Christie Crows Over Unemployment Drop, Revenue Growth

Gov. Chris Christie got a double dose of good news last week, as New Jersey's April unemployment rate dipped below 9 percent for the first time in four years and state revenue collections met his Treasury Department's revised targets.

Echoing former President Ronald Reagan, an ebullient Christie declared at a town meeting in Sayreville that "the best social program is a job," and declared that his economic and fiscal policies were responsible for New Jersey's economic, employment, and revenue growth.

“Revenues are up, jobs are up and unemployment is down," Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union) declared.

Treasury's announcement that April's revenues came in just ahead of target takes some of the drama out of Monday's Senate Budget Committee face-off between Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff and David Rosen, the chief budget officer for the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services. The Treasury numbers are good, but not good enough to contemplate restoring the $392 million in property tax rebates that were pushed off from May until August when Sidamon-Eristoff revised his revenue forecasts downward in March.

Whether Treasury eventually hits its lowered $27.075 billion revenue target by June 30 is irrelevant. The next report on the May revenues won't come in until mid-June -- too late for the governor and Legislature to do anything but cover whatever shortfall there is by reducing the state's already low surplus for the upcoming year or lapsing unspent funds from this year's budget, which Christie did aggressively last year.

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