Acting Treasurer Aaron Binder, a longtime state budget official, won unanimous approval from a state Senate panel Monday. (Illustration by Alex Cochran/New Jersey Monitor)
The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced acting State Treasurer Aaron Binder’s nomination after a brief hearing Monday, moving the longtime budget official one step closer to confirmation.
The advancement of Binder’s nomination comes as New Jersey prepares for another year of fraught budget negotiations. Binder told the panel that Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration will seek to fill a budget gap by reducing spending levels and maximizing revenue collections under existing law rather than by enacting new taxes.
“Tax increases are not part of an affordability agenda, so we have to look at other ways to solve this problem,” he said.
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Members from both sides of the aisle praised Binder, who served as deputy treasurer in the four years before Sherrill (D) took office last month and was a longtime aide to the Assembly Budget Committee.
“I would just say this to the members of the committee: I think all of you do know Aaron for his many, many, many years of public service here. There is nobody who knows the state budget better,” said Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), the chamber’s budget chairman.
Though state revenue has performed strongly so far in the current July-to-June fiscal year, the $59 billion budget calls for New Jersey to spend $1.5 billion more than it takes in through taxes, and that gap could expand as a result of mid-year spending approved last month.
Absent changes, that gap, called a structural deficit, is set to expand next year as some one-shot revenue sources expire and new costs — like a roughly $900 million rise in costs for the Stay NJ property tax relief program — come online.
State departments have already been asked to identify potential budget cuts to close the funding gap, Binder said, though they were not given a percentage target.
Absent changes, the gap would number in the billions in the fiscal year that begins July 1, Binder said.
“You’ve always been extremely responsive to any questions that we’ve had, and I greatly appreciate it,” said Sen. Mike Testa (R-Cumberland). “I wish you the best of luck, because as I discussed with you in our telephone conversation, you are inheriting a budget that’s going to be very difficult.”
The committee also advanced another of Sherrill’s nominations Monday, acting Attorney General Jen Davenport.
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