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September 24, 2014

RE: Local Leaders Urge Transportation Trust Fund Action

Dear Mayor:

Today in Montclair, Mayors Robert Jackson of Montclair and Timothy McDonough of Hope urged the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee to prioritize New Jersey’s transportation funding, and to put our State’s economic future on solid footing. With the Transportation Trust Fund facing insolvency early next year, the Mayors, representing the New Jersey League of Municipalities, called for bold, bipartisan action.

Mayor Jackson welcomed the Committee to Montclair and thanked them for their efforts. The Local Aid component of the Trust Fund, he noted “… provides state and federal funds for special local projects to improve safety, for safe pedestrian and bike routes, for town centers, transit villages and other non-traditional transportation enhancements.”

Noting the need for investments in local roads and bridges as well as the need for strong and steady investment in that infrastructure, Mayor McDonough, who Chairs our Transportation Trust Fund Review Committee, stated that the League of Municipalities would press for assurances that Local Aid will represent, at a minimum, 25% of annual Transportation Capital spending. “And we will call for adjustments in funding, to account for the effects of inflation,” stated the Mayor of Hope, who was the League’s President in 2009. “But first, we need to focus on the initial challenge. The Transportation Trust Fund needs to be replenished, so that it can provide adequate and reliable capital to meet State and local needs, now and in the future.”

(l to R Mayor Tim Mc Donough of Hope and Chairman of League Transportation Trust Fund Review Committee, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, Chairman Assembly Transportation Committee and Montclair Mayor Robert Jackson pose before September 24 Hearing
on renewal of the TTF)

We thank the Chairman of the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, for allowing Mayors Jackson and McDonough to present testimony from the municipal perspective. We look forward to welcoming the Committee to our Annual Conference in Atlantic City on November 20. And we want to thank Chairman Wisniewski and Speaker Prieto for giving New Jersey Mayors that opportunity to participate in these crucial discussions.

The Committee’s special hearing on the Transportation Funding crisis will be held:
Thursday, November 20, 2014
10:45 A.M.
Hall A
Atlantic City Convention Center
Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Contact: Jon Moran by email or 609-695-3481, ext. 121

Very truly yours,

Hon. Suzanne M. Walters,
President, NJLM and
Mayor, Stone Harbor Borough

William G. Dressel, Jr.
Executive Director, NJLM