Well.

With less than two weeks until Governor Murphy unveils his annual state budget proposal.

Sources close to the administration say he's preparing to make significant cuts.

As concerns grow that the state is spending more than it's taking in and increased uncertainty over whether the state can count on federal funding.

That's as President Trump follows through on overhauling the government by slashing billions in the national budget.

According to the Murphy administration, more than $27 billion in federal funds flow through New Jersey's budget, which help pay for a range of programs and agencies, including new Jersey transit.

The troubled rail agency is now bracing for the worst, with no backup plan if the federal money gets frozen.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.

Last summer, NJ transit customers confronted delays and cancellations due to equipment failures.

And now officials are signaling even more trouble awaits down the tracks.

A potential $300 million a month budget crunch engineered by Donald Trump's recent executive orders to slash federal funding.

NJ transit new CEO fears a fiscal trainwreck.

There is no plan B.

There is no plan to take $300 million a month that we get from the federal government and try to somehow come up with, there are some things that are going to be out of our control, especially if this funding becomes a reality.

NJ Transit's no stranger to budget holes, having robbed Peter to pay Paul for years by spending precious capital projects dollars just to keep the wheels turning.

With federal pandemic grants expiring running on fumes.

It raised fares 15% this past July to avoid plunging off a fiscal cliff.

Governor Murphy did tossed the agency a deeply controversial lifeline the so-called corporate transit fee, which raised $1 billion last year.

Advocates lobbied hard for the new tax.

There is very little wiggle room in new Jersey Transit's operating budget, so it's hard to imagine a world in which the corporate transitory doesn't need to go to transit.

No transit agency in the world is able to exist on its own revenue, and new Jersey transit is no exception.

We need state investment in a state service.

Problem solved.

Not exactly, because the fees are not constitutionally dedicated to NJ transit.

So where that billion dollars end up, we know last year it did not make its way to new Jersey transit.

Instead it was put in surplus.

So as we go into this budget cycle right now, that billion dollars is sitting in surplus.

And yes, it's up for grabs for anything the government cares to do with it.

Business leader Michele Chicago.

Once that money to only fund NJ transit.

Let's not do a I told you so.

And let's be fair to those job creators that we said we need your assistance and funding NJ transit.

Let's get that money where it's intended to be.

But as they address a new state spending plan, new Jersey lawmakers will confront a budget crippled by a structural deficit reportedly topping $3 billion.

Last fall, Governor Murphy asked department heads to cut spending by 5%, and he's expected to deliver a deeply austere budget message later this month.

Former Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a candidate for governor, warned of the temptation to pilfer transit funding.

One more important thing that we all should pay attention to up here.

If you don't constitutionally dedicate that funding that we're taking, it is going to get eaten up into the black hole, which is the budget.

Sweeney spoke at a forum with other gubernatorial candidates, who all stressed funding mass transit is crucial to Jersey's economic success.

But other lawmakers argued dedicated funding can also reduce crucial options.

Look, the state does need some flexibility in in case you run into a major fiscal meltdown like 2008 2009.

If all funds were constitutionally dedicated, you might have had to close schools.

When that happened, we had some some ways to be flexible because not everything was constitutionally dedicated.

On the flip side, he's right to frequently, even in times when it is in crisis, administrations, particularly the Murphy administration, is happy to take money, move it around, and use it for things it's not intended for.

Republicans have repeatedly called for auditing NJ transit, but even the toughest audit might struggle to find 300 million a month in savings.

And Chris Callery wants to spend.

We want to focus on our customer service and reliability.

We got to make sure we get a thousand rail, the busses we need and 250 rail cars we need in order to modernize the system total.

He says it'll take a lot of lobbying in Washington, where the Trump administration currently holds all the cards.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.