Floats Idea to Let Towns Skip Pension Payments, Expect State to Do the Same
Senator Kevin O’Toole (R-40), a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, responded to reports that Governor Jon Corzine will offer municipalities the opportunity to defer up to $500 million of pension payments that they would otherwise need to make next April, requiring those payments to be paid over the following three years.
“Governor Corzine’s latest scheme is an election-year gimmick that will cause property tax bills to skyrocket after the next election,” said O’Toole. “This plan does not save taxpayers any money. Property taxpayers will shoulder an even greater tax burden in the three years following the gubernatorial election as municipalities raise taxes to pay for this year’s pension obligation. Instead of showing leadership and choosing to govern responsibly, Governor Corzine has again shown his willingness to push current expenses onto future taxpayers.”
Governor Corzine has recently said that the shortfall in the current budget is $1.2 billion, and a deficit estimated at $5 billion is looming in FY 2010. When questioned at the state League of Municipalities convention yesterday about how the state would close the current deficit, New Jersey Treasurer David Rousseau responded that the Administration had identified $625 million in cuts. When pressed by municipal officials for specifics on those cuts, Treasurer Rousseau declined to answer.
“It is increasingly clear that Governor Corzine and Treasurer Rousseau don’t have a plan to identify savings in our bloated government,” O’Toole said. “It seems likely that after announcing his plan to allow towns to push pension payments down the road, Governor Corzine will attempt to do the same at the state level. Their big plan to close the budget deficit will likely be to skip payments into an already teetering pension system that they refuse to fix, and will do nothing to address the greatest cause of our budgetary problems, out of control spending.”
O’Toole noted that Senate and Assembly Republicans have identified more than $1.3 billion in structural budget savings that the Administration refuses to consider.
“Governor Corzine continues to put partisan politics ahead of responsible public policy,” O’Toole added. “As the Governor gears up for re-election, we should expect his primary fiscal policy to be nothing more than pushing costs past the election. The people of New Jersey deserve better.”
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November 25, 2008
