Posted: Monday, 22 March 2010 5:14AM

What Do You Think Of The Governor's Proposed Budget?

Residents of the Garden State get their first chance this week to share their opinion on Governor Christie's proposed budget - which closes an 11 billion dollar shortfall with massive, across-the-board spending cuts.

The Assembly Budget Committee will hold the first of 3 scheduled public hearings in Collingswood, at the Scottish Rite Auditorium, starting at 9:30 in the morning.

Committee Chair Lou Greenwald says nothing is set in stone with this budget, and "advocates, real people coming in , talking about the impacts on their day to day lives does matter…I want to hear from school districts and superintendents…and have them share with us how they will deal with the impact of a billion dollar cut in school funding, without passing it on to the property taxpayer."

He says he's hoping working people will also stand up and speak out, "and lok, if we hear from families and individuals that want to come in and testify - we stay until the last person leaves, so if they want to sign up for an afternoon session, and they're going to come in after work, and we have a list of people, we're going to be here - because these hearings tend to go on for 9, 10, 11, 12 hours."

Greenwald adds "we've already been flooding with calls by people who are nervous and scared and worried about what this is going to mean to them…if they can't make it to a hearing, we welcome them to contact us by phone at our offices, and they can e-mail us - my number is in the book - people call me at home."

Besides the Wednesday hearing in Collingswood, there are also hearing scheduled for Monday, April 19 at 1:30 p.m. at the State House Annex, Fourth Floor, Committee Room 11, in Trenton, and Monday, May 10 at 9:30 a.m. at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.

Anyone wishing to testify should contact the Office of Legislative Services' Budget and Fiscal Office, at 609-292-8030 to register to address the Committee.

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