Proposed Legislative FY2020 Budget- Small Increase for Enviro & NJ Transit

The proposed legislative FY2020 Budget has an overall $4 million increase in the DEP’s budget. There is also an increase of $4 million in grants for urban parks in New Jersey and a $50 million increase for NJ Transit. The amount of money diverted from the Clean Energy Fund remains the same, at $87.1 million.  Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club released the following statement:

“There are small positives steps in the legislative proposed FY 2020 budget compared to Governor Murphy’s budget. They added back $4 million from the cuts to the DEP budget Governor Murphy proposed however there is still a $65 million cut from the FY2019 Adjusted Appropriated Budget. The legislative budget also adds money to urban parks. However, the DEP don’t have enough people to do their job. There are less staffers at DEP than there were under Christie. We need more staff to keep our air pure and our water clean. More importantly, New Jersey needs to do more to find a stable and long-term funding source for critical environmental programs.

The increase of $50 million on top of the $35 million for NJ Transit will also be helpful. The agency is turning the corner and finally starting to get better. This additional funding can help start to rebuild our transit system from the inside out and wake up NJ transit riders from their nightmare of a commute.

“The legislative proposed FY2020 budget is a minimal step in the right direction, but we have a long way to go. We still need to support a millionaire’s tax to close the loopholes and adequately fund DEP and NJ Transit. The legislative budget and most of Governor Murphy’s proposed budget FY 2020 still has a lot of money being diverted from critical environmental programs. We need real money, not just pocket change for these programs. That is why we need to get our fiscal house in order. More funding for DEP and critical environmental programs means having enough staff to get the lead out of children’s schools and moving New Jersey forward in energy efficiency while reducing our impact on climate change.”