Property Tax Reform, Special Legislative Session & School Funding

12-8 & 12-9 News clips on Trenton machinations...
One thing's for sure - what is going on at the Statehouse now will impact your schools and communities directly in the near future...Read to ascertain the disturbing helter-skelter approach demonstrated by the Governor and the legislature; read to see GSCS & grassroots in action... Go to this link to watch GSCS & Glen Ridge and Metuchen parents at work at the statehouse featured on NJN Television/Thursday night’s news show: http://www.njn.net/television/webcast/njnnewsthursday.html

Star Ledger12-8 “…At the school funding committee hearing, co-chairs of the panel set up to retool the formula for dispensing more than $7 billion in annual school aid repeatedly chided witnesses for mentioning school funding in their testimony, saying they were off topic.... The new funding formula was a centerpiece of the special property tax reform effort, but it has been delayed and is not expected to be finished before the end of January. "It gives us the impression that everything is preordained and this is all for show," said Julie Raskin, a Glen Ridge school board member and mother of two, after offering truncated testimony yesterday. Her board president, Elizabeth Ginsburg, was equally critical, noting that three of the four special committees had their meetings scheduled at noon. "This holding simultaneous meetings on major topics is not democracy," she said. "What we have in New Jersey is an oligarchy." Press of Atlantic City 12-8 “The second and broader bill, S42, drew similar criticism, with most questioning the need for a powerful state-appointed county superintendent without direct accountability to voters. Several noted such an office would require a new administrative staff. “What I do see is yet another opportunity for political patronage and another layer of bureaucracy,” said Anne Newman, a mother of two from Metuchen, Middlesex County. … bills could come for a vote before the committee as early as Monday, followed by full votes of the Assembly and Senate. Several parents and education groups criticized the swiftness of the vote. At least one of the bills was released as late as Monday....…Sen. Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex) disagreed, saying the process "really is going 90 miles an hour." "The overwhelming sentiment is this is being rushed through too fast without an opportunity to digest and fully evaluate the consequences of this legislation," Buono said as she read through a thick bill addressing consolidation of government services yesterday…”

Press of Atlantic City 12-8 “The second and broader bill, S42, drew similar criticism, with most questioning the need for a powerful state-appointed county superintendent without direct accountability to voters. Several noted such an office would require a new administrative staff.

Philadelphia Inquirer 12-8 “…Legislators yesterday also held hearings on a number of other bills that emerged from the property-tax committees. Included were provisions to give more power to county school superintendents, impose accountability measures to keep school finances in check, and create a state comptroller's office to monitor public spending….Lobbyists and lawmakers alike criticized the pace at which the bills were moving. Most were introduced this week and are expected to be considered by the full Legislature next week.Legislative leaders said they had taken months of public input over the summer and fall and were merely implementing the proposals.

12-9 Home News Tribune editorial…”From time to time Jon S. Corzine has been mentioned as a possible candidate for president, but who knew that meant the presidency of the New Jersey teachers union? Given Corzine's actions of late, he sure looks to fancy the job.”

 

Asbury Park Press 12-9 “(State Treasurer) Abelow called on county officials to find government savings through consolidation and sharing services.”

 

 

 

PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY

Critics lash out at proposals to merge schools, towns

By DANIEL WALSH Staff Writer, (856) 794-5111
(Published: December 8, 2006)

TRENTON — Two state proposals encouraging consolidation of school districts and local governments drew broad opposition from education groups claiming the process was not truly democratic.

The joint state Senate-Assembly committee heard testimony yesterday on 10 bills geared toward consolidation of government services throughout the state. Two drew the most attention.

One, S49, would establish a five-year pilot program through which all the schools in a county would merge into a single countywide district.

The second bill, S42, would move school and fire district elections to November, mandate “user-friendly” school budgets, and provide for a powerful top executive overseeing all county schools.

Each was panned, particularly the pilot program.

“This totally disenfranchises local voters and boards of education,” said Barbara Keshishian, vice president of the New Jersey Education Association, a union representing teachers throughout the state.

She called the plan a “smokescreen” to hide the legislature's refusal to pay a fair share of state aid, a shortchanging the New Jersey School Boards Association placed at $700 million.

Many echoed Keshishian's criticisms of the countywide school district concept, which is patterned after Maryland's county-based school system. The bill calls for the decision on such a merger to be made solely by a vote of a county freeholder board with agreement from a county superintendent of schools. Currently, the state has no legislation allowing for countywide school districts.

Assemblyman Joseph Malone said the vote should belong not with freeholders but rather directly with the county's voters via referendum. Even then, he questioned the wisdom of such a plan. Several school officials agreed, saying a pilot would dismantle schools' administrative structure with no means for reconstructing in the event a countywide district does not last.

“If it does fail, how do you pick up the pieces in five years?” said Malone, R-Burlington. “I don't know the answer.”

The bill appears to target the state's more rural, less populated counties. It excludes nine counties with two or more Abbott districts, as well as Bergen County, one of the state's three most populous counties.

Among those that would be eligible are Cape May, Atlantic, Ocean and Salem counties.

The second and broader bill, S42, drew similar criticism, with most questioning the need for a powerful state-appointed county superintendent without direct accountability to voters. Several noted such an office would require a new administrative staff.

“What I do see is yet another opportunity for political patronage and another layer of bureaucracy,” said Anne Newman, a mother of two from Metuchen, Middlesex County.

