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Our state government in New Jersey is broken. We spend too much and tax too much to pay for it. In the last eight years, under one party rule, our debt has more than doubled, and we are facing an $8 to $10 Billion (with a B) budget deficit next year. Eight members of the legislature have been indicted for corruption. Businesses and people are moving out of New Jersey in droves. We are at a crossroads. At a time like this we need people in Trenton who will make tough decisions. We need people who will fight the special interests and do the right thing for tax payers and law abiding citizens. We need people like Declan O'SCANLON and Caroline CASAGRANDE.
Gannett/ Asbury Park Press 20 point tax plan
The number one problem facing New Jersey residents is affordability- too many people are unable to pay their property taxes and the myriad other taxes, fees, tolls, charges and surcharges required by the state. Last year, over 70,000 more people moved out of New Jersey to another state than moved here from another state, breaking up families and causing us to lose some of our most productive citizens. Recently, the Asbury Park Press concluded their excellent series focusing on New Jersey’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes with a 20 point plan to address the many areas which have caused our taxes to skyrocket. We agree with the Press on the need for a comprehensive plan to address property taxes- which is why we’ve spent the last two years introducing bills to address many of the areas the Press pointed out. Below you can see the 20 points of the APP plan with our positions and legislation we’ve introduced to address those issues. We also have a separate link for our “Cut, Cap and Contribute” tax plan which will eventually wean New Jersey off of its reliance on property taxes. Along with Senator Jennifer Beck, we promised voters in 2007 that we’d go to Trenton and fight for these common sense solutions to ease the tax burden. As you can see below, we started that fight, but there is more work to be done. If you honor us with your vote this year, we promise to keep fighting for you in Trenton. (To see the full text of bills, go to the New Jersey Legislature’s website and enter the bill number. http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/ Many of the suggestions made by the Press were included in the Common Sense Plan for a More Affordable New Jersey put forth by Republicans from both houses of the Legislature. To view that plan, click here: http://www.senatenj.com/the-plan.pdf)
1. Require all public employees to make contributions to health insurance premiums in line with those in the private-sector. We have long argued that the Legislature should take a more active role in setting the parameters of the contracts negotiated by the Executive Branch. We believe that bringing employee health insurance contributions in line with those in the private sector is necessary to ensure the state is able to meet its obligations going forward.. We would be willing to couple that with a commitment from the state to make its full contribution to the system each year, so that state employees know that they are not just being asked to give more without the state living up to its obligations as well.
2. Establish uniform “use-it-or-lose it” rules for unused sick and vacation time.
This is an issue we have been at the forefront of with the following pieces of legislation:
A1441-Limits payment to $15,000 for accumulated sick leave upon retirement for local public employees. STATUS: In committee
3. Enact measures to control growth of public employee salaries. As with question #1, we believe that the Legislature has a role to play in setting the parameters of contracts negotiated with state workers unions by the Executive Branch. As for police, firemen, teachers, etc., as we suggested in answer #9, we believe we have to look at ways to create a more uniform negotiating environment so that contracts do not fluctuate wildly from town to town or school district to school district.
4. Establish ceiling of 10 paid holidays for all public employees. A2565-Reduces number of paid holidays from 13 to 10 for all State and local government employees. STATUS: In committee
5. Eliminate health and pension benefits for part-time public employees, elected officials and professionals who contract with government. A1440-Prohibits enrollment in PERS of public employee who is also public contractor; requires member to designate only one position as basis of enrollment. STATUS: In committee A2145 Restricts public employer health care benefits to full-time employees and appointees STATUS: In Committee, reviewed by the Pension and Health Benefits Commission recommend to not enact A1433-Requires certain elected officials and appointed officers eligible for dual health benefits coverage to choose coverage by one public entity. Major bi-partisan support in both houses STATUS: This bill combined with A-1405 and passed by the Assembly and then the Senate passed an amended version of it. It has not come back to the Assembly for concurrence yet
6. Limit public pensions to one job per person. A1440-Prohibits enrollment in PERS of public employee who is also public contractor; requires member to designate only one position as basis of enrollment. STATUS: In committee A3593 Allows only one PERS-covered position for PERS membership, contributions and service credit; provides for PERS designation of maximum compensation position among multiple positions held. STATUS: In Committee (Asm. Casagrande made a motion on the floor to relieve from committee, motion was tabled) reviewed by Pension and Health benefits Commission- recommended to enact, with condition
7. Require fact-finders and arbitrators to make cost-of-living the most important factor in consideration of binding arbitration cases. Since costs associated with public employees are often the largest portion of the municipal budget, reforming the rules of interest arbitration could be one of the most direct and immediate ways to lower property taxes. We should study everything from the way the arbitrators are selected to the criteria on which the arbitrators base their decisions. If, as is the case under the current system, the majority of rulings fall in the same narrow range we would argue that there is not a true case by case consideration taking place. We believe that the police understand that the current system is unsustainable, and we would welcome their input in reforming the current system.
