NJ Turnpike Authority adopts $475M budget

(AP) - The New Jersey Turnpike Authority boardhas adopted a $475.5 million operating budget that calls for theelimination of 141 full-time jobs through attrition.
There is no increase over the 2011 budget.
The budget also reflects the first of the two toll increasesthat took effect three years ago. Motorists will see the secondincrease on Jan. 1, when tolls go up 53 percent on the turnpike and50 percent on the Garden State Parkway.
The tolls department budgeted $53.5 million for 2012 comparedwith $69.1 million last year. Spending on health care is going upfrom $67 million last year to $72.3 million in 2012.
Spokesman Thomas Feeney tells The Record newspaper the decreasesin the various departments are mostly the result of lower salaryand benefits costs.