The 2025 election for governor involves issues that range from abortion to utilities, all of which have importance to some members of the Cape May County community.
Three of those issues driving the campaign for the governor’s chair are affordability, education and energy.
Affordability
The one, and perhaps the only, issue on which Jack Ciattarelli and Mikie Sherrill agree is that New Jersey is too expensive, and getting a handle on affordability is important. How to do that is something about which there is no agreement.
Information on Ciattarelli’s positions comes in part from campaign statements and his website “Jack on the Issues.”
For Giacchino Michael “Jack” Ciattarelli getting a handle on affordability starts with tackling property taxes, which are among the highest in the nation. Ciattarelli says he will cap property taxes by linking them to a percentage of the assessed value of homes.
Doing so, he asserts, will lower the cost of home ownership “so that working families and young people can afford to buy a home.” He also says he will expand the senior property freeze.
There is no analysis presented that would show what the impact on property tax revenue would be under this cap, how it would relate to the two budget appropriation and property tax caps already on the books, or what the cap would mean, in revenue terms, to municipal budgets.
Affordability goes beyond property taxes. Ciattarelli promises that he will as governor veto “pet projects” in the state budget. This year the Legislature added $728 million in what are euphemistically called “Christmas Tree Items” to the budget in the closing hours.
Ciattarelli says he will condense the income tax brackets down to three and reduce the top bracket to 5% from its current 10.75%. He adds that he will slash corporate business taxes by reducing the rate by 1% per year.
Utility expenses will be lowered by diversifying energy sources to what he calls an “all-of-the-above” energy plan, meaning a larger reliance on natural gas and nuclear, both of which already supply 90% of the energy generated in the state today.
Among his issues statements and prominently displayed on his issues page is a promise to reduce state spending by 30%. Given the spending budget the state is currently operating under, a 30% reduction would be a decrease in spending of $17.5 billion. There is nothing in the issue statement that clarifies what large areas of spending would be eliminated to hit a reduction target that big.
Rebecca Michelle “Mikie” Sherrill posts many of her stands on issues at her website, Mikie Sherrill for Governor. For her affordability issues also begin with property taxes, which she feels can be lowered by better attention to the cost of school districts.
Sherrill breaks her “affordability agenda” into six categories.
She says she sees housing as central to affordability and will address this issue through “innovative zoning and redevelopment strategies,” streamlined permitting and strengthening access to first-time buyer assistance programs. She adds that she will oppose budget diversions from the New Jersey Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Sherrill also places a focus on food costs, with a promise to create a welcoming business environment for food retailers, increasing competition throughout the state, which will “directly reduce grocery bills for families.”
A more controversial aspect of her plan to lower costs facing New Jerseyans is an intent to lower property taxes by consolidation, at times mandatory consolidation, of certain school districts. Sherrill speaks of districts that do not offer K-12 instruction, a situation common in Cape May County.
Not counting the two county districts that each have unique purpose programs for special services or vocational education, the 14 other county school districts contain only three with full K-12 offerings, those being Middle Township, Wildwood and Ocean City. There is one regional district offering middle school and high school programs, but it is fed by local municipal elementary schools. Sherrill says she would try to incentivize consolidation first, but “some mandatory mergers may have to follow.”
Her plan for improving affordability also includes a one-year emergency freeze on utility rates and an effort to improve the work of pharmacy benefits managers, who she says “line their own pockets” rather than hold the line on prescription drug costs.
Energy
Sherrill says she will “hit the ground running” with solar and battery storage projects that have the shortest time lag between concept and delivery of additional electrical supply. In addition to her proposed one-year freeze on electricity rates, she wants greater oversight of the state’s utility companies. Whether that would come in the form of an expanded role for the BPU or through some other means is not clear.
Sherrill also wants to upgrade the state’s nuclear plants and modernize gas facilities. However, she hardly ever discusses energy policy without using phrases that reference the need for “clean energy.” She has not specifically said if she would change the mandated goals established by the Murphy administration. In February she endorsed Murphy’s 100% clean energy goal by 2035 and then hedged her statement by saying that she is still working out the “road map.”
