unions could
cut property taxes.

Bracket Boy picks the tournament winner
See who the boy wonder names as the best in college basketball. Page 40

NEWJERSEY’S DAYOFRECKONING
Christie: ‘We jump off the cliff together’
STATEHOUSE BUREAU

By Claire Heininger and Lisa Fleisher

Your last shot at Bracket Bucks
Enter to win our $25,000 March Madness contest. Details, Page 38
IN OTHER NEWS

Scraping the mud, pumping out the water
Jerseyans were working to get back to normal after the latest blast from a winter
to remember. Page 11

Braking issue spurs recall of Hondas
The automaker will repair 344,000 Odysseys and 68,000 Elements built in 2007 and
2008. Page 31
AMANDA BROWN/THE STAR-LEDGER

Gov. Chris Christie delivers his first budget address yesterday, proposing deep cuts
in property tax relief, education spending and pension fund payments as well as the
layoffs of 1,300 state workers, both union and nonunion.

Pickings for rock’s hall of fame get slim
Music critic Jay Lustig offers some acts that should make the music shrine. Page
55 INDEX
56 56 68 31 65 61 56 57 14 65 Advice Almanac Autos Business Classified Comics Crossword
Dish Editorials Employment 56 56 13 47 65 55 35 57 63 2 Games Horoscopes New Jersey
Obituaries Real Estate Savor Sports Spotlight Television Weather

WEATHER
Sunny, with a high around 64˚. Mostly clear, with a low near 38˚. Enter your ZIP
code at nj.com/weather for hour-by-hour local forecasts.
MORE TONIGHT TODAY

ov. Wrecking Ball waited outside the Assembly chamber seconds before taking the stage.
He was pumped, like a high school linebacker about to take the field. “I’m ready,”
he said. “I don’t suffer much from indecision. You’re not going to hear me
whine and moan and complain about how hard this is. I wanted this job.” With that,
two state troopers pushed open the tall wooden doors and the governor strode to the
podium. The Chris Christie era had begun. Watching this man in action is a relief
after the Jon Corzine years. He is decisive where Corzine waffled. His language is
crisp where Corzine’s


Hard-hitting budget address was a gem — with one flaw
was convoluted. He is not afraid to take risks. He likes to lead. And his speech
contained much to like. He would fix the outrageous system of binding arbitration
that has escalated public salaries to the point where the average cop in a town like
Edison makes over $100,000. He took on the dark lords of the teachers union, pointing
out that they are not protecting children when they refuse to contribute to their
own health insurance plans, or when they block New Jersey’s attempt to win federal
stimulus money over their objection to merit pay. He rightly called nj.com/moran
the steady growth in government over the last 20 years a threat to the state’s
economy. He slammed schools and towns for adding 11,300 new employees last year,
despite the recession, a move that he called “madness.” It was all satisfying
stuff. The new guy was making sense. And then he blew it. Because he stuck with his
plan to cut taxes for the rich. He asked no real sacrifice from them at a time when
the state needs everyone to climb out of the

Tom Moran

SEE MORAN, PAGE 19

Gov. Chris Christie challenged lawmakers to help him transform New Jersey government
in a hard-times budget speech yesterday that portrayed a state on the brink of fiscal
ruin. Speaking in passionate and sometimes scolding tones, the governor called on
all Jerseyans — from state and local officials to police, teachers, firefighters
and janitors — to embrace an era of sacrifice. After decades of excessive spending,
as well as reckless pay and benefit increases to public employees, only a sea change
would bring the state out of its current financial crisis, he said. “There is no
question: This has been an incredibly difficult period for our state and its people,”
Christie said. “And the choices I am asking you to make now will not be easy. But
they are the first step on the path to a brighter future.” Those choices marked
a reversal from the priorities of his Democratic predecessors and, in some instances,
his own campaign promises. He proposed slashing property tax rebate checks in favor
of a tax credit next spring, but even then residents would get only a quarter of
what they got last year. He would short the school funding formula by more than $1
billion, using math that hurts districts in the suburbs as well as the cities. He
would charge seniors more for prescription drugs and drop childless adults from welfare.
Christie said such moves are better than piling more taxes on the nation’s “most
overtaxed” people. “Ladies and gentlemen, if you tax them, they will leave,”
Christie told a joint session of the Democrat-controlled Legislature. The 48-minute
address wove together Christie trademarks: joking asides, pre-empting opponents’
arguments and lifeor-death rhetoric. “Everyone comes to the center of the room,”
the
SEE BUDGET, PAGE 19

IN NEWS
The Christie plan means some big hikes in taxes. Paul Mulshine. Page 15 The budget’s
cuts: the schools, the towns, the state workers. Page 18 What about the property
tax rebate? Questions and answers. Page 18

IN BUSINESS
Targeting Bergen County’s longstanding ban on Sunday shopping. Page 32

VIDEOS
Catch the governor’s speech and the reactions only at nj.com/videos.

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