| State Senator Sandra Cunningham (D-Hudson) introduced a bill this week that, if approved, will allow New Jersey municipalities to delay for one more year their contributions to the public employee pension fund.
Cunningham, who was named last month to Governor-elect Christie's transition team, explained that the legislation is a stop gap measure to soften the blow of the recently announced decision to hold back millions of dollars in promised aid to municipalities.
"Some mayors have a need for this," said Senator Cunningham. "They need this, so I hope we can get it done as soon as possible."
Deferring pension payments was a controversial measure enacted several months ago by the Corzine Administration. At the time, candidate Christie called the idea "deceitful trickery." As he prepares to take his place in the Front Office, however, one wonders whether the eight billion dollar budget deficit has given him reason to reconsider?
The Governor-elect is not known to be shy about expressing his opinion. If he opposes Cunningham's bill, he should say so. If he supports it, he should explain why. Thus far, his transition team has had no comment and there's no word whether the bill will gain traction with legislative leaders. However, what Christie has said is that he supports deferring the state's contributions another year. Couple that decision with Cunningham's bill allowing municipalities to do the same, and with a few pen strokes, Trenton will significantly add to the long term fiscal insolvency of the pension fund.
For the record, Governor Corzine invested more money in the state pension fund than any other governor since Brendan Byrne. |
