What are costs of smaller budget?

For New Jersey citizens and politicians, it's put-up-or-shut-up time.

After years of calling for smaller, cheaper state government, the state's residents yesterday got what they asked for. Now they get to see the price tag.

Are residents ready for less government if it means less special education, longer waits for drivers' licenses, higher state college tuition and smaller property-tax rebate checks?

Gov. Corzine said in his budget address he had heard, loud and clear, the public's "frustration and anger" with government spending. His response was a spending plan that is $500 million smaller than the budget of a year earlier.

"Frankly," Corzine said, "New Jersey has a government its people cannot afford."

Everyone loves the concept of smaller government, though a lot of people may be less fond of the reality of smaller government, especially if the cuts affect them directly.

"I think the sides will begin to get drawn when people start coming in and saying, 'When we said cut, we didn't mean us,' " said Assembly budget chairman Louis Greenwald (D., Camden). "We need to have the courage to look people in the face and say, 'We don't have the money right now.' "

About $190 million of Corzine's cuts would come from aid to local municipalities, as Trenton tries to push small towns to merge services.

Less aid to municipalities could mean higher property taxes.

Are citizens who love small-town living ready to trade autonomy for economy?

New Jersey, home of the nation's highest property taxes, has 566 municipalities, 616 school districts and 486 local authorities. Twenty-six municipalities in New Jersey have fewer than 1,000 residents, and an additional 49 have fewer than 2,000 residents.

All those towns and schools mean lots of duplicated services and lots of duplicated taxes. But local communities of any size are loath to lose their control, independence or identity.

"You can have whatever you want if you're willing to pay for it," said Greenwald. "People at home are tightening their belts, and governments need to do it, too."

The specifics of the Corzine cuts are still unclear, but state officials said every department would be reduced. And the trickle-down effect will guarantee that those cuts are felt throughout the state.

"They'll not only have to do more with less, they'll undoubtedly have to do less," Corzine acknowledged yesterday.

Corzine's budget got initial praise from Republican legislators. Whether they will support his cuts, even in property-tax rebates, remains to be seen.

"If you're going to have any credibility in state government, you can't just be against everything," said GOP strategist Roger Bodman. "I applaud the governor for this budget . . . we should now be looking forward, not back."

"We have now reached a point where we have no choice but to cut spending," Assembly Republican budget officer Joseph Malone (R., Burlington) said. "While there will certainly be changes to the budget between now and June, we cannot afford to put more spending into this budget."

At the same time, the Republican leader in the Assembly, Alex DeCroce (R., Morris) immediately opposed any cuts in property tax rebates.

With Republicans praising a Democratic budget, and a Democratic governor acting like a fiscal conservative, there clearly are prospects for bipartisan support for a tighter state budget.

Having already angered the electorate with his proposal to raise highway tolls, Corzine didn't have much more to lose by taking a tough stand on the budget. A Quinnipiac University poll last week found voters saying, by a margin of 51-32 percent, that Corzine doesn't deserve to be reelected.

Jon Shure, president of the liberal-leaning think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective, called Corzine's budget "sobering" and "sad," and said he feared larger objectives may be lost in a rush to reduce spending.

"Let's not just say, 'cut waste,' and go home," Shure said. "There are things we need to continue to invest in, like higher education and mass transit."

Conservative-leaning Senate minority leader Tom Kean (R., Union) sounded a similar note, even as he urged spending cuts: "One of my great frustrations is that we have not heard anything about growing the state's economy. We need to create new jobs and new opportunities and at the same time, create new revenues."

Shure said he hoped Corzine's somber address "is the beginning of a conversation about where we want to go as a state."

"We need to take a hard look at what we need and what we're willing to pay."