TRENTON — It didn't take long for the outrage to bubble over.

From around the state, lawmakers, child advocates, mayors and college officials expressed outrage and disappointment yesterday over Gov. Chris Christie’s liberal use of the line-item veto on the budget enacted by the Democratic Legislature.

Christie slashed almost a billion dollars from the Democrats’ $30.6 billion budget that had restored spending for education, health care and tax credits for the working poor, aid to the state’s struggling cities and — in what was widely viewed as revenge for spurning his own budget — cuts to the Legislature.

The governor then signed the budget he had trimmed to $29.7 billion before the fiscal year ended at midnight Thursday, and Democratic hopes of overriding his veto are seemingly slim.

"New Jersey should be working harder to protect children from abuse and neglect, not pulling the plug on programs that work for children," said Nancy Erika Smith of the Newark-based Wynona Lipman Child Advocacy Center, which helps sexually and physically abused children.

Christie cut $537,000, or 75 percent, of the center’s financing, which Smith called "disgusting."

Christie introduced a $29.6 spending plan earlier this year that provided modest increases in school financing and property tax rebates, while slashing Medicaid and other programs aimed at the state’s most vulnerable residents. Democrats countered this week with their own ill-fated proposal that identified savings and increased spending by nearly $1 billion.

Christie and fellow Republicans sharply criticized the Democratic proposal as a political "ponzi scheme" built on fake revenue estimates and bogus savings. He said he had no choice but to cut about $900 million from a budget that he said would be unbalanced and unconstitutional.

MUSEUMS

Christie foiled a controversial attempt by Democrats to steer money from the New Jersey Council on the Arts to the Newark Museum, Battleship New Jersey and the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton.

The Democrats’ budget included grants of $2.1 million for the Newark Museum, $1.7 million for the battleship and $375,000 for the barracks out of $16 million earmarked for the council.

But arts leaders complained because they said it left them with less money for the nonprofit arts community and undermined the council’s independent oversight.

Historically, $4.2 million for the three sites came from dedicated line items in the general budget, but Christie changed that during his first year in office.

"The entire arts community owes a debt of gratitude to the governor for interceding to ensure that the arts council is funded at the level at which it was intended," said Mark Packer, president of ArtPride NJ, the statewide arts advocacy organization.

The lack of guaranteed money for the three sites leaves them in a state of limbo. Richard Patterson, executive director of the Old Barracks Museum, which celebrates the American Revolution, said the organization is in serious jeopardy.

Staff writers Christopher Baxter, Sal Rizzo, Megan DeMarco and Sue Livio contributed to this report.

