New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill held a press conference today previewing her March 10 budget address, announcing a budget tracking tool and a “report card” for state spending. She acknowledged a $3 billion structural deficit and a surplus projected to be depleted by FY 2028, while signaling her administration will prioritize spending cuts over new revenues.
Statement from New Jersey Policy Perspective Staff:
Governor Sherrill’s press conference today made plain the dire fiscal condition that New Jersey finds itself in. As NJPP’s decades of analysis have shown, including our 2016 Notorious Nine report and our recent Budget Time Bombs publication, the Governor is correct that shortsighted decisions to close one-year budget holes have left New Jersey with a serious structural deficit. NJPP looks forward to seeing the Governor’s plans for how to close these gaps, while balancing the need for affordability for New Jersey’s working families.
Governor Sherrill’s call for budget transparency echoes NJPP’s longstanding concerns about budget accessibility, including a need for more user-friendly budget data and clear tracking of program spending over multiple years.
But transparency doesn’t close a $3 billion gap. Fixing a deficit this size through cuts alone would seriously harm low-income resident and working families who depend on Medicaid, school funding, and property tax relief. As Senior Policy Analyst Peter Chen wrote last year, the state’s best defense against fiscal crisis is shoring up revenues, not draining the savings account.
NJPP urges the Governor to use all the tools available to close this deficit, including increasing the state’s revenues. The federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act handed a multitrillion dollar tax cut to the richest individuals and corporations while increasing costs for states like New Jersey. Ensuring that wealthy individuals and big corporations are paying their fair share can put the state on sound long-term fiscal footing.
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