New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared war on cushy government-workers’ pensions and benefits while unveiling his frugal $29.4 billion spending plan yesterday.
He even pointed to the political upheaval in Wisconsin to show that the party is over for coddled labor unions.
“In Wisconsin and Ohio, they have decided there can no longer be two classes of citizens: one that receives rich health and pension benefits, and all the rest who are left to pay for them,” Christie said in Trenton.
He said the same holds true for NJ taxpayers, who can no longer afford the generous pensions and health benefits to public employees. He said the state is saddled with over $100 billion in combined pension and health-benefit liabilities.
Christie claimed NJ has become a “national model” that other states are emulating after he and lawmakers slashed spending last year.
He also took a shot at President Obama. He said his budget proposes to reduce Medicaid spending by hundreds of millions of dollars — but that the program will still grow by $1 billion because of “unfunded mandates” and “restrictions” under ObamaCare.
For the upcoming fiscal year, Christie’s budget trims spending by 2.6 percent.
He is offering to double property-tax rebates — if Jersey state lawmakers improve measures requiring state workers to increase contributions to their current medical coverage from 8 percent to 30 percent.
“The average New Jersey public employee contributes only 8 percent of the cost of his or her health benefits. By contrast, the average federal employee contributes 34 percent,” he said.
“Private-sector New Jerseyans typically pay even more than that, while also paying high taxes to support the rich benefits of public employees,” he said.
Christie successfully battled the teachers union while cutting education funds last year. With the fiscal situation slightly better, the governor this year proposed a $250 million increase in school funding.
