Christie administration: Road fund won't last beyond August

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey's top transportation official says the state's fund for road and bridge work will likely have enough cash to carry beyond the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, but not too deep into the summer.

Acting Transportation Commissioner Richard Hammer told the Assembly budget committee Wednesday that the transportation trust fund will likely be solvent until "early August."

Republican Gov. Chris Christie and the Democrat-led Legislature have so far failed to agree on how to pay for the fund in the new fiscal year.

Democrats have called for an increase in the gas tax. But Christie says any deal must result in "tax fairness" for the state's residents.

Authorization for the roughly $1.6 billion fund expires June 30.