TRENTON - New Jersey is in bad shape financially, but taxes won't be raised.

Want more details? Watch the governor's budget address on March 10.

Mikie Sherrill on Thursday gave a brief update of what's to come, accompanied by Aaron Binder, the state treasurer.

Verbiage aside, a large chart in the meeting room told the story.

The state's current fiscal year 2026 budget, which runs through June 30, is projected to end the year with a surplus of about $6.7 billion. Recent state budgets, primarily thanks to federal COVID money, have had comfortable surpluses.

By next fiscal year, which runs from July 1 of this year to June 30, 2027, the surplus is projected to dip to a bit more than $4 billion. But by the next fiscal year, the one beginning July 1, 2027, there will be no surplus. In fact, there would be a deficit of about $750 million. That figure on the chart was in red in case anyone missed the point.

"We're facing a serious structural deficit," Sherrill said.

This may not be alarming as it seems. A projected deficit that's about two years away is not necessarily a crisis. There is time to deal with it.

The governor vowed to do just that.

What's her plan?

She was sketchy at best about program cuts and the like, saying more than once that details will come on March 10.

But she did say taxes will not increase.

The governor said the point of today's event was to update the public. She said she began examining state finances before she took office and also sampled suggestions from about 9,000 New Jerseyans who responded to an online survey. And she promised budget transparency throughout the process.

That has not always been the case. Some budgets have been adopted just prior to the June 30 deadline with many details not publicly available.

Sherrill said the dwindling surplus is because of COVID money drying up and other federal cutbacks. She knows that under the current political climate, the state can't expect help from Washington.

The governor also pointed to previous governors from both parties who avoided state obligations.

For instance, she said the state will contribute about $7 billion into its pension system this year. Many previous governors - with the exception of Phil Murphy - did not make the required contributions, allowing the obligation to rise - and rise.

The state budget has been famous, or infamous, for so-called Christmas Tree items. Money inserted, sometimes at the last minute, for lawmakers' pet projects in their districts. To critics, this is wasteful "pork barrel" spending.

Will we find those in Sherrill's inaugural budget?  You have to wait until the March 10 budget address, she said.

Sounds like must-see TV.