Faced with an unexpected Court Order yesterday requiring a pension payment of $1.57 billion by the end of June and with a national media glare upon him, Governor Chris Christie will deliver his Annual Budget Address to a joint session of the New Jersey Legislature this afternoon at 2 p.m.
You can watch the address here live, courtesy of NJTV and Youtube:
TRENTON — New Jersey lawmakers warned of potential “draconian” budget cuts to come up with $1.57 billion if the state is forced to make a full pension payment this year. A state Superior Court judge ruled today that unions are entitled to that payment as part of a 2011 pension overhaul law passed by the Democratic-led… Read the rest of this entry »
Christie decries pension ruling as ‘liberal judicial activism’
TRENTON — In a blow to Gov. Chris Christie a day before he reveals his latest state budget proposal, a state judge ruled today that the governor must restore a $1.57 billion cut he made to public worker pension payments in New Jersey’s current budget. Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson sided with a group of public… Read the rest of this entry »
TRENTON — In two days, Gov. Chris Christie will go before the state Legislature and present a budget with repercussions for his own presidential ambitions and New Jersey’s financial fitness. Both are in the grips of ailing infrastructure and pension systems that are expected to dominate the upcoming budget process. Endorsing an unpopular gas tax increase… Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON — Gov. Chris Christie drew a fresh line against raising new taxes in a speech tonight to New Jersey’s business community. “As long as I’m here, we’re not going to make the state less affordable,” Christie said in delivering the keynote address at the 78th annual New Jersey Chamber of Commerce congressional dinner, part of… Read the rest of this entry »
TRENTON — New Jersey’s pension fund earned 7.3 percent on its investments last year, which state officials said beat market expectations. But those gains didn’t live up to the 7.9 percent annual rate experts say is needed to keep troubled pension fund from adding to its liabilities. The investments returned 7.27 percent, but were hurt largely… Read the rest of this entry »
TRENTON — With some help from a year-end tax amnesty program, New Jersey’s tax collections in the first half of the fiscal year grew beyond the rate required for the state to stay on budget, according to a treasurer’s report released today. Nearly $2.7 billion in lottery, income tax, sales tax and other revenues flowed into… Read the rest of this entry »
Politicians like to talk about budgetary issues and challenges in pieces -ignoring the big-picture, and inconvenient, collateral effects of their proposed solutions. Even the public, and well-meaning editorial boards, fall prey to this segmentation mentality hoping there is an answer that doesn’t eviscerate their particular sacred cow. Throw in the fact that there is a general belief in a magic bullet that will fix our budget problems and you have a dangerous mix of ignorance and irrational expectation. It is time to clear that up. Governor Christie is right when he says our budget problems are serious. The solutions are going to be painful.
First, let’s understand that the causes of the problem are rooted in the actions, over the last 20 years, of legislators and governors – Republicans and Democrats – who were either well-meaning, but ultimately ill-informed, or those who consciously opted for political expediency knowing their actions would ultimately bankrupt the state. The former motivation is sad, the latter reprehensible.
Making certain assumptions about things we can and can’t fund, our structural deficit is around $6.75 billion – inclusive of $1.6 billion in transportation investment per year but exclusive of things we’d love to do like cut property taxes.
State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff testifies before Assembly Budget Committee on Governor Christie’s announcement yesterday to grab $2.43 billion meant for the pension system to balance the state budget. Trenton, NJ 5/21/14 (Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)
TRENTON — New Jersey’s revenue, which last month was on track to meet Gov. Chris Christie’s forecasts, has fallen behind the 5.2 percent growth rate built into this year’s budget, according to a new report released today. After November tax collections fell behind the governor’s expectations in a number of areas, the growth rate through the… Read the rest of this entry »
Carl Golden In his 1922 epic poem “The Waste Land,” English poet, essayist, and playwright T. S. Eliot opened with the line “April is the cruelest month … ” For Gov. Christie, though, it’s October. This October. Consider: + For the first time in four years, more poll respondents hold an unfavorable view of him, 45… Read the rest of this entry »
