New GSI Report: New Jersey Budget Growth Outpaces Inflation and Revenues as Billions in Legislative Add-Ons Lack Public Oversight
Report finds state spending grew 64% from FY2018 to FY2026 and identifies $5.7 billion in legislative add-ons since FY2024
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — October 21, 2026 — New Jersey’s state budget has grown nearly twice as fast as inflation over the past eight years, while billions of dollars in legislative add-ons and post-enactment appropriations have made it increasingly difficult for taxpayers to determine the true size and priorities of state spending, according to a new report released today by the Garden State Initiative (GSI).
The report finds that from FY2018 through FY2026, state spending grew approximately 64 percent, compared with cumulative inflation of approximately 33 percent. Over the same period, budgeted revenues grew about 61 percent.
While the FY2027 budget represents a significant moderation in spending growth, the report finds that New Jersey continues to face a structural imbalance. The $60.7 billion enacted budget anticipates less than $59.4 billion in recurring revenues, leaving a roughly $1.35 billion gap supported by accumulated cash reserves.
“The more restrained growth in this year’s budget is an important step, but New Jersey still has a fundamental mismatch between recurring spending and recurring revenues,” said Audrey Lane, president of the Garden State Initiative. “Just as importantly, taxpayers deserve to know not only how much Trenton is spending, but where that money is going, why particular projects are being funded, and how those decisions were made.”
The report examines a less visible source of state spending: legislative add-ons inserted late in the annual budget process.
GSI identified approximately $574 million in legislative add-ons in FY2024, $741 million in FY2025, $3.9 billion in FY2026 and $481 million thus far in FY2027. In total, approximately $5.7 billion in legislative add-ons have been identified over the four-year period.
In FY2027 alone, GSI identified 355 projects benefiting 316 entities. Nearly half of those appropriations are for $250,000 or less. In coordination with the release of this report, GSI recently updated its budget transparency website, NJBUDGET.COM, to include FY2027 discretionary spending, allowing taxpayers to search individual line items and see where state dollars are being directed. State discretionary spending is searchable by recipient, county, legislative district and municipality on the website.
The cost of the state’s discretionary spending is significant for New Jersey taxpayers. The FY2027 legislative add-ons identified to date amount to approximately $51 per resident, or $134 per household. In FY2026, when legislative add-ons reached $3.9 billion, that amounted to approximately $411 per resident, or $1,084 per household. These figures do not represent a separate tax imposed on residents; rather, they illustrate the scale and opportunity cost of this discretionary spending and the resources that could otherwise be used for broad-based tax relief, debt reduction, or other statewide priorities.
The report finds that legislative add-ons frequently direct state funds to individual municipalities, nonprofit organizations and specific projects without the competitive process or public scrutiny associated with other state spending. Examples include:
- $600,000 for MetLife Stadium sidewalk improvements
- $550,000 for lighting upgrades at Bruno Mellini Park
- $400,000 for a Willingboro fire truck, and
- $500,000 for the Barrymore Film Center, among others.
“These projects all likely have merit,” Lane said. “The question is whether statewide taxpayers should be financing locally concentrated projects, and whether those decisions should be made through late additions to the state budget without meaningful public debate, transparent criteria or project oversight.”
The report also finds that the budget enacted each June has consistently understated the state’s eventual spending authorization. In every fiscal year examined from FY2018 through FY2026, subsequent adjusted appropriations exceeded the amount originally enacted.
For FY2026, the Legislature approved nearly $359 million in supplemental appropriations just before the close of the fiscal year. Because certain appropriated funds can remain available for expenditure in the following year, the report finds that year-end supplemental appropriations can further complicate comparisons of spending growth from one fiscal year to the next.
GSI’s analysis also puts the legislative additions in the context of New Jersey’s broader fiscal obligations. The approximately $5.7 billion in legislative add-ons identified from FY2024 through FY2027 is equivalent to nearly 15 percent of the state’s $38.6 billion in outstanding long-term bonded debt.
The report offers following recommendations:
• Eliminate or sharply limit noncompetitive, project-specific legislative add-ons;
• Direct discretionary spending toward broad-based tax relief, statewide priorities or debt reduction; and
• Require advance public disclosure, written justification and a transparent competitive process when state funds are directed to third-party organizations.
“New Jersey has made progress in recent years by making its required pension payments and reducing bonded debt,” Lane said. “Greater discipline and transparency around discretionary spending would build on that progress and give taxpayers a clearer picture of how their money is being used.”
New Jersey’s Spending Problem, How New Jersey’s Budget Process Undermines Fiscal Accountability and Sustainability is available at www.gardenstateinitiative.org.
About the Garden State Initiative
The Garden State Initiative is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to strengthening New Jersey by providing an alternative voice and common-sense policy solutions that promote investment, job growth, economic opportunity and innovation for all New Jerseyans.
