PARSIPPANY — Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce issued the following statement on New Jersey’s Senior Freeze savings program and the impact of today’s Assembly vote on the revised State Worker Furlough Plan:
“The Governor’s reworked version of the Legislature’s state furlough plan was a major disappointment. Our original bill, passed unanimously in May, would have saved taxpayers $750 million, but the Governor conditionally vetoed it. The version adopted in the Assembly today saves only $100 million. As I said during today’s hearing, the weeks of inaction by the Governor on the original version of this bill led to a lost opportunity to save the people of New Jersey millions more. Because of this, thousands of seniors in New Jersey will be deprived of the vital Senior Freeze property tax savings and that is unacceptable. We must be more responsible. By abstaining in today’s vote, I left the door open for the Governor to realize his $100 million savings, and I will insist that he put those dollars toward the new state budget to restore the Senior Freeze property tax savings for our constituents this September.”