It's not just Congress on the ballot. Voters across New Jersey will decide whether the state should borrow $500 million for school construction projects.
More than $99 of every $100 spent on transportation projects by the state for the last seven years was borrowed. The gas tax hike seeks to curb that trend.
A key portion of the Transportation Trust Fund plan can’t take effect without one final approval – from voters. Its rejection wouldn't nullify the gas-tax hike, though.
New Jersey is getting better about divulging its tops-in-the-nation debt burden but still isn’t entirely up front about the depth of that hole, says a think tank report.
New Jersey owed nearly $34 billion at the end of the 2011 fiscal year, more than the $32 billion in anticipated state revenues in the coming fiscal year.