Parks, agriculture dept. may survive
Above: High Point State Park. Image via minervaphotographic.com.
Gov. Corzine today met with the editorial board of the Courier-Post (Cherry Hill) and said it’s likely the Department of Agriculture and imperiled state parks will be saved. From the Courier-Post:
“No one’s going to go on the cross on that one,” the governor said of his proposal to save $500,000 by closing the Agriculture Department.
“It’s pretty obvious,” the governor said, when asked if cuts to municipal aid and the Agriculture Department, and the closing of nine state parks, were likely to be reversed in the horse trading over the budget with the Legislature between now and July 1.
“We will have to figure out where we have financing to substitute for things people feel, maybe properly so, are priorities they would rather sustain,” he told reporters after a public appearance in Paramus this afternoon. “I may not be in total agreement, but I’m open to it.”
The department of agriculture works to preserve farms, help farmers, promote locally grown foods, protect livestock, oversee federally-funded food programs, and the list goes on. The 12 state parks would have been closed or partially closed to satisfy an $8.8 million cut to the parks’ $34 million operating budget.
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