SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Local impact of state reforms uncertain

By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
   Local officials are taking a wait-and-see approach to just how state pension and health reforms will impact the community.
   Gov. Christopher Christie signed the bipartisan legislation into law Tuesday afternoon in Trenton.
   ”This is a defining moment in New Jersey’s history,” Gov. Christie said in a statement Tuesday. “By daring to be bold and take on the risks of addressing the big issues, we are doing what was once unimaginable — saving billions of dollars for taxpayers, fixing these systems in order to save them and providing real, long-term fiscal stability for future generations of New Jerseyans.”
   According to Gov. Christie, the new law will save the state and its taxpayers an estimated $120 billion in the next 30 years in the state pension system and another $3.1 billion in savings during the next 10 years in public employee health benefit costs.
   The law phases in increases in employee contributions to both pensions and health benefits over the next seven years and also creates a tiered health benefit system based on what the employee earns, according to Gov. Christie.
   Current retirees and those who have 25 years into the existing system are exempt from the increases, according to the legislation.
   The new law also will not affect union contracts until they expire.
   Even though Gov. Christie and the Democratic leadership in the Legislature came together on the law, state unions blasted the agreement.
   ”With his signature today, Gov. Christie proved once again that his promises cannot be trusted. As a gubernatorial candidate, he wrote an open letter to teachers stating that ‘nothing about your pension is going to change when I am governor,’” New Jersey Education Association President Barbara Keshishian said in a statement Tuesday. “ Today, he signed legislation that strips away already-earned benefits from both current and future retirees.”
   Although the debate has run hot and heavy throughout the state as the bill made its way through the system, local officials are waiting to see how this will affect future budgets.
   Township Chief Financial Officer Joe Monzo said the municipality will not likely see any significant budget impacts from the legislation until the second or third year of new union contracts.
   ”It will not impact unions currently under contract,” Mr. Monzo said this week. “There will be a little impact the first year (of a new labor contract with the township) and a more significant impact in the second and subsequent years,” Mr. Monzo said.
   Because of the contracts with the unions in the municipality, Mr. Monzo said the township’s budget probably would not see any impact from the new law until 2013.
   ”(The law) mainly changes health benefit contributions,” Mr. Monzo said.
   According to officials from the South Brunswick Education association, that union will begin new contract negotiations this coming year and should feel an impact from the law.
   State Sen. Linda Greenstein, D-14, said during a visit to the township last week that the changes to the health benefit contributions was the main reason she voted against the bill both in the Senate’s Budget Committee and again when the bill went in front of the full Senate.
   ”There really is a difference between pension reform and health care,” Sen. Greenstein said. “Everyone (in Trenton) agreed pension reform was needed, but the problem was really the health (benefit reform).”
   Sen. Greenstein said the health side of the bill historically has been handled through collective bargaining with the unions as opposed to legislative edict.
   ”It is a right some people (in unions) have developed,” Sen. Greenstein said. “The governor really didn’t try to bargain with (the unions).”
   On the other side, both the New Jersey Conference of Mayors and the state League of Municipalities supported the law.
   ”I thank the governor, Senate president (Stephen Sweeney) and Speaker of the Assembly (Shelia Oliver) for working together on a solution that will benefit our taxpayers,” Conference of Mayors President and Lambertville Mayor David Del Vecchio said in a statement.