How will Christie shake NJ up?
29
January
1/29/2010:
A must-read article for New Jersey residents!
With the recent election of Governor Chris Christie – there has been much talk about what to do with New Jersey, and it’s fiscal problems that are squeezing the residents out of the state.
After Eileen Norcross’ article on Reason.com: “Exiting New Jersey’s Fiscal Nightmare,” you’ll certainly not wonder why so many people are loving their six-figure public patronage jobs anymore.
I’d suggest City officials start putting their thinking caps on now – because the days of relying on state aid to help mismanage run the city may be coming to an end soon!
Some interesting snippits:
- Since 1990 local governments have added 45,500 new jobs. Nearly all of them are represented by one of a dozen unions, which have helped secure some of the plushest public sector jobs in the nation. It’s easy to see how property taxes have grown at twice the rate of inflation over the past decade.
- The state’s pension plan is currently under-funded by $34 billion. The pensions for average teacher range from $1.6 million to $2.5 million, per retiree. For the average police officer, that range totals between $3.2 million and $6 million, per retiree.
- Christie’s real challenge is to stop this exploitation of the state’s treasury by the public sector unions. He can lead the charge in rooting out obvious public sector excess, such as massive cash payouts for unused leave, and paid time off for holiday shopping.
- He’s also proposed cutting back on wasteful programs which simply subsidize municipal mismanagement.
She sums it all up by saying:
- “Implementation is the hard part—especially in a political climate where patronage and rent-seeking seem to be the explicit goal of most policy makers. Chris Christie has his work cut out for him.”
How do you think Hoboken will fare once Christie rolls his sleeves up? Higher property taxes? Lesser services?
Fun Stuff
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January 29th 2010 - 16:23:24 |
I’m hoping he can get things accomplished in one-term, enough to convince voters they made the right choice. He definitely won’t be making friends at the municipal level. But I doubt he’ll be a major screwup like our current mayor shortly after taking office.
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January 29th 2010 - 16:26:11 |
Hopefully he can crush the various unions Corzine handed the state treasury over to.
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January 30th 2010 - 11:14:47 |
The next time Average Joe criticizes the Wall Streeters for collecting fat rewards while the banking industry falls apart, they should look in the mirror and ask themselves how they manage to collect Texas-size comp packages while the Garden State runs massive deficits and they still keep their jobs in a recession. At least on Wall Street you screw up and your company goes under and you lose your job. But public employees in this state operate like a licensed Cosa Nostra. I’m still amazed at how with our city’s massive payroll, we still have a pothole per resident in our streets, broken parking meters, cracked sidewalks, a City Hall from the Dark Ages and a half-arsed waterfront.
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January 30th 2010 - 11:48:55 |
words spoken from a true conservative republican…me, me, me,
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January 30th 2010 - 14:03:15 |
Unlike the typical progressive democrat’s take, take ,take.
In response to molly who said:
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January 30th 2010 - 16:02:19 |
Mayor Bloomberg is still shaking things up in NYC. Increase revenues and cut costs….
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January 30th 2010 - 16:30:59 |
Well said yzass!!
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January 31st 2010 - 09:10:56 |
The state has to many hamlets, villages, cities, townships,etc. Which translates thousands of police, fire, library, school districts adding a tremendous overhead of costs.
Translation the highest taxes in the United States.
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January 31st 2010 - 11:23:32 |
Partially true. What you’re leaving out: nepotism, patronage, etc. Perfect example this week, right in our own backyard thanks to Lt. Andriani. Here you have a man (and that’s giving him way too much credit) who is collecting $11k a month after being disgraced and dismissed from his role. If the average white collar worker in NYC futzed around and pulled the same kind of crap as Andriani, you know what would happen? They’d get fired. They’d be done. No pension, no payout, no nothing. And the only reason he’s getting what he’s getting has NOTHING to do with the number of hamlets, towns, villages, etc., but it does have EVERYTHING to do with corruption and greed.
So while you idiots are throwing stones at the ‘fat cats’ on Wall Street or at Conservatives, why do you fail to lob any in the direction of the crooks right down the street?
Take ‘em all out or STFU.
In response to ohnoivotedforher who said:
Translation the highest taxes in the United States.
