New Jersey Legislators need to seek solution to Public Pension shortfalls that will not harm public employees or the public
New Jersey State Legislators
New Jersey Public Pensions have been historically underfunded since 1997 by refusal of our state Governors to meet the required payment levels to keep our pension solvent. Working towards a solution Chapter 78 was signed into law in 2011 to increase the percentage of wages dedicated as employee contributions, suspend cost of living adjustments, and creating mandatory health benefit payments.
Christie has released his Roadmap plan to changing the basis of the public pensions based upon a freeze of the current pension system and a new definition about how contributions will be made. Only Rhode Island and Puerto Rico did what Christie is proposing and froze the current pension system for existing workers, too, and required everyone to go into a new plan after a cutoff date.
We are urging the Legislators of the state of New Jersey to seek alternative solutions towards funding the pensions and deny the changes that Governor Christie is proposing as it will place burden upon the municipalities as they are forced to take up the additional burden of funding the state pension system.
Petition by
To:
New Jersey State Legislators
From:
[Your Name]
As taxpayers of the state of New Jersey we are voicing our opinion that Governor Christie's Roadmap to Pension Reform should not be considered as a viable option to solving the issues we face as a state to fund the public employee pensions system.
Public employees enter into work contracts with the understanding that the pension and benefits that they are entitled to is part of the negotiated salary and these provisions are an offset to the lower wages that historically accompany careers as public servants. Since 1997 the state has not met its financial obligations to fund the pensions system while teachers have paid an increasing percentage of their wages towards achieving a balance that would create sustainability of the pension fund.
Chapter 78, signed into law by Governor Christie in 2011, resulted in public employees devoting an increasing percentage of their wages towards funding the pension system. Over the last 10 years TPAF members have contributed $9.1B to the fund, while the state has contributed only $2.7B. Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) were suspended, and requiring a mandatory percentage of wages being dedicated to health benefit premiums.
Currently, New Jersey employees pay more into the system than those in most other systems. New Jersey public employees contribute 6.93 percent of their salaries to their own pensions, more than 55 other plans in the top 100. By 2018, the employee contribution level for New Jersey pensions will rise to 7.5 percent, which is more than employees contribute today in about two-thirds of the top 100 plans.
Governor Christie's Roadmap would place the burden of the pension payments to the municipalities of the state. In doing so, these individual municipalities will be under additional financial burdens that will increase property tax levels across the state. This plan would place more stress upon individual entity contract negotiations further placing our public employees in danger of not earning a high enough salary to maintain even basic cost of living expenses.
We urge that you search for alternative solutions towards re-funding the public pension system, including enactment of a millionaire's tax, a reduction in the corporate tax incentives, and a legislative provision for multiple pension payments to be spread out evenly over the course of a budget year so that the accrual of earned interest can be maximized and stronger regulations that control how the pension system can be invested that further protect the public from the funds being used for questionable leverage in political activities.