| Image: Slate.com |
In the past, New Jersey relied on funds from its annual budget to finance oversight of its many parks and wildlife management areas, including staffing costs, Tom Johnson writes in today’s NJ Spotlight
"Not anymore, if the Christie administration gets its way with a proposed spending plan for the next fiscal year.
"The draft budget would allocate up to 25 percent of as much as $80 million in a new fund approved by voters last November to pay those costs — depleting a dwindling pot of money for open-space preservation and other projects.
"For the second time in less than two weeks, that diversion drew scrutiny and criticism from lawmakers, who argued it was not what voters signed up for last fall when they overwhelmingly approved using a portion of corporate business taxes to fund such programs."
