The Associated Press published the following article on February 26, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
Christie’s $34.4B budget buys time, funds pensions
By The Associated Press
on February 26, 2014 at 9:35 AM, updated February 26, 2014 at 9:36 AMTRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie proposed a $34.4 billion budget yesterday that makes a required $2.25 billion payment to the public worker pension fund without raising taxes, but said the state’s staggering retiree and debt costs are sapping spending increases for other programs and services.
With an annual pension obligation that grew by roughly $600 million over this year, debt payments of nearly $3 billion and steeply rising health-benefit costs, Christie has virtually no wiggle room to fund major new initiatives.
Taken together, retiree and debt costs will eat up 94 percent of the state’s projected revenue growth.