New Jersey’s top court sided today with Gov. Chris Christie in his fight against public-worker unions over pensions.
The Governor released the following statement:
This decision is an important victory not only for our taxpayers who simply cannot afford these unsustainably high costs, but for limited, constitutional government that recognizes the proper role of the executive and legislative branches of government. The Court’s position is clear, as is mine, it is time to move forward and work together to find a tangible, long-term solution to make our pension system and public employee health benefit costs affordable and sustainable for generations to come. In light of today’s decision, I urge all interested parties to come back to the table and partner with me to finally solve this problem once and for all.
Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald issued the following statement Tuesday on the Supreme Court’s pension funding ruling:
“The court’s decision clearly points out the obvious: New Jersey needs to get its financial affairs in order. The governor’s broken promises have dug the state into a deeper financial hole.
“We will continue to work to meet our obligations as we always have. We hope the governor will do the same.
“We made a promise to the unions to meet our obligation as they meet theirs. We will not waver from that promise.”
Assembly Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, challenged public employee unions to return to the negotiating table after the Supreme Court ruled this morning the state is not required to make an additional payment into the public employees’ pension system:
“Now is the time for teachers and public employee unions to come back to the table to work out an agreement with lawmakers and the governor that is fair for taxpayers and workers. While this decision is definitive, it doesn’t really change much. It doesn’t remove our obligation to resolve the problem in a way that is fair to both our public workers and taxpayers. The governor has put a compelling and detailed plan on the table – designed by the bipartisan pension review commission,- and signaled a willingness to be flexible. The unions walked away from the discussions. There can be no excuse now not to come back. The only way to fix this long-term problem is for people to sit down, roll up their sleeves, and not walk away until we have a final plan.”
Assembly Budget Committee Chair Gary S. Schaer (D-Bergen/Passaic) released the following statement on Tuesday’s ruling from the New Jersey Supreme Court regarding the state’s obligation to fully fund the public employee pension systems:
“While the court may have determined `that it does not have the authority to enforce pension payments, it made several things painfully clear – chief among them ‘that the State must get its financial house in order is plain.’
“The court also noted that the loss of public trust created by the governor’s broken promises is ‘staggering.’
“It is with these points in mind that our approach remains unchanged. We will continue to take the fiscally responsible path to help restore our pension systems to solvency. Hopefully the governor will join us on this path this year.”
[TLS]
So if the law is void when to the PW pension payments go back to where they were before the law was signed?
While I do not think Christie is totally to blame, he is part of a problem that has long been a problem. Both democratic and republican governors have skipped payments and borrowed from the pension fund to pay for other projects. Much like our national debt, the bigger it gets the harder it is to get out of it.
As a teacher I contribute 7 percent of my pre tax salary into a pension fund. Unlike a 401k I have no control over what it is invested in or what the state uses it for, in exchange for this I will recive a pre planned return at retirement.
Realistically the current formulas probably will have to be adjusted further in the future as the expected life span gets larger. But I am tired of Christie acting like the pension system is some hand out to public employees.
I was at an event with Christie a couple year back , I heard him say roughly the following. Teachers only contribute around 60k to pension in their career and we pay them out over a million. He wants people to think public employees are receiving outlandish handouts. The truth is this comment is extremely misleading. The truth is while yes teachers will on avg contribute around 60k the government will contribute around 100k. The remainder of pension payments come from the return on investment from the pension fund. It is the same thing that happens when you invest in a 401k or an Ira.
HEY People wake up! If you keep voting in these Democrats you will keep the status Quo. We need a Republican Governor with a Republican Senate. We need to get rid of these Tax and Spend Democrats or we will never money for any pensions. We cannot keep borrowing money that Tax Payers cannot repay. STOP the madness.