Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli turns up the heat on Gubernatorial hot stove

The New Jersey primaries are just around the corner as the race for governor heats up. 2017 Candidate and Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli has laid out a Five-Point Plan he feels would be appealing to voters come November.

Ciattarelli's Five-Point Plan is something he believes would help lower taxes in the Garden State.

First on the list is school funding and eliminating adjustment aid.

"A school districts state aid should go down as its own ability to pay goes up," said Ciattarelli.

He believes there needs to be more balance across NJ towns from top to bottom in the total amount of state aid each district is receiving including 'abbot districts'.

"What my plan says is this...'Hey, Jersey City that $160,000,000.00 is going to be decreased to zero over a five year period'," said Ciattarelli. "'We're going to take what we're now not sending you because of my reform and send it to towns like Toms River, Egg Harbor Township, Parsippany and Bridgewater."

He says his plan also envisions a New Jersey where employers have to compete for the labor pool, which is in part currently vacating the Garden State.

Ciattarelli add that we need to also raise wages for employees and raise the minimum wage up to $10.00 and then provide the incentive for people to earn more as they develop a skill set in the working field.

Then it's about making living here more affordable.

"People will go where they believe they can achieve their American dream and millennials in particular, we need to come home," said Ciattarelli. "Many (millennials) are going out of state to college and then don't come home because they don't believe they can achieve their American dream here in New Jersey. We've got to change that...as soon as possible."

Meanwhile he explains that his tax plan proposal would include tax breaks and reductions in state spending.

It's point number four in his five-point plan, Ciattarelli says to downsize state government and upgrade its technology to modern systems.

"I will downsize state government and I will not take those savings and give it to people as an income tax cut or a homestead property tax rebate two days before the election, which New Jersey is famous for," said Ciattarelli.

Instead he says it'll be re-invested in state government and be made more effective for residents and businesses to "interface with state government."

Working and living in New Jersey is a seemingly rising expense Ciattarelli seeks to change for the better if elected our next governor.

Among his priorities is making what he feels would be sizable changes to the public workers pension fund and health care reform.

"The tragedy of all tragedies would be on January 1 of 2027 the pension trust is broke and thousands upon thousands upon thousands of pension checks do not get mailed out," said Ciattarelli.

He adds making reforms to the current plan would include that all new hires into the public sector would go into a 401-K plan and also put workers with less than a decade of employment into a cash-balance plan for retirement.