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Governor Chris Christie’s Landmark Pension Reforms Deliver $267 Million in Property Tax Relief to New Jerseyans This Year

Trenton, NJ – Governor Chris Christie today announced that the historic, bipartisan pension reforms he signed into law on June 28, 2011 will save New Jersey’s property taxpayers and local governments $267 million in Fiscal Year 2012. Today’s announcement includes $224 million in local taxpayer savings in the Police and Fireman’s Retirement Systems (PFRS), in addition to previously released savings estimates of $43 million in the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS), for a total savings of $267 million across municipalities, school districts and counties this year.

 

“This $267 million in savings is the direct result of our bipartisan efforts to take on the biggest challenges facing our state and deliver sustainable, long-term property tax relief to New Jersey’s families and job creators. Because we took action, New Jersey taxpayers are now seeing that real results will ease strained local budgets and bring costs under control at the local level,” said Governor Christie. “These savings are critical to getting our economy moving again and creating jobs, while also protecting the core local government services New Jerseyans expect and deserve.” 

 

This historic pension and benefits reform law provides more than $120 billion of savings on state and local government pension payments over the next 30 years. Due to the Governor’s commitment to reverse two decades of irresponsible neglect of the pension system, New Jersey’s taxpayers will now realize substantial savings over the next three decades.

 

The Governor’s comprehensive set of reforms means critical savings for state and local governments and real property tax relief for New Jerseyans.

 

·         $79 Billion in State Contribution Savings: Over the next 30 years, the state pension contribution will be $148 billion, a projected savings of nearly $80 billion. Without reform, the state was projected to contribute $227 billion over the same period.

 

·         $43 Billion in Local Government Contribution Savings: Over the next 30 years, local government pension contributions will be $70 billion, a projected savings of nearly $43 billion. Without reform, local governments were projected to contribute $113 billion over the same period.

 

“These initial savings are just a first installment of benefits that taxpayers will realize under the Governor’s landmark pension and benefit reform law,” said Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff. “New Jersey communities, from the biggest to the smallest, will see savings as result of these reforms.”   

 

The $267 million represents local government savings from the projected costs of pension contributions in PFRS and PERS had Governor Christie’s pension reforms not become law. The statewide, year over year savings in pension costs experienced by local governments between fiscal year 2011 and fiscal year 2012 is approximately $84 million. 

 

A savings breakdown of Fiscal Year 2012 PFRS pension cost savings for each local government in New Jersey – municipalities, counties and other local government units – can be accessed at the Department of Treasury’s website here: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/pensions/epbam/exhibits/pdf/2012-pfrs-comparison-revised-78.pdf

 

The local government savings breakdown for PERS, previously released on July 14, 2011, can be accessed here: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/pensions/epbam/exhibits/pdf/2012-pers-comparison-revised-78.pdf

 

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Posted: October 5th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Chris Christie, Pensions | Tags: , , | 4 Comments »

4 Comments on “Governor Chris Christie’s Landmark Pension Reforms Deliver $267 Million in Property Tax Relief to New Jerseyans This Year”

  1. Melissa said at 10:39 am on October 6th, 2011:

    So Art, when I look at the chart, it seems Red Bank gets a $253K credit.
    Do you know if the town is required to take that credit and literally distribute back to the property tax paying residents (ie an actual reduction in the property tax), or can/will they re-apply that amount into next years budget and treat as income coming in for that year?

  2. ArtGallagher said at 12:44 pm on October 6th, 2011:

    Melissa,

    I wouldn’t count on getting a check from the borough of Red Bank.

    Without knowing the specifics of Red Bank’s budget or the borough’s fiscal dates, the $253K will likely become surplus and/or be appropriated to other expenses.

    Theoretcially, this money will reduce the amount of future property tax increases.

  3. Melissa said at 8:39 am on October 7th, 2011:

    Thanks Art…may just have to bring this up at the next council meeting 🙂

  4. now, all we need.. said at 9:51 am on October 10th, 2011:

    is a real purge of the useless, feel-good programs-for-votes that keep being funded, and a much better accounting of, and remedy for, the fraud, waste and abuse, going on at all levels, every day, in this state!