Murphy DEP Commissioner Dropped A Bombshell Today In Budget Hearing: NJ State Parks Face A $720 Million Maintenance Deficit (almost double prior $400 million)

State Parks Constitutional Dedication of $32 Million/Year Stripped By Open Space Ballot

Over $224 Million In State Parks Capital Funds Diverted Since Then

LaTourette Gaslights And Poses Straw Man Revenue Source Of Park Admission Fees

As the Director of the NJ State Park Service now coping with the reality that our entire Parks capital budget will be completely eliminated beginning July 1, 2015 as a result of the YES vote I can say this is the darkest day I have faced in my professional career. Worse than Superstorm Sandy….This is New Jersey’s Inconvenient Truth hidden from voters throughout this campaign. ~~~ NJ State Parks Director Mark Texel

I’ll write about what went on in today’s budget hearings in a subsequent post, but for now I just want to focus on a bombshell dropped by DEP Commissioner LaTourette.

LaTourette shocked longtime environmental leader Assemblyman McKeon in response to a McKeon question by casually noting that the DEP State Parks capital maintenance deficit was $720 million.

McKeon was forced to admit openly that he was blindsided and disturbed by this estimate, having operated under the assumption of a prior estimate of a $400 million capital deficit.

We have been involved in and worked on the State Park funding issue for over a decade, and also were surprised and shocked by that new estimate, and disturbed by how casually DEP Commissioner LaTourette presented it.

We were also baffled by LaTourette’s repeated insistence that the DEP relied exclusively on the Constitutionally dedicated Corporate Business Tax (CBT) revenues for State Parks capital maintenance funding.

But LaTourette failed to mention that the previously Constitutionally dedicated $32 million of CBT revenues to State Parks maintenance – a constitutional dedication approved by NJ voters specifically to provide funding to resolve the $400 million State Parks capital maintenance backlog – was stolen by the Keep It Green Open Space campaign.

Keep it Green waged a $1 million PR campaign that misled NJ voters to approve a ballot Question that eliminated that prior $32 million dedication to State Parks.

The loss of Constitutionally dedicated $32 million annual funding thereby forced State Parks capital funding to compete with annual Legislative budget appropriations of extremely scarce and sharply reduced total Green Acres, open space, private lands “stewardship”, and historic preservation funds. Obviously, the State Parks suffered.

We exposed that huge mistake several times, most recently in this post:

• No Shame: The Same Conservation Groups Who Stole State Parks Funding Now Demand Restored Funding

As the Director of the NJ State Park Service now coping with the reality that our entire Parks capital budget will be completely eliminated beginning July 1, 2015 as a result of the YES vote I can say this is the darkest day I have faced in my professional career. Worse than Superstorm Sandy. ~~~ NJ State Parks Director Mark Texel

The elimination of the $32 million per year dedication has resulted in at least $224 million in lost State Parks capital funding since 2016 (This is a low estimate. The real amount is far more as a result of increasing the dedication of CBT revenues from 4% to 6%, which significantly increased total CBT revenues). (Murphy “FY24 Budget data):

Here’s (Gov. Murphy’s ‘FY 24 Budget in Brief):

Commissioner LaTourette also failed to note that Governor Murphy’s budget slashed the CBT tax by $400 million, thereby slashing open space and state parks funding by at least $36 million:

Here’s how Gov. Murphy’s ‘FY 24 Budget in Brief hides and spins that cut:

Commissioner LaTourette also failed to discuss specific additional new revenue sources to fund State Parks that we have recommended for many years, including increased Regional Greenhouse Gas (RGGI) carbon emission allowance fees; increased corporate State land lease fees, and Natural Resource Damage enforcement: (see our most recent post):

Legislators also might want to ask why NJ has not demanded, during RGGI update renegotiations, that the paltry RGGI carbon allowance price ($12.50/ton) be increased to reflect the Social Cost of Carbon.  […]

2) DEP Leases of State Land Fail To Reflect Market Based Value

OLS has also conducted at least 3 audits of the DEP’s leases and concessions program and made negative findings. Over a decade ago, the Legislature directed DEP to Report on the fair market value of State land leases and concession, yet DEP has failed to renegotiate leases to reflect current market value. As result, the State is losing millions of dollars, see:

• Christie Parks Funding Policy: Oil & Gas Pipelines and Electric Transmission Lines Get Cheap Leases, While River Tubers, Kayakers, and Boaters Pay New Fees

Instead, LaTourette misled the Committee by asserting a Straw Man argument that the legislature would have to increase Park admission fees.

It was a disgusting and shameful display of gaslighting, diversion and Straw Man tactics.

Exactly what we would expect from a former corporate lawyer.