In response to the governor's budget proposal Tuesday, Democrats, who control the Senate and Assembly, say the governor should forgo the income-tax cut and redirect that revenue to offset New Jerseyans' property taxes, a plan they say is fairer.

Read more: Christie not doing enough to ease property tax burden on N.J. residents

High property taxes consistently rank as one of NJ voters' biggest concerns. A color coded, interactive map shows property tax changes from 2009-2011 during the first two years of Gov. Chris Christie’s tenure. Data includes the total tax levy, total tax rate, average home value, property tax bill on that average residence, average property tax rebate and the net average property tax bill when adjusted for that rebate. The two-year change is calculated for each from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ property tax spreadsheets. Despite the economic times, large reductions in state aid and sharp reductions in direct property tax relief Merchantville responded to and met those municipal challenges during the past two years. Cuts in rebates have left the mean average household paying $1,275 more than when Gov. Corzine left office. "http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0216/2014/

Primus Green Energy hopes to break ground next year on commercial plant. It may only amount to a drop in the bucket for a nation as thirsty for oil as the United States, but a Hillsborough company is betting it can convert wood pellets and other biomass into a renewable gasoline. Primus Green Energy, an 11-year-old company, already has produced fuel samples from a pilot plant located in a three-building complex off of Route 206, just north of Princeton. It now is building a demonstration plant at the facility and hopes to break ground next year on a commercial plant. http://bit.ly/xliEJs

New Jersey announced a milestone Thursday in the long journey to convert the state’s hospitals and physicians to electronic medical records: Nearly $40 million in federal incentive funds is flowing this week from Medicaid to the first 70 healthcare providers in New Jersey to go digital. Over the next decade, state officials estimated that 3,000 providers would receive up to $500 million in Medicaid incentive payments to help defray the cost of installing the computers and software that will maintain patient records - prescription medications, lab tests, exams, surgery - in digital files that ultimately will be accessible via the Internet, anywhere in the world. http://bit.ly/zcUb0W

More than half of New Jersey’s registered voters disapprove of a proposed merger of Rutgers-Camden with Rowan University, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released Tuesday. According to the poll, 57 percent of 914 adults interviewed by phone between Feb. 9 and 11 oppose the plan. Twenty-two percent support a merger and 21 percent are unsure. “Gov. Christie’s plan may be the most unpopular idea he has put forward to date,” said Rutgers-Eagleton Poll Director David Redlawsk, a professor of political science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Calling the numbers “stunning” in their “deep dislike” of the proposal, Redlawsk added that even Republicans did not line up behind the governor. The university’s Board of Governors will meet on the Camden campus today to hear comments on the merger plan. A student/faculty rally is also planned before the 1:30 p.m. session.

Legislation that would let gay couples marry in New Jersey was passed Monday by the state Senate but would need to add three supporters to overcome Gov. Chris Christie’s promised veto. The Senate passed the bill, 24-16, adding 10 supporters since the bill failed 14-20 in January 2010. If the Assembly passes the bill, Thursday, it would head to Christie, who has said he will veto it. Such a veto could be overridden by a two-thirds vote in each house of the Legislature, meaning 27 votes in the Senate, any time through January 2014. http://on.cpsj.com/xLImA0

Rep. Rob Andrews used political contributions to make multiple trips to Los Angeles that coincided with recording sessions there for his teenaged daughter, campaign records show. A Washington-based watchdog group on Wednesday renewed its call for an independent audit of Andrews’ campaign spending. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) said an FEC review was needed to determine whether Andrews’ trips were personal in nature.Andrews’s spokesman Fran Tagmire on Wednesday said the campaign’s spending practices “are fully legal and proper.” http://on.cpsj.com/x3o486

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