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January 31st 2010 - 12:54:20 |
so you did get, to many mayors, council members, chiefs, school administrators and indians with more than 2 civil service positions. Time for a giant re-organization, alignment, and right sizing…Love Wilma
In response to emarche who said:
So while you idiots are throwing stones at the ‘fat cats’ on Wall Street or at Conservatives, why do you fail to lob any in the direction of the crooks right down the street?
Take ‘em all out or STFU.
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January 31st 2010 - 18:49:38 |
I think he’s right.
Why should government employees enjoy the kind of job security that doesn’t exist anywhere else? What makes them special?
If you don’t do your job, or behave badly you lose your job. If the City can’t afford to pay everyone, they cut jobs, just like they’ve had to do in every other industry.
Me, me, me is everyone’s mantra, whether you’re a taxpayer or a government employee.
In response to molly who said:
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January 31st 2010 - 22:43:40 |
“The worst crime against working people is a company which fails to operate at a profit”
- Samuel Gompers (1850-1924), First President of the AFL
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February 1st 2010 - 10:35:50 |
So you are okay with the massive amount of waste, fraud, abuse, nepotism, corruption, institutional inefficiency & incompetence that our state & municipal workers have inflicted on this state? You are okay with forcing people to pay too much of THEIR MONEY in taxes to a government that fails it residents on a daily basis?
Maybe you don’t get that Republicans believe tax dollars belong to the taxpayers and if the government is going to waste money when they do something, then they shouldn’t spend the money to do it to begin with. And in Jersey, lets just say I think about 1/3 of the payroll is a waste.
In response to molly who said:
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February 11th 2010 - 17:03:29 |
Its about time. Lets hope this paves the way for our local gov’t to enact the same changes and provide some real tax relief.
Benefits reform finally on table
After years of dithering and talk-is-cheap lip service — years that revealed an appalling lack of political spine and will in Trenton — the state Senate Monday introduced sweeping pension and health benefit reform bills for government workers. The measure could reach the full Legislature by the end of the month.
The four-bill package, most elements of which we have been long advocating, should be put on the desk of an eager-to-sign-them Gov. Chris Christie and become law as soon as possible. The state pension system, underfunded by some $34 billion the last time somebody took an official look, is not far from complete collapse.
It’s not as if these reforms came out of thin air. Many of them were recommended by bipartisan legislative committees back in the last administration. But Gov. Jon Corzine effectively quashed some of the most important recommendations, believing that such sweeping changes were better negotiated than dictated by the Legislature.
That’s one of the reasons he’s not governor anymore.
The new reform bills have broad support, with as many as 23 sponsors in the 40-member Senate. Change is finally in the air on both sides of the political aisle. Among the long-overdue proposals: Traditional pensions would be limited to full-time employees. Pension calculations for new employees would be based on their five highest years’ pay, rather than the highest three years. Health benefits would be provided only to state employees working 35 hours a week and local and school employees working at least 25 hours a week. Employees would be required to designate one job for one pension. Payouts for unused sick leave for new local and school employees would be limited to $15,000, the current limit for state employees. New local government and school district employees could only carry over one year’s worth of vacation time.
Each of these provisions is vital to reform.
Other provisions should be strengthened. The proposal to require all active state, school district and local employees to pay at least 1.5 percent of their base salary toward their health care benefits after expiration of their current contract is insufficient. For an employee making $50,000 a year, that would amount to $750. That’s not nearly enough. And the bill deferring full funding of the state’s pension obligations for seven years isn’t nearly aggressive enough.
In addition to making a running start in addressing long-standing public employee benefits issues, these bills, if signed into law, would have the additional benefit of getting government union leaders to stop all their “It’s not fair! We need these taxpayer dollars because of how desperately underpaid we are” whining. That was true at one time, but those days are long gone. It’s time to quit complaining, or at least get out of the way.
What is astounding is that the people who are complaining the loudest about the reforms have the most to lose if the whole house of cards collapses.
The taxpayers of New Jersey have long deserved real reform that offers real relief. This package would finally deliver some.
app.com/article/20100210/OPINION01/...18/Benefits-reform-finally-on-table
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February 11th 2010 - 23:33:15 |
Dream on, people. Hopefully Gov. Christie can implement the change he promised. We will see. I wish him luck.
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