New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) can keep private a report studying how the state can increase tolls on some of the nation’s busiest highways, a state judge ruled, the Associated Press reported.
Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg had said Nov. 16 that she was inclined to let Corzine’s administration keep the $800,000 report private because it’s incomplete, and made that official in a ruling released Monday, AP said.
State Assembly Republicans had filed a lawsuit seeking to force Corzine to release the report, arguing that it was public information that would shed light on Corzine’s plans to hike highway tolls to cut state debt, AP reported.
Corzine has refused to say how much he may seek to increase tolls, AP said.
The New Jersey Treasury Department said the report was incomplete, and Feinberg, in her ruling, agreed. She deemed the report “pre-decisional and deliberative” and wrote that releasing it before it was complete “could lead to confusion of the public,” AP reported.
Corzine plans to create a nonprofit agency to manage toll roads and issue bonds to bring the state a cash infusion to pay at least half of $32 billion in state debt, AP said. The bond would be paid back by higher tolls.