She has joined Murphy in his criticism of grid and regional transmission operator PJM Interconnection for being too slow to bring renewable energy sources onto the regional power grid.
Sherrill has gained the support of a number of the state’s environmental organizations, who praise her support for planned land use regulation changes awaiting formal adoption by the state. These include the Resilient Environments and Landscapes regulations known as REAL. Ciattarelli sees the REAL rules as poorly conceived and calls the revised rules currently under consideration “not much better.”
On energy policy in general, Ciattarelli speaks of an “all-of-the-above” program, by which he means a program that continues to make use of traditional fossil fuels and nuclear capabilities as energy generation sources. He argues that he will repeal or cancel many of the Murphy mandates regarding the state’s electrification initiative, including the mandate for 100% clean energy by 2035.
He says he wants to boost nuclear and natural gas generation, the two current sources of 90% of the in-state generation capacity. New Jersey at present does not generate enough electricity in state to cover its consumption needs. Roughly 25%, and possibly more, of the state’s consumption is met with energy purchases from out-of-state sources. He says he wants to start day one with “a shovel in the ground” for a fourth nuclear reactor in New Jersey. Most likely that new reactor would be located in South Jersey, which is home to the current three reactors.
Ciattarelli is opposed to offshore wind projects, although his nod to renewables is in the form of a desire to increase solar generation.
He says he will withdraw New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which he blames for driving up consumer prices. The RGGI is a multistate coalition that focuses on reducing carbon emissions from electricity generation utilities through a cap-and-allowance program that sets annual emissions goals and generates funds for clean energy efforts.
New Jersey was a founding member of the RGGI in 2005. Gov. Chris Christie withdrew the Garden State in 2012; Murphy rejoined in 2018.
Education
Ciattarelli’s school policies focus on a revamping of the state’s funding formula. He calls the current formula “unfair and unconstitutional.” Details are sketchy, but he proposes a new formula based on a state standard for per pupil spending. The new methodology would allow money “to follow the student,” with Ciattarelli supportive of expanded school choice and parental rights.
The candidate believes that such a formula will lead to a more equitable distribution of state aid and one that would lower property taxes, pointing as he does to the fact that property taxes in many municipalities are significantly driven by the school tax.
He argues for expanding school choice through voucher programs and charter schools. He says he would downsize the state Department of Education, giving greater autonomy to local boards. He also favors a parents bill of rights.
Like Sherrill, Ciattarelli favors more school district consolidation as a cost-saving process. Like his opponent, Ciattarelli would boost incentives for school mergers. Where he differs with Sherrill is he says he does not favor forced consolidations. Sherrill has said if incentives fail “we’ll have to start to look at compulsory movements.”
New Jersey has 590 school districts and 564 municipalities. Only 16 school districts in the state are non-operating, meaning they have no operating schools in them, and three of those are in Cape May County. The county has 13 operating municipal districts, one regional district and two county districts. State figures put total enrollment at 11,395 for the 2024-2025 school year.
A look at school taxes collected across the county districts shows property tax support in 2023 was at $188 million. That figure is local school tax support only and does not include state or federal aid.
Ciattarelli says he will expand pre-K programs by using existing private day care providers. He says he would also loosen restrictions on inter-district school choice programs to allow “parents real choices.”
Sherrill says a strong foundation for educational excellence starts with early childhood education, and she pledges to make pre-K and kindergarten affordable and available in “every corner of the state.” For Sherrill the state’s excellence in education “isn’t true in every zip code,” and needs to be.
Along with her focus on consolidation of districts, both through incentives and potential policy to force certain districts to merge, Sherrill sees a need to focus on “post-pandemic struggles and learning loss” through programs for high-impact tutoring and a renewed focus on student mental health.
She says, “Kids learn better when their stomachs are full.” She promises school meals available “at no cost” for every student in New Jersey.
Sherrill wants to create better pathways as students graduate and move on to college or their careers in the workforce. “This includes offering more apprenticeships, working closely with employers and colleges, and expanding job training programs,” she says.
Sherrill differs from Ciattarelli in that she opposes private school voucher programs. She believes they undermine a strong public education system.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
