Legislators: Trenton’s Budget Full Of Political Deals

TRENTON - Hundreds of millions of dollars in Christmas Tree-political projects, reckless deficit spending, and a jaw-dropping lack of transparency undermined the now-enacted $54 billion FY2024 State Budget that taxpayers will pay a steep price for immediately in the future. Congressman Christopher Connors and Assemblymen Brian Rumpf and DiAnne Gove (all R-9 th) released this statement: “Egregious spending - not tax reliefsuperseded every aspect of the budget. Incredibly, the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees were compelled to vote on the State Budget bill without even being given a copy of the bill. Waiting to the last minute to make $100 million changes to the budget was not so much a strategy but a desperate ploy to buy off votes with taxpayer dollars. This occurred even when it couldn’t be more obvious that New Jersey’s affordability crisis remains the dominant issue, more so by across-the-board costs increases resulting from inflation.

“Calling this a flawed process just doesn’t do it justice. Unconscionable is a far more accurate description. Aided by the Governor’s Office, the Legislature’s powerbrokers managed to refrain from giving back taxpayers more of their money to improve their quality of life, which includes being able to pay their bills, and chose instead to expand government spending.

“Consider: the recently adopted FY2024 State Budget increases spending by $3.7 billion, or 7%, to $54.3 billion from $50.6 billion. For perspective, that is a 57%, $19.7 billion, increase since Governor Christie’s last state budget.

“Defenders of the new State Budget will argue about increased funding for programs and services. Our Delegation supports a fiscally disciplined approach in drafting the state budget to ensure sufficient funding is dedicated to priority programs and services which many of our constituents utilize and see a return on their tax dollars taken by government.

“For all its failures, most glaring is the more than $1.3 billion that was added into the State Budget without explanation since Governor Murphy’s state budget address. For those watching closely, we knew this spending accounted for Christmas tree items - special projects serving as political paybacks which not only undermine the integrity of the budget process but also outrage taxpayers struggling to make ends meet.

“Reaching a new low even by Trenton’s standards, the State Budget set a new record for budget deficits - a $2.7 billion deficit which is $1 billion more than the worst of the Corzine years. Our Delegation called out our colleagues on this reckless and alarming point, but it became quickly evident that the deals had already been cut and the taxpayers had already been sold out.

“As evidenced by these and other indefensible failures of basic fiscal management, our Delegation voted NO on the State Budget without hesitation in representing the interests of our constituents.”

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Dragons:

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Cahill’s program also served as a refresher for players who hadn’t played in a while. He noted that OCL’s branches have meeting rooms that can be booked two hours at a time and “could be used for D&D campaigns and we have a lot of good resources so you don’t even need to buy anything except the dice.”

Whiting resident Brian Bieth said prior to Cahill’s program that he wanted to “learn the basic bare bones of Dungeons & Dragons because the last time I played was a couple of years ago so this will be a refresher - and maybe I will learn something

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“Growing up, I was being bullied by other kids, especially at school,” said De Franco. “This caused me to feel left out, and I struggled to make new friends with them, because I am both deaf and autistic.”

“I wished to find a way to do something to fight against bullying by educating kids how to show respect, acceptance and love toward each other to build a friendship,” De Franco continued.

Upon doing some research a few years ago, De Franco came across the Buddy Bench concept and eagerly watched videos that showed schools all over the country using them on their playgrounds. Intrigued by the idea and its potential to foster new friendships and combat bullying, De Franco decided to present the idea in the community he lived in prior to Barnegat.

“I made my first Buddy Bench presentation to the home and school association at Peter Cooper Elementary School in Ringwood in 2020,” shared De Franco. “I built one Buddy Bench at their playground with a local Girl Scouts group there.”

The project was such a success that De Franco decided his new community would also benefit from making Buddy Benches available to children.

Michele Cucinotta, a district school counselor and community liaison, became intrigued when she came across a social media post from De Franco detailing the Buddy Bench concept. With her passion for fostering positive change, Cucinotta recognized the potential of the idea and decided to help turn it into a reality.

Without hesitation, Cucinotta promptly tapped into her extensive network of caring individuals, all part of the Barnegat Community that Cares (“CTC”) coalition. She said she was confident that the group’s shared mission of pooling resources for the greater good, would be the key to making everything fall seamlessly into place.

The first step was gaining approval from school administrators and that was easy. With their support secured, the next challenge was to secure funds for the materials needed to build the benches. As it turned out, that wasn’t a difficult task either.

Cucinotta arranged for De Franco to make a presentation at the Barnegat Rotary Club. The membership was so impressed by the project that they immediately agreed to fund the materials for four Buddy Benches.

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Manchester resident Conor Malloy said after the presentation, “I wanted to know more about the basic rules and the mechanics of the game. I played D&D on Discord but we don’t get together very often.”

“This is something really cool because I can learn the basics so I can understand what I need to do. I also thought it would just be fun,” Malloy added.

Along with the Manchester branch, Cahill brough his program to the Long Beach Island and Plumsted branches. His D&D Crash Course will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the following branches: Lacey Branch on August 7, call 609-693-8566 to register, the Stafford Branch on August 23, call 609-5973381 to register and the Toms River Branch on August 28, call 732-349-6200 to register.

Following the successful fundraising efforts, the next challenge was finding someone to oversee the construction of the benches. Cucinotta knew just who to turn to and reached out to another member of the Barnegat Community that Cares coalition, Ron Fraser from Starve Poverty International. With expertise in construction projects for individuals facing financial challenges, the group was the perfect fit – and also eager to help.

The project was soon off and running – with just the need for some additional hands to do the work.

De Franco himself showed up recently and followed directives to aid in the construction project. Fraser’s daughter, Jessica, who works in the Athletic Department of Barnegat High School was there to chip in, as was construction leader Jim Gagnon and his son Todd, who is the band director at the Brackman Middle School. Despite it being summer, Cucinotta also managed to recruit a number of Barnegat students to help expedite the project. Gannon Tumphrey, Maxwell Wattez, Jack Weber and Nathan Winters all return to Barnegat High School in the fall. “I’m here because I decided to help my community,” Gannon said. “I feel like it’s just something nice to do.”

Apparently, the other three students were there for the same reason.

“We’re also hoping to get copies of a book that goes with the benches,” shared Cucinotta. “I am waiting to hear back the Tigger Stavalo Foundation, which brought the district assemblies last year and are big into drug prevention.”

Cucinotta explained that Tigger was a boy who died from an accidental overdose at just 25 years old. He was from the Jersey shore and his parents are philanthropists whose foundation is youth oriented.

Three of four completed benches will be set up at Barnegat’s Dunfee, Collins and Donahue schools for the district’s younger children. The remaining bench is earmarked for the ACES program at the Brackman Middle School.

As for De Franco, he has exciting plans to personally demonstrate how the buddy benches work to the students. Some of them might already be familiar with the enthusiastic and engaging young man who gives ASL lessons on the Barnegat Bay Beach.

For those students who have yet to meet De Franco they will undoubtedly be captivated by the warmth in his eyes and his sincere desire to create an environment where every person feels accepted and valued.