ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION

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Reaction to death of basketball coaching legend. Sports, 1C

WEDNESDAY 06.29.16

Bombs in Turkey
kill dozens. 1B
TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND

GAS TAX PLAN

FACES ITS FOES
Balancing it with sales tax cut is too expensive,
some lawmakers say; bills fate lies with Senate

Make-or-break
Lakewood
busing vote
due Thursday
SHANNON MULLEN @MULLENAPP

LAKEWOOD - Time is running out on a controversial fix for the townships looming busing crisis amid
disputes over the plans added costs.
A last-ditch vote on a bill that would change how
transportation is funded for thousands of private
school students attending the townships Orthodox
Jewish yeshivas is expected in the New Jersey Assembly on Thursday, the final day of the legislative session
for this fiscal year.
The legislation, creating a three-year pilot program
exclusively for Lakewood, was prompted by the school
districts cancellation of courtesy or nonmandated
bus service for the 2016-17 school year.
Imposed over the objections of the Board of Education by the districts state-appointed monitoring team,
the cost-saving move that would leave some 7,000 private school children and 3,000 public school students in
kindergarten through 12th grade without busing come
September. The district is mired in a $12 million budget
deficit, largely due to sharp increases in transportation
and special-education costs tied to the explosive
growth of the Orthodox community.
Here are four late-breaking developments that are
coming into play:
1. Not enough votes. After the measure sailed
See BUSING, Page 4A
THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Rev. Glenn Wilson (left)

of Lakewood UNITE opposes
the plan; Avi Schnall of
Agudath Israel of
America-New Jersey backs it.

Gov. Chris Christie returns to his town-hall format as he hosts a Fairness Formula forum in Wall on Tuesday.

MIKE DAVIS @BYMIKEDAVIS

$2.30 $2.50 $2.80

What this means to you
The Assemblys bill calls for a gas tax increase to take effect
Friday, the first day of the states new fiscal year. The sales
tax cut to 6 percent from 7 percent would be phased in over
three years, with full implementation in January 2018.

TRENTON - Gas prices are poised to skyrocket

early Friday just after midnight, an overnight sticker
shock at the pumps that could hit thousands of drivers ready to fill up their cars and flock to the beaches
for the Fourth of July weekend.
New legislation approved by the state Assembly
Tuesday morning would raise the states gasoline tax
by 23 cents per gallon, the linchpin of a hotly contested proposal to renew a $2 billion Transportation Trust
Fund, which pays for road repairs, mass transit and
bridge construction. Without a funding solution, the
transportation fund will only have enough revenue to
pay for debt service as of Friday.
In exchange for the gas tax hike comes an unprecedented move: At the request of Gov. Chris Christie,
the bill sponsored by Assembly Speaker Vincent
Prieto, D-Hudson, would cut the states sales tax from
7 percent to 6 percent. But thats contingent on the
state Senate passing the bill on Thursday an outcome that appears murky at best.
Christie was unapologetic about the bill on Tuesday, speaking about his own controversial Fairness
Formula school funding plan in Wall. Christie said
the gas tax/sales tax trade is the definition of tax
See BILL, Page 9A

You all deserve to have your expenses lowered a little bit. And heres the last piece of
the gas tax. Its constitutionally dedicated to only transportation. GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE

PROPERTY TAX REDUCTION

Christie: Cut failed schools funds

AMANDA OGLESBY @OGLESBYAPP
ANDREW J. GOUDSWARD @AGOUDSWARD

WALL - Kicking off what he said was an uncomfortable conversation the state needed to have, Gov.
Chris Christie held his first town hall of the year in
Wall to drum up support for a plan that would lower
property taxes across most of New Jersey by redistributing aid from low-income, mostly urban school
districts to wealthier communities.
We need to stop this idea that spending more money is going to get better results, Christie said. Were
going to have this conversation; its uncomfortable,
but were going to talk about this.
Christie, speaking to hundreds inside the Wall
branch of the Monmouth County Library, said his

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Online

Asbury Park cop,

sister named in
fraud indictment
Officials: The pair ran an insurance
scam to get her medical benefits
ANDREW FORD @ANDREWFORDNEWS

ASBURY PARK - A veteran city police officer has

been indicted on charges of running an insurance fraud
scheme with his sister.
Alix Antoine, 37, is accused of filing documents in
connection with his employment that enabled his sister,
Patricia Louis, 44, of Clifton, to get medical benefits she
wasnt entitled to receive, according to the Monmouth
County Prosecutors Office. Antoine was suspended
without pay about a year ago.
He was indicted Monday by a Monmouth County
grand jury on charges of second-degree official misconduct, conspiracy to commit official misconduct, insurance fraud and third-degree tampering with public
records, according to a statement from the Prosecutors Office.
His sister Patricia Louis, who also goes by Patricia
Antoine, is charged with second-degree conspiracy to
commit official misconduct and insurance fraud, acSee FRAUD, Page 4A

Visit us at APP.com for more on Gov. Chris Christies speech

at the Wall branch of the Monmouth County Library.

Fairness Formula would give every district the

same amount of state aid for each public school student, regardless of where they live or the financial
need of the district.
What are the two biggest problems in the state?
the governor asked the audience. The amount we
pay in property taxes and the failure of urban educaSee TAXES, Page 8A

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VOLUME 137
NUMBER 155
SINCE 1879