Proposed Budget - Fiscal Year 2025
On February 27, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy presented his fiscal 2025 budget. The proposal calls for total budgeted expenditures in fiscal 2025 of $55.9 billion, a 0.9 percent increase compared to adjusted appropriations for fiscal 2024. Of the total, 42.2 percent will be distributed as State Aid to school districts, community colleges, municipalities and cities and 31.8 percent will be used for direct services (known as “Grants-In-Aid”) for property tax relief, social services, and higher education. General Fund and Property Tax Relief Fund appropriations make up most of the budget, at a combined $55.2 billion (a 0.7 percent increase over fiscal 2024 adjusted appropriations), with General Fund spending of $34.7 billion and Property Tax Relief Fund spending of $20.5 billion. Additional appropriations come out of casino-related funds totaling roughly $674 million and the Gubernatorial Elections Fund at $30 million. The budget is based on estimated total state revenues of $54.1 billion, a 3.6 percent increase compared to fiscal 2024 revised estimates. The fiscal 2025 budget projects a surplus or ending balance (undesignated) of $6.1 billion. In addition to the spending proposed in the governor’s budget, the state estimates it will spend $33.3 billion from funds not budgeted, including $22.4 billion in federal revenues, $3.9 billion in transportation funds, and the remaining from dedicated and revolving funds. Total state spending including budgeted and non-budgeted expenditures in fiscal 2025 is estimated at $89.3 billion, a 0.4 percent decrease from estimated fiscal 2024 expenditures.