Other state, Texas, finds a way to reduce budget waste

LETTER Printed in Asbury Park Press on Sunday July , 5^th.

N.J. budget could take a lesson from Texas
The New Jersey State Budget was signed June 26 in Trenton. Once again, it is evident that the state of New Jersey spends too much, taxes too much, and regulates too much. More and more spending ultimately leads to more and more borrowing and no indebted state is in true control of its own destiny. Across-the-board spending cuts is a fair and equitable way to begin to reduce spending.

When Texas was facing a massive state budget deficit in the early 1990s, then-Gov. Ann Richards, Comptroller John Sharp and the state legislature assembled over 100 of the best budget analysts, auditors and number crunchers in Texas government and gave them a single mission: get us out of this budget crunch. In five months, the team came up with over 1,000 recommendations and identified over $2.4 billion in budget savings, ending the budget crisis and averting the need to impose a state income tax. The success of the review gave rise to the Texas Performance Review, a biennial review of Texas government that has resulted in $13.1 billion in savings and gains to state funds since it was launched in 1991.
If our state senators and assemblymen are serious about improving the quality of life in New Jersey, drastic measures must be taken to reduce debt and make New Jersey the prosperous state it once was. Let’s take our motto seriously – Liberty and Prosperity!
Dorothy O’Reilly - Point Pleasant, NJ