Well, in typical Trenton fashion, lawmakers came down to the wire and finalizing a budget for fiscal year 2025 that the full legislature voted on the budget bill today.

For the governor to sign the bill package includes record level spending and new taxes, like Governor Murphy's corporate transit fee.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz caught up with Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin today ahead of the voting session.

Here's that conversation.

I thought that this was going to be the year when there wouldn't be late night Budget Committee hearings.

But I was wrong at the last hour.

What was the delay this time?

Well, look, it's an enormous undertaking and a great deal of energy, effort and commitment go into getting the budget process done.

It is also the year we have to make sure that everything is right and so has to be checked.

The double check and agreements take as long as agreements take.

And so when once we got it worked out, all else did a phenomenal job.

And that's what I was trying to get to the agreements that you said that have to be made.

Was there one thing that was a sticking point?

Well, no.

I think, look, it.

Was just all of it.

No, no.

Well, look, agreements come together in total.

And so there were issues come up as you go through the process with things get pointed out as you go through the process.

And so there's an overall agreement.

And then, of course, the devil is always in the details.

And putting those together raises other issues.

And it's just just a matter of working through them.

Having to dip into the surplus this time around is never a good thing.

But in order to keep a $56.6 billion budget funded, you have to do that.

Are you going to do it again next budget season?

And the one after that $6 billion that you have left goes pretty fast?

Well, it's a little over six is a 6.2.

And the truth of the matter is a few things.

Number one, what this what this budget does is do the things that we have committed to the people of New Jersey that were for the fourth time in a row full pension payment for the first time ever, full funding of the school funding formula, commitments to over, you know, 40 odd percent of the budget goes to property tax relief in one form or another, billions of dollars for property tax relief funding, all of those things that are important to the people of New Jersey working to solve the transit challenges.

We're going to have an eclipse that'll occur next year.

So all of those things will go into.

The good news is never, of course, that you want to be able to have this or never want to have to spend money from surpluses.

But the good news is the good fiscal management over the past years put us in a place that we can do all of the things that are important to the people of New Jersey and had the surplus to make sure it gets there.

You talked about transit, and we've got this corporate transit fee, which we won't see this first year.

But if if NJ Transit ever looked like it needed it, the last few months are evidence that it really needs it.

How concerned are you about our ability as a state to provide people transit from point A to point B by train and bus?

Well, I think we're all concerned about that.

Right.

And I think that's where you're going to see the the bill passed today with with great support, because we want to make sure that we get transit right.

It's critically important to the success of the state.

There are things that we need to do both up and down the state to make sure that the people are moving around.

Also, as of course, has the advantage of being positive for climate, you know, has a positive effect on climate change.

So investing in transit is something that is is wise and right and I'm confident that we're going to put those dollars to good use.

And right about the time, as is right about the time as this budget gets passed.

Commuters are going to see an increase in their transit costs.

Should the state maybe put a pause on that, as some have suggested?

No, I either I respect the the transit folks decision to to increase those fares.

But I think the other things that we're doing right now are going to have longer term benefits.

Then it's probably accommodation, too.

Yeah.

All right, Mr. Speaker, thanks for taking a few minutes.

Thanks for having me, David.

Good to be with you.