TRENTON - Republicans howled to no avail in their resistance to A-5326, a package of pork and aid mostly for the cities, to bail out mismanaged municipalities, a FY2027 supplemental appropriation totaling $358,811,000.

Democrats passed the bill, which Governor Mikie Sherrill addressed HERE.

Assemblywoman Victoria Flynn (R-13) savaged the bill, paying particular attention to a more than $100 million "loan" to Jersey City contained in the bill.

"They have demonstrated no effort to clean up their house," Flynn said of Jersey City, which faces a prospective 20% tax hike. "I don't care how many monitors are put in there. They're not going to change."

Of the $100 million plus tacked-on loan, Assemblyman Gregory Myhre (R-9) said, "This isn't state aid. It's a taxpayer funded reward for fiscal malfeasance."

Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-360 chastised the GOP for what he called their naivete. Democrats are in charge. They help their friends, that is to say, cities like Jersey City, which need more resources in troubled times.

Assemblywoman Carmen Morales (D-29) backed him up. "This legislation funds the services that New Jersey families rely on every single day," she said.

Also defending the bill, Assemblywoman Katie Brennan (D-32) of Jersey City said the tax hike in her hometown, mismanaged, she conceded, would total 31% without the aid infusion.

Other items in the bill include $5 million for a recreation center in Wood-Ridge, where Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Chair Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) is mayor.