Past Politics

McGreevey, governor from January 2002 through November 2004, relied on borrowing to balance the budget. In his final year in office, the state Supreme Court banned bond sales to fund operating expenses.

In 2004, he signed a bill raising taxes on those earning more than $500,000 a year. The measure, designed to support property-tax relief, was dubbed “the millionaire’s tax.”

“We did the millionaire’s tax, and that mitigated it,” McGreevey said by telephone. The 56-year-old, who counsels prisoners on workforce re-entry and leads a jobs program for Jersey City, declined to comment further on downgrades during his administration. He said he was “no longer in the politics business.”

The first Republican elected New Jersey governor since 1997, Christie staked a potential 2016 presidential run on a reputation for checking spending. He has said his job was to be “the adult in the room” in a state where Democrats borrowed or raised taxes to solve budget deficits.

Accelerated Payments

In his first term, Christie got Democrats who control the legislature to raise the retirement age for public workers as well as those employees’ contributions to pensions and benefits. He vetoed taxes on higher earners, while cutting levies for businesses. Christie lost a battle for a 10 percent income-tax cut as revenue failed to meet his targets.

The governor said April 30 that “nothing is off the table” as his administration closes the latest gap. Most of the shortfall is because of a $700 million drop in income-tax collections. He blamed federal tax increases that led high earners to accelerate payments.

Neighboring Pennsylvania is also seeing revenue trail estimates for this fiscal year. Collections through April were $425 million, or 1.7 percent, below projections.

Getting Late