8. Rewrite civil service laws and allow towns to withdraw from civil service. Support. This is part of our Common Sense Plan for an Affordable New Jersey.
9. Negotiate a unified state contract for all police, teacher and fire unions. We believe that a regional or a countywide contract may be more feasible than a statewide one. Regardless we believe we have to look at ways to create a more uniform negotiating environment so that contracts do not fluctuate wildly from town to town or school district to school district. Mandating spending caps and tax caps without addressing ways to control what is, for most municipalities, a significant portion of their budget is unsustainable.
10. Bring employee pensions under control. We believe that we need to transition away from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution system (401k). We believe that this can be done by enrolling all new state employees in a 401k type plan.
In addition, we believe that reforms are needed to stop abuses of the current system and have legislation to address that.
A2575 Imposes new criteria of $18,000 compensation and 30 hours weekly for TPAF and PERS membership as well as for TPAF and PERS credit after break in service. STATUS: In Committee A2580-Allows pension calculation to be based on compensation increase in excess of actuarially assumed experience only if employer pays unfunded liability. Translation: Stops public employees from padding their pensions with a sudden increase in salary near their retirement. STATUS: IN committee, , reviewed by Pension and Health benefits Commission- recommended to not enact A4127 Makes members of county boards of taxation ineligible for membership in State-administered retirement system or for health care benefits coverage under plan for public employees.
11. Hold a constitutional convention on property taxes. We support the idea of a constitutional convention. Unfortunately our current legislative leadership and Governor have not only failed to pursue solutions to the problems our state is facing, they’ve actually stood in the way of solutions. It may be time for citizens to take matters into their own hands. However, we would have to be assured that the same political machines which currently control the Legislature would not hijack the convention process as well. We also believe that if the next round of redistricting is done fairly, and creates more competitive legislative districts, it would go a long way to eliminating the gridlock which currently paralyzes Trenton.
12. Require a two-thirds majority vote of the Legislature for any new tax or tax increase. ACR230: Proposes joint rule requiring a bill having a fiscal impact on the State budget identify offsetting revenues or reductions in appropriations prior to final consideration. This bill a) requires a 2/3 majority to increase taxes or fees and b) states that in order to increase spending or create a new spending program you must identify direct offsetting cuts if no cut is identified than a new tax or tax increase must be identified STATUS: In committee
13. Require property tax reassessments every five years. Support. We are also exploring some innovative reforms to provide more regular, uniform in-house revaluations which may eliminate the painful expense associated with large, one-time revaluations. 14. Allow phase-ins of any dramatic increase arising from revaluation. We are aware that some states have implemented a means to allow phase ins and we would be willing to study those to see if they are feasible in New Jersey. However, if we are able to implement some of the reforms we referred to in question 13, this would largely eliminate the need for a phase in. 15. Create regional taxing districts. We believe this concept may have merit and look forward to investigating the idea further.
16. Mandate consolidation of school districts that can’t meet cost efficiency benchmarks within reasonable time frame. We hesitate to support mandated consolidation, but realize that in certain instances when school districts fail to meet cost objectives and reasonable cost efficiency benchmarks mandated consolidation, as a last resort, may be in the best interests of taxpayers. We support grant programs for school districts and towns to study the issue. We also support grant programs for towns who decide to consolidate and have to make capital investments to accommodate the new merged entity.
A3030 Requires Division of Local Government Services to provide assistance with shared service agreements, subjects certain shared service agreements to review of Attorney General STATUS: In Committee
Conversely, we would also like to see a review of all mandates placed on school districts by the state to see how these mandates may be unnecessarily driving up costs for school districts.
We also have a bill which would expand the currently existing textbook sharing program to all school equipment. A2436 Extends textbook sharing program to include all school equipment. STATUS: In Committee
17. Mandate regionalization of police, fire and other services in communities that can’t meet cost efficiency benchmarks within a reasonable time frame. See question #16. Assemblyman O’Scanlon initiated a study to consolidate three police departments- Little Silver, Rumson and Fair Haven. The study has been completed and the effort to explore shared services or mergers is ongoing. Having been involved in a few of these efforts, it is our belief that frequently 80% of whatever cost savings can be achieved by a merger can be done through sharing services, thereby saving the entities involved the messy and costly efforts of a full merger.
18. Require public bidding for all professional services. There are too many instances where loopholes are exploited to avoid the RFP process in state government and in our authorities so that no bid contracts can be given to politically connected firms. (Which is how we get $600 an hour lawyers representing the Garden State Parkway.) We support closing those loopholes, so that laws pertaining to the bidding process are followed as intended.
19. Impose temporary salary freeze for all public employees. We would have supported temporary salary freezes as a way to avoid layoffs, however, as a result of his recent negotiations with public employee unions, Governor Corzine has made it impossible for the Legislature to freeze salaries. This was an incredibly irresponsible example of pandering by the Governor, which will significantly hurt our efforts to cut spending next year.
20. Give citizens the right to put public issues on a referendum ballot. ACR169: Proposes constitutional amendment to provide for Statewide initiative and referendum STATUS: In Committee
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