Clark – In 1984 the Transportation Trust Fund was created to ensure a source of financing for road and bridge repair and replacement,” said Patricia Quattrocchi GOP General Assembly candidate, Dist. 22. The Trust Fund is about transportation issues to include the NY/NJ Port Authority, it should be noted.

“It seems to me” she stated “that we put rules and legislative framework in place so that our representatives handle issues and expenditures as we expect them to do. But judging by the noise from Trenton there are those who just do not get it and are proposing that the Trust Fund pay for the replacement of the Wildwood Boardwalk to the tune of $64.5 Million.”

Motor Fuels Tax, Petroleum Products Gross Receipts Tax and a portion of General Sale, and Use Tax are dedicated to transportation purposes by the New Jersey State Constitution. Some fees are also blended into the fund by legislation, she explained. In 2016 our gas tax was increased by 185% and many believed our roads etc. would see immediate repairs, well that has not happened as we are still driving on washboards. The sales tax was cut by a smidgeon to placate those who were threatening to vote no on the gas tax increase.

Presently “Gov. Murphy is looking for  for some of his programs and is calling for the sales tax to be restored to what it was.  Some of his party members in the assembly are also calling for the trust to foot the bill for the Wildwood boardwalk,” Quattrocchi said.  “Reviewing the voting records of the Dist. 22 incumbents, Carter and Kennedy, who just do not vote no on tax and fee increases, one can only speculate that they would support these measures.”

Quattrocchi does not believe the $65.4 million should be passed on to NJ drivers who believed that they were going to be getting their highways repaired. “The Wildwood governing body would do well to look for the funds needed elsewhere as NJ commuters have been betrayed once already and are riding on wash boards. It is doubtful that they would look kindly on their legislators who would go forward with this plan or any other calling for a raid on the Transportation Trust Fund,” she said.