Garden State Initiative (GSI) has launched a new website, njbudget.com, aimed at providing transparency regarding the state budget. The website offers tools for citizens and journalists to understand how taxpayer dollars are allocated.
The initiative was funded by a grant from the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium (NJ CIC), an independent nonprofit organization supported by the legislature to address the information needs of New Jersey communities.
Regina Egea, GSI Chair of the Board, commented on the complexity of last year's budget: “Each year special line-items are embedded within the Governor’s Budget proposal and then, near the end of the budget negotiations, the Legislature unveils their own special funding for specific non-profits and local government projects. Last year’s state budget was 583 pages long and included nearly five-hundred specific line items representing almost $800 million in funding for local governments and nonprofit organizations without any public process or merit-based criteria.”
Egea further explained that resolutions explaining these allocations were delayed and lacked justification: “Resolutions, which are required in order to explain and justify this special treatment, were not made available last year until well after the budget was adopted. Even more frustrating, these bare-bones resolutions never explain why it is necessary to direct funds to these special organizations circumventing their own government department’s review process.”
The website allows users to explore funding allocations for counties, legislative districts, municipalities, or individual organizations in New Jersey's 2024 and 2025 budgets as well as Governor Phil Murphy’s proposed 2026 budget. This tool aims to increase scrutiny on these allocations and enable citizens to provide feedback before final adoption in June.
GSI President Audrey Lane noted concerns about transparency: “Last year there was much consternation about hundreds of earmarks in Trenton - that were added by individual legislators but lacked any standard applications or criteria.” She emphasized that this project stemmed from discussions with journalists and advocates about limited transparency following revisions to New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA).
Lane views this launch as a step toward greater transparency: “New Jerseyans deserve to understand how their tax dollars are being directed and we believe that this website will play a key role in providing that transparency and accountability to our citizens.” Plans include expanding the site with more budget analysis.
