N.J. gas tax going up, but voters get some say on how it’s spent

Voters who are worried that a 23-cent-per-gallon hike in New Jersey’s gas tax won’t go exclusively for transportation projects have a chance to weigh in.

The Nov. 8 ballot includes a question asking whether all money from the state’s gas tax should go only for transportation projects.

Election Day comes just one week after the hike goes into effect. It rises from 14.5 cents a gallon to 37.5 cents a gallon, and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

The increase is part of a deal between Christie and the Democrat-led Legislature that includes an 8-year, $16 billion transportation trust fund and cuts to the estate and sales taxes.

Fifty-one percent of respondents to a Fairleigh Dickinson University survey this summer were for the ballot question.