Mike Davis

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TRENTON - Though the state's Transportation Trust Fund will run dry in 135 days, the state's 2017 budget doesn't include any plan to replenish it.

In his annual budget address before the Legislature, Gov. Chris Christie called for a "reasonable agreement" on a way to renew transportation funding, echoing previous demands that any plans for a gas tax increase come with "tax fairness."

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"Some people in this room want to address the next generation of funding for the Transportation Trust Fund solely on the back of taxpayers by imposing a hike on gas prices without any discussion of tax fairness," Christie said. "Never mind that we’re already one of the most heavily taxed states in the country, and excessive taxes are driving people and businesses to other states."

Transportation fund has big needs, slack funding

The $1.2 billion Transportation Trust Fund, also known as TTF, is set to run out of money on July 1, when it will require new funding in order to pay for a litany of capital transportation projects, including road repairs, mass transit projects, bridge replacements and a variety of soft costs.

"To imply that the TTF is in crisis and is suddenly and unexpectedly running out of money is a politically driven mischaracterization," Christie said. "Remedies for any fix of the TTF cannot be made in a vacuum. The reality is that New Jersey is fully able to support the current capital program as originally proposed in the current five-year authorization.

"There is time to reach a reasonable agreement, but it will need to be the right one for the hardworking taxpayers of New Jersey," Christie said.

That time is now, said Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex. Every year, the state Department of Transportation funds for projects in both the short-term and long-term. Without new funding in 2017, money won't be available for new projects, as all payments would go toward paying off bonds issued to renew the fund.

“The governor once again tried to make blaming people a policy,” said Wisniewski, chairman of the Assembly’s Transportation Committee. “There’s no substitute for the governor standing in the well of the Assembly chamber saying, ‘Here’s the plan I would like to do. Please follow me.’”

Gas tax proposals

Nearly 25 percent of the Transportation Trust Fund comes from the state's 14.5-cent gas tax, which Democratic legislators and transportation advocates have argued is long overdue for an increase. The gas tax, which accounted for $540 million last year, hasn't been raised since 1988. New Jersey has the second lowest gas tax in the nation, behind Alaska.

Christie ripped on call to delay gas tax deal

“This is tied directly to our locational advantage. It’s critical,” former legislator Gordon MacInnes, director of the New Jersey Policy Perspective think tank, said in December. "It’s at the top of our priority list to maintain, improve and modernize our transportation network. And if we don’t? We’re screwed."

In a statement, Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative chairman Greg Lalevee said the need for a solution was pressing.

"Keeping the Transportation Trust Fund from going bankrupt is the most pressing issue we face in New Jersey right now," Lalevee said. "Thousands of bridges are crumbling, New Jerseyans are paying an extra $600 a year on automobile repairs directly related to our dilapidated roads, and property taxes will go up as municipalities are cut off from much needed funds for local projects."

In a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released last year, 62 percent of New Jerseyans said they were opposed to a gas tax increase.

Gas tax increase: New Jerseyans don�t want it

Wisniewski last year sponsored a bill calling for increasing the state's petroleum gross receipts tax -- paid by distributors and passed onto motorists at the pump -- from 4 cents per gallon to 9 percent overall. Wisniewski estimated that bill would raise $1.25 billion in revenue with an increase of about 25 cents per gallon at the pump.

What's next?

Legislators and transportation officials have been searching for a Transportation Trust Fund solution since Christie was re-elected in 2013.

Former Department of Transportation commissioner Jamie Fox, who resigned in October 2015, zeroed in on the fund as the chief goal of his tenure. When he resigned in October 2015, he said he "deeply regretted" not being able to find a funding solution.

In his address, Christie focused on failed talks with Democrats that involved a swap of an increased gas tax with abolishing the state’s estate tax, which Christie has argued pushes retirees out of state.

The governor and legislators pointed fingers at each other on Tuesday: Christie said those talks died because legislators were running for reelection. Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, D-Camden, quickly refuted that, stating that Christie’s office flatly turned down their proposal.

"There was no counter offer," Greenwald said. "Every other deal we’ve done, there was give and take. The reaction was, ‘No.’”

Wisniewski suggested the Assembly could soon take action on legislation, expecting a veto and testing their luck for an override.

“At this point in time, we ought to just pass a piece of legislation here. There are 52 Democrats and I think there are enough people on the other side of the aisle. Maybe we’ll be able to get an override," he said.

NJ chief: Trust fund half the battle

Christie ended his address by hoping the two sides could come together in a bipartisan manner over his remaining 630 days in office.

“We’ve been here. We’re not the ones spending 72 percent of last year out of state,” Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, D-Hudson, said. “We welcome the dialogue with him, and we want to work with him. When you look at this budget as a whole, we can work with it.”

Christie also did not mention the other looming transportation crisis in his budget address, a pending NJ Transit strike by more than 4,000 rail workers set for March 13. A system-wide rail shutdown would occur if the workers strike or NJ Transit locks them out, which a coalition of unions expects to happen simultaneously.

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Mike Davis: (732) 643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com. Click here to subscribe to Mike's weekly "Road Sage" newsletter.