Three central New Jersey state legislators want residents to know they are pushing for Gov. Chris Christie’s reform package to advance in Trenton.
During a Sept. 15 presentation at Manalapan town hall, Sen. Jennifer Beck, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (all R-Monmouth and Mercer) outlined the proposed reforms that Christie has dubbed his “toolkit” for municipalities.
The governor has said the reforms he wants the Legislature to approve, and that he would sign into law, would give municipal, county and school officials the ability to rein in operating costs and eventually ease the burden on the Garden State’s beleaguered residents who struggle to keep up with rising property taxes.
Property taxes pay for the cost of municipal and county operations and for the operation of schools. The rising costs of employee salaries and benefits help to drive up the amount of local taxes a municipality, county or school district needs to collect each year.
The overall increase in the amount of taxes collected impacts the bottom line of a property owner’s annual tax bill.
“We are at the beginning of the process,” Beck said as she presented a list of the toolkit bills that have been introduced in Trenton and await further action. “We cannot allow property taxes to increase 5 percent to 8 percent every year.”
The senator urged residents who were on hand for the presentation to make their voices heard on these proposed reforms.
O’Scanlon said elected officials are not seeking to punish public sector employees whose salaries and benefits, including pensions, have been at the heart of the debate in New Jersey for months.
However, the assemblyman said the public sector employees have to take some responsibility for helping to address the precarious financial situation in which the state finds itself.
O’Scanlon said Republican legislators are trying to work with Democrats in the Senate and Assembly to address the issues facing the state and to act on the reforms that Christie, a Republican serving the first year of a four-year term, has put forth.
Among the bills now pending action in Trenton are the following:
• S-29: Lowers the tax levy cap for county, school district and municipality appropriations from 4 to 2 percent, and allows unused increases to be banked for three consecutive years.
• S-2171/A-3075: Changes procedures for binding arbitration. Imposes a 2.5 percent cap on all arbitration awards and collective bargaining agreements.
• S-2220/A-2952: Limits $15,000 to be paid out at retirement for accumulated unused sick leave, and allows unused vacation to be carried over for only one year.
• S-1312/A-2143: Moves school and fire district elections to November. School budget and school board elections are currently held in April. Fire district elections are currently held in February.
• S-2025/A-2961: Requires the executive county school superintendent to require collaboration among school districts in expanding shared service opportunities, and allows them to force school districts to enter into agreements that will result in cost savings. Also makes county superintendent approve all collective bargaining agreements.
• S-2043/A-2960: Allows school districts to impose their last best contract offer, thereby resolving a negotiations impasse.
The legislators presented a slide show that detailed the reforms that have been proposed. Included among them is a proposal to require public employees to contribute a “fair share” to the cost of their health care benefits.
Beck has introduced legislation to overhaul employee contributions to health care with the goal of bringing those contributions more in line with the private sector, according to the presentation.
This includes increasing the contribution percentage from 1.5 percent of salary to 3 percent of salary for all legislative branch and non-union employees.
The plan would add an additional 1 percent of salary for a spouse covered under the employee’s plan, and it would add an additional 0.5 percent of salary for every child covered under the employee’s plan.
The plan would cap the contribution level at 30 percent of premium for coverage.
According to Beck, $19,000 is the average cost of a family health plan for a local official who is provided with health care benefits. She said that premium is paid by taxpayers, often with only a minimum contribution, or no payment at all, from the local official who receives the benefit.