It took about a minute for Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and his Republican counterpart, Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick, to find something on which to agree: The state needs to find ways to generate revenue - to the tune of hundreds of millions per year - to maintain and improve New Jersey's highways, bridges and mass transportation.

"This is a crisis and it is going to get solved," Prieto said. "I'd like to ramp it up and get it done as soon as we can."

"We'll get it done, end of story," added Bramnick.

Prieto and Bramnick traded their views during a New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Roundtable in East Windsor on Nov. 25.

What the funding plan will look like remains anyone's guess, but Prieto indicated he does not want the plan to rely on additional borrowing. "That would be akin to "a tax on the future generations," Prieto said. "We are not going to do that."

The clock is ticking for solutions. The state's Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) is set to run out of money next summer when the cost of debt service is projected to exceed the fund's revenue.

Among ideas proposed are a per-gallon gas tax increase, a 7 percent sales tax on motor fuel sales, raising car rental fees, the dedication of online gaming revenue, or a combination of these ideas.
Good transpiration is crucial to the state's economy, Bramnick said, and so is creating a more hospitable business atmosphere in New Jersey.

"Business people want to invest where the regulatory environment is not as difficult (as it is here)," Bramnick said. "We need to streamline and fast track business incentives. We need to be competitive nationally because we are competing with 49 other states.

"If we don't have a good economy and we don't have jobs, we don't have anything," Bramnick added. "If we have no revenue, we have no social programs."

A special thank you to Archer & Greiner, Maser Consulting and United Airlines for sponsoring the event.