NJ Spotlight published the following article on 3/27/2014. To read the full article, click here.
State Assembly Budget Panel To Question Governor Christie’s Pension Cuts
Mark J. Magyar | March 27, 2014State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff will face questions from the Assembly Budget Committee next week about the Christie administration’s decision to change the funding formula for the state’s pension contribution in order to cancel $93.7 million in previously budgeted pension payments due in June and cut next year’s pension bill by $150 million.
Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) expressed concern about the cancellation of more than $240 million in expected pension payments to help balance this year’s and next year’s budgets. He said Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to pay $2.25 billion into the pension system in Fiscal Year 2015 — rather than the expected $2.5 billion — was “very disappointing.”
Joseph Perone, Treasury’s communications director, countered that even with the reductions, “this year’s pension contribution is the largest in New Jersey history,” and that the Christie administration’s $5.3 billion in total pension payments are “more than twice the $2.4 billion put in by all governors combined in the prior 10 years.”
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