The Hoboken Tax Reform Coalition
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie proposes 2.5% yearly cap on public raises (Bergen Record)
State House Bureau
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
Governor Christie on Monday will propose a permanent 2.5 percent limit on annual raises for public workers, including police, firefighters and teachers, and will allow towns to discard civil service rules governing employee hiring and firing.
The 33-bill package of legislation marks the Republican governor's most audacious move yet against the state's public employee unions since it strikes at the heart of time-honored practices — the power to bargain for substantial raises for workers and the assurance they are covered by civil service protections. At the same time, the administration argues, those curbs on union power would give towns, school boards and public colleges new leverage to control costs...
http://www.northjersey.com/news/93219039_Christie_wants_cap_on_publ...
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jack Dawkins on -
This guy (Christie) is an A$$. Ok, I could see a 1-2 year cap on raises for public workers, but permanent! I'll say it again, what an A$$. And whenever someone suggests that we cap Wall St. bonus' - everyone goes nuts - What's wrong w/this picture???
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Permalink Reply by David on
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Jack I tend to dislike hard limits like 2.5% myself. I'm actually going wait and read a bit, find out what is really involved, before forming a strong opinion though. There is a lot in there (33 bills!) Some of it will probably be good, and some bad.
From the article it seems there is enough that Christie is proposing significant change, so at least it isnt' the status quo. For right now its nice to see a politician try and buck the system.
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Permalink Reply by Donna Antonucci on -
What I like the most about Bill 33 is that towns will have the option of opting out of civil service. What do you think would have happened with Andriani and LaBruno if they were not under civil service?
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Permalink Reply by Donna Antonucci on
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It also calls for moving Elections from April to November....Awesome... more people will vote in local elections and therefore more scrutiny.
David said:Jack I tend to dislike hard limits like 2.5% myself. I'm actually going wait and read a bit, find out what is really involved, before forming a strong opinion though. There is a lot in there (33 bills!) Some of it will probably be good, and some bad.
From the article it seems there is enough that Christie is proposing significant change, so at least it isnt' the status quo. For right now its nice to see a politician try and buck the system.
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Permalink Reply by Dave Kaplan on
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The difference is that one group is "PUBLIC" and the other is "PRIVATE."
The 2.5 cap can be lifted in any given year with voter approval. Why shouldn't the voters get to decide if increased pay is justified? If the salaries have to be raised to attract the best people, then that case should be made to the employers, the people.
There are certainly arguments against this cap as written, but to compare public workers to private ones is apples to oranges.
Jack Dawkins said:This guy (Christie) is an A$$. Ok, I could see a 1-2 year cap on raises for public workers, but permanent! I'll say it again, what an A$$. And whenever someone suggests that we cap Wall St. bonus' - everyone goes nuts - What's wrong w/this picture???
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Permalink Reply by scott m siegel on
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The wage increases should be limited to inflation. Placing a hard cap can be problematic. Christe is not an A$$ he is trying to to have NJ live within it's means. We can't keep spending and spending our way out of trouble. Blame Corzine and the democratic legislature for putting us in this mess that Christe merely inherited.
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Permalink Reply by Jack Dawkins on
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Oh Please...So Obama can blame Bush for the mess he inherited? Goose/Gander
don't get me wrong, I agree w/you that we (NJ) should live within our means; but permanent. Does Christie know what our means w/b in 15 or 20 or more years?
scott m siegel said:The wage increases should be limited to inflation. Placing a hard cap can be problematic. Christe is not an A$$ he is trying to to have NJ live within it's means. We can't keep spending and spending our way out of trouble. Blame Corzine and the democratic legislature for putting us in this mess that Christe merely inherited.
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Permalink Reply by FAP on
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Jack the 2.5 is to stop the problems of today. In 15 or 20 years time if the situation has dramatically changed the law can be changed.
Jack Dawkins said:Oh Please...So Obama can blame Bush for the mess he inherited? Goose/Gander
don't get me wrong, I agree w/you that we (NJ) should live within our means; but permanent. Does Christie know what our means w/b in 15 or 20 or more years?
scott m siegel said:The wage increases should be limited to inflation. Placing a hard cap can be problematic. Christe is not an A$$ he is trying to to have NJ live within it's means. We can't keep spending and spending our way out of trouble. Blame Corzine and the democratic legislature for putting us in this mess that Christe merely inherited.
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Permalink Reply by robert randall on
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There will obviously be some legislative give and take before anything is passed and personally I'm pretty comfortable with Christie's proposal as an opening gambit. The principles that I think shouldn't be negotiable are the ideas that compensation increases are meaningfully but fairly capped and are valued not just as wages but as a total compensation package.
The dems need to be careful here - the world has changed and public opinion is not with them. Christie's win was not an accident. Even if its not the best policy, the 2 1/2% hard cap will pass by a big margin if a referendum for a constitutional amendment is on the November ballot. The dems should focus on working with the governor to make his proposals fairer by adding flexibility to the cap. If they just say no, they risk both getting the cap as/is and getting voted out next election cycle.
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Jack: George Bush left office with a $700 billion deficit. Add in $500 TARP spent and it was $1.2 trillion. Now subtract the $500 billion that was repaid and we're back to $700 billion. Obama has shredded that obscene number. He first jacked up spending by $600 billion and then added additional spending. Combine that with a sluggish economy and Obama's first year deficit will come in just under $2 trillion! Even the NY (Al-Qaeda) Times had a front page article just a couple of days ago fretting over Obama's budget deficit. I now pine for Bush's budget (even though I hated it at the time). Please give me "only" a $700 billion deficit, please. To Gov Christe: keep slashing our bloated budget and reduce employee headcount and cost immediately.
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