N.J. Assembly OKs Governor's Transportation Plan

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

he New Jersey Assembly has approved Gov. Jon Corzine's proposal to prevent the state’s Transportation Trust Fund for going bankrupt later this year, news services reported.

The plan, which still must be approved by the state Senate, would stop diverting a portion of the gasoline tax to the general fund.

It would raise $1.6 billion annually for the next five years to pay for road and mass-transit projects by issuing more than $6 billion in bonds, while avoiding increasing the state’s gasoline tax, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The fund was envisioned as a "pay-as-you-go" account,” but due to increased borrowing against the fund, debt payments are expected to cancel out revenue by the start of the new budget year July 1, the paper reported.