The issue is dire for New Jersey regardless of the ruling, which simply determines how quickly the gap gets funded. In the meantime, the state’s retirement burden continues to grow, casting a shadow on its budget and driving down its credit rating, which has already been cut a record nine times.
Full Payment
David Rosen, the legislative budget officer, told lawmakers last month that it may not be “fiscally possible” to come up with the amount needed to make a full payment. Assistant Attorney General Jean Reilly told the Supreme Court at a hearing last month that the governor is willing to pay an additional $200 million before the fiscal year ends.
Christie’s bid for state pension reform helped propel him into the national spotlight and could continue to haunt him as he weighs a run for the White House in 2016. The issue may leave an opening for Republican rivals who also have gubernatorial experience such as Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Jeb Bush in Florida and John Kasich in Ohio.
Those men have the ability to say “we ran our state a lot better than you have,” Patrick Murray, director of polling at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, said in a phone interview on Monday.
Christie’s total 2016 spending plan of $33.8 billion has yet to be scheduled for a vote in the legislature as it approaches the June 30 deadline. A separate union lawsuit is also pending on a $3.1 billion commitment that Christie cut to $1.3 billion.
The case is Burgos v. New Jersey, L-1267-14, Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer County (Trenton).