Christie Talks Reforms at Latest Town Hall Meeting

Calling New Jersey “an example for the rest of the country,” Gov. Chris Christie beat the drum of his reform agenda before a packed house at his latest town hall meeting–the sixth of 2011–in West Deptford Thursday afternoon.

Before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 500 beneath the wooden ribs of the John Paul II Learning Center gym, Christie talked about the three pillars of his agenda–changing the teacher tenure system, keeping state spending under control and reforming an underfunded pension system–as he recounted the progress he’s seen in his first year.

“New Jersey’s moving in the right direction because we’re doing the right things,” he said.

More is necessary, though, according to the governor, and much of his focus fell on state workers’ pensions and benefits, where he proposed several reforms to close a $54 billion hole in the pension system.

Christie said he wants to the retirement age raised from 62 to 65, to roll back a 9% increase in state pensions, eliminate cost-of-living increases and bump up contributions from teachers and judges to 8.5 percent of their salary, which would match what police officers and firefighters contribute now.

He noted that in West Deptford, a town of 22,000 residents, his proposed pension reform could save the township $5.2 million over the next decade.

“Multiply that across the state, and you see the kind of money we can save, and that we have to save,” Christie said.

On top of that, the governor said he wants public workers to pay 30 percent of their health care premiums, instead of the 1.5 percent many pay now.

“I just want everyone to pay their fair share,” Christie said. "This is not unfair; we're still going to pay 70 percent of their health care costs."

Doing that would save taxpayers an additional $300 million, according to the governor, money he vowed to use to double property tax rebates, which only apply to households making $75,000 or less, or seniors over the age of 65 or disabled people who make $150,000 or less.

Failing to enact those pension and benefit reforms could “drive us off the cliff”, Christie said, ballooning a $54 billion hole to $183 billion.

“The day of reckoning has arrived,” the governor said. “The bills are coming due.”

Christie dangled the carrot of an immediate $500 million payment into the state pension system, should the state Legislature work to pass those pension reforms. He also called for those in the audience to put pressure on their elected officials.

The governor was pressed on the pension issue by Michael Cramer, a West Deptford police officer and 1st Vice President of PBA Local 122, who pointed out that the state pension system had been at 98 percent funding, until it was raided by former Gov. Christine Whitman, and now stands at 64 percent funding.

Christie, in turn, noted that the pension fund would still be underfunded–albeit at 75 percent, rather than 64 percent–had Whitman not raided it, and said his changes were still necessary.

“Pensions are still too rich,” he said.

Christie also railed against the teacher tenure system during the question-and-answer portion of the town hall, accusing the New Jersey Education Association of obstructing progress in the state’s schools, especially among 200 chronically failing districts.

"What I can't stand are unions who protect the worst of the worst," he said.

The governor said the current tenure system doesn’t reward excellence, nor does it provide any consequences for failure, and offered an extreme hypothetical example, bordering on hyperbole, of a pair of teachers, one of whom goes the extra mile and has successful students, the other a slacker with failing students, both getting the same pay increase year after year.

Christie said he wants to be able to fire bad teachers and increase incentives for good ones, and major changes to the tenure system were part of an announcement last week from acting state education commissioner Christopher Cerf. Under that proposal, teachers could lose tenure after just two years of poor performance.

“We have to work hard to fix these problems,” Christie said. “These are the big things.”