May 8 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey’s revenue may be as much as $1.1 billion below Governor Chris Christie’s targets in his $34.4 billion budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts July 1, Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff told lawmakers today.
The treasurer said he’ll present adjustments to current state spending and next year’s plan in a revenue update on May 21. The fixes may include both cuts and new revenue, he said, without providing details.
Christie, a second-term Republican, proposed the largest budget in state history in February to pay for rising costs of health benefits, pensions and debt. At the time, he forecast fiscal 2015 revenue would rise 5.8 percent from a revised $32.6 billion for 2014, a projection more optimistic than those of all but eight U.S. states.
Last month, his administration said revenue for this year would be $807 million below the lower projections, after April income-tax collections fell short. Fitch Ratings lowered New Jersey’s credit grade on May 1, citing “both the scale and belatedness” of the shortfall. Fitch maintained a negative outlook on the state’s credit, meaning it may face a further downgrade.
“Based on mutual experience to date, I am on the more cautious side of things,” Sidamon-Eristoff said in Trenton. “We don’t have a lot of options -- there are no large, easy sums of money that aren’t important.”
--With assistance from William Selway in Washington.
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