Christie team releases 'bold ideas' for changes

New Jersey should consider installing tolls on some interstate highways and conduct a referendum on raising the gasoline tax, Gov. Christie's transition team said in reports released yesterday.

The team of advisers also recommended merging the South Jersey Transportation Authority, which operates the Atlantic City Expressway, with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which operates the turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.

Christie yesterday released the team's 19 reports analyzing the state's various agencies, with a goal of reducing spending, increasing revenue, and streamlining government.

Among the recommendations were that the state stop subsidizing horse racing and its public television station, and that a sales-tax holiday be enacted to spur consumer spending. The advisers also recommended doing away with the Council on Affordable Housing, which determines how much affordable housing towns and cities must provide.

They suggested privatizing the lottery; increasing prison space by double-bunking inmates and diverting nonviolent drug offenders to community programs; and imposing more accountability for the billions in municipal aid that the Department of Community Affairs oversees.

They recommended saving $1.35 million by eliminating the Office of the Child Advocate, saying it was an "unnecessary and duplicative oversight." And the Office of Recreation should be cut, the reports said.

The Departments of Human Services and Children and Families, separated in 2006, should be merged, the advisers said.

They also recommended that the state close one psychiatric hospital and the 18 regional schools run by the state for children with disabilities, at-risk youths, pregnant teenagers, and teen parents. The Corzine administration attempted to close the 18 schools, but backed down after an outcry from parents and advocates.

The reports cited an urgent need to upgrade technology, and decried the impact of civil-service rules on personnel matters.

The subcommittee on the Department of Human Services found that the current system "protects poor performers, blocks exceptional workers from moving through the ranks, and impedes management from creating new and needed positions." Managers who wished to create a new position or title were required to complete a 1,200-point questionnaire, one report said.

The advisers said some agencies spent too much on overtime pay, and cited abuses of sick time in the Department of Corrections.

Among the transportation-related recommendations was a proposal for tolls on some interstate highways to pay for improvements on those roads. Such a change would likely require federal approval, since most of the state's interstates were built with federal funds.

Another transportation suggestion was a proposal for a referendum on raising the gas tax, "after showing that cost savings are being achieved." Some money could be saved, the report suggested, by changing how the tax is collected.

Christie repeatedly has said he would not support an increase in the gas tax.

The transportation report made few concrete proposals for solving the financial woes of the Transportation Trust Fund, which will run out of money to pay for highway projects in about 18 months.

"Options for the continuation of the Transportation Trust Fund need to be developed immediately," said the report on Treasury without spelling out any proposals.

A merger of the Turnpike Authority and the South Jersey Transportation Authority would eliminate duplication and save money, the transition team said.

"We have seen no reason why there should be a separate authority. The legitimate needs of the region can still be met at a lower cost with a much-needed consolidation," said the report from the Authorities subcommittee.

The report suggested that operation of the Atlantic City airport, currently handled by the South Jersey Transportation Authority, be shifted to another agency, such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey or the Delaware River and Bay Authority.

The report recommends consolidating and downsizing many other authorities and halting all long-term projects that do not deal directly with safety or consumer use.

"Simply put, there are too many authorities," the report said. "This wastes money in obvious and obscure ways."

The transition team questioned the wisdom of a planned commuter rail line from Camden to Gloucester County. The Delaware River Port Authority has proposed a $1.5 billion, 18-mile-long light-rail line to Glassboro.

"As with other authorities, [the DRPA] must evaluate the necessity of doing capital projects that are not directly related to safety or increased use," the advisers wrote. "Now may not be the time to be thinking about expansion of systems that are already losing money in part because there are other transportation options."

The advisers also suggested that the salaries of authority chiefs be brought in line with those of state workers. Currently, 27 authority heads make more than the governor's salary of $175,000 a year.

"These reports are full of bold ideas and recommendations for change from a bipartisan group of individuals from the private and public sectors," Christie said in a statement. "In the coming weeks, my cabinet and I will be consulting with subcommittee members, reviewing each of the reports, and carefully considering these recommendations for improvement and change."

Many would require action by the Democratic-controlled legislature.