Fate of NJDA appears brighter
Fate of NJDA appears brighter
Nearly two months after New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine proposed eliminating the state department of agriculture to help reduce the state's huge budget deficit, the fate of the department now appears a bit brighter.
While nothing is official until the state budget is completed by July 1, the Assembly speaker, Joseph J. Roberts Jr., said that legislative leaders and Mr. Corzine had reached a general consensus to ease some of the proposed cuts in the $33 billion budget, The New York Times reported April 17.
Mr. Roberts was quoted as saying in that article that the governor was "now open to saving" the department "and recognizes the symbolic importance that it has to a state like New Jersey with the identity as the Garden State."
Lawmakers from both parties told state Treasurer David Rousseau around the same time that the $500,000 in expected savings from eliminating the department and consolidating some functions into other departments would be detrimental to the state and the savings minimal, according to the on-line version of The Hammonton News.
About 1,000 people rallied April 1 in front of the state capitol in Trenton, NJ, to show their support of the well-regarded New Jersey Department of Agriculture, and more than 100 farmers and local dignitaries rallied April 21 in Vineland -- the heart of the state's agricultural community -- for the same purpose.
While nothing is official until the state budget is completed by July 1, the Assembly speaker, Joseph J. Roberts Jr., said that legislative leaders and Mr. Corzine had reached a general consensus to ease some of the proposed cuts in the $33 billion budget, The New York Times reported April 17.
Mr. Roberts was quoted as saying in that article that the governor was "now open to saving" the department "and recognizes the symbolic importance that it has to a state like New Jersey with the identity as the Garden State."
Lawmakers from both parties told state Treasurer David Rousseau around the same time that the $500,000 in expected savings from eliminating the department and consolidating some functions into other departments would be detrimental to the state and the savings minimal, according to the on-line version of The Hammonton News.
About 1,000 people rallied April 1 in front of the state capitol in Trenton, NJ, to show their support of the well-regarded New Jersey Department of Agriculture, and more than 100 farmers and local dignitaries rallied April 21 in Vineland -- the heart of the state's agricultural community -- for the same purpose.