The concept of a county superintendent currently exists, but with a much smaller scope.

The idea of a November school board election also riled critics. School-board association representative Eva Nagy said moving the April school elections to draw more voters is a good idea, but November is the wrong time. The right time is May, when municipalities with nonpartisan governing bodies hold their elections, she said.

State Sen. Joe Kyrillos, R-Monmouth, Middlesex, said some of the consolidation initiatives don't go far enough, including with regard to schools. His proposed commission on local government consolidation doesn't include schools. He said it should.

He also said the commission's recommendations on municipal consolidations should be put to regional votes, rather than giving affected towns veto power. “A town that never should've been a town to begin with” should not be allowed to hold up its dissolution or merger with another town, Kyrillos said.

The bills could come for a vote before the committee as early as Monday, followed by full votes of the Assembly and Senate. Several parents and education groups criticized the swiftness of the vote. At least one of the bills was released as late as Monday.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, the committee's co-chairman, dismissed those concerns, noting that legislators have been openly considering the issues for months.

“These bills didn't just pop into the universe last week,” Wisniewski said.

Staff writer Diane D'Amico contributed to this report.

To e-mail Daniel Walsh at The Press:

DWalsh@pressofac.com

ELIGIBLE COUNTIES

The following are eligible for the creation of a countywide school district: Cape May, Atlantic, Ocean, Salem, Gloucester, Mercer, Morris, Hunterdon, Warren, Sussex, Somerset.

Governor puts brakes on pension reform bill

Effort on property taxes falters as deadline looms

Friday, December 08, 2006

BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL AND DEBORAH HOWLETT

Star-Ledger Staff

Gov. Jon Corzine gutted a sweeping public employee pension reform bill yesterday, ensuring that lawmakers will reach a Dec. 31 deadline with little to show for their four-month effort to rein in soaring property taxes.

Lawmakers preparing a package of pension and benefits changes were asked by Corzine to strip out all provisions affecting unionized government workers, for the sake of current contract negotiations.

"Why did we go through this exercise and really foist this hoax and mirage on the people of New Jersey and say we're going to give property tax relief when we now know we're doing nothing?" Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole (R-Essex) asked. "Charlie Brown, the football's being taken away by Lucy for the 15th time."

O'Toole, a member of the special committee set up to recommend changes in the state's pension and health benefits program, spoke at the end of a long day of backroom meetings and public displays of frustration at the Statehouse.

The four special legislative committees set up in August to tackle the property tax problem met yesterday to take another look at scores of proposals they had developed -- but left a tangle of unfinished business at the end of the day.

"We're playing games," said Sen. Joseph Doria (D-Hudson), a member of the special committee set up to consider school funding reforms. "We in the Legislature are more responsible for perpetrating frauds on the public on a continuing basis, because we pass these things because we've got to do it to make ourselves look good."

At the school funding committee hearing, co-chairs of the panel set up to retool the formula for dispensing more than $7 billion in annual school aid repeatedly chided witnesses for mentioning school funding in their testimony, saying they were off topic.

The new funding formula was a centerpiece of the special property tax reform effort, but it has been delayed and is not expected to be finished before the end of January.

"It gives us the impression that everything is preordained and this is all for show," said Julie Raskin, a Glen Ridge school board member and mother of two, after offering truncated testimony yesterday.

Her board president, Elizabeth Ginsburg, was equally critical, noting that three of the four special committees had their meetings scheduled at noon.

"This holding simultaneous meetings on major topics is not democracy," she said. "What we have in New Jersey is an oligarchy."

The other three special committees encountered similar detours in bringing property tax reform to the table.

At the Special Committee on Constitutional Reform, lawmakers and members of Corzine's staff crossed swords over a plan to expand the penalty for building on preserved farmland (SCR121). The dispute is likely to delay consideration of the measure for a month.

Leaders of the Special Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services pulled a proposed bill to revamp property reassessments (A14) after its sponsor discovered it did not do what he had intended.

Of the 98 reform measures lawmakers proposed just two weeks ago, only nine will be on the agendas of the Senate and Assembly when they meet Monday. Those bills include one to set up an independent commission to recommend town mergers, one to expand the powers of county school superintendents, and one to eliminate "inactive" state boards and councils.

Among the key reform measures missing are a new school funding formula, a proposal to extend 20 percent property tax credits to homeowners making less than $100,000, and dozens of measures aimed at reining in the soaring costs of retirement programs and health insurance for state and local governments.

Lawmakers, who had proposed 41 pension and benefits changes, on Monday proposed a pared-down package (S40) with 24 of those changes. But late yesterday, Corzine sent lawmakers a letter requesting that any provision affecting state or local public employees be stripped from the bill.

That would leave just 13 proposals, most of them prospective changes to retirement benefits for future elected officials, which lawmakers may take up again at some later date.

"It's a watered-down version of the watered-down version," complained O'Toole.

Corzine convinced legislative leaders that some of the changes would endanger his administration's current contract negotiations with state workers unions.

"The effort to address these issues in the context of collective negotiations and discussions with public sector unions might well be significantly compromised if the noted changes were to be implemented legislatively at this time," Corzine said in a letter to Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden).

Codey and Roberts later released a statement saying they "were prepared to move forward" but had "no intention of advancing a bill that the governor won't support."

That leaves all the responsibility for pension and benefits reform -- which lawmakers say could have saved taxpayers as much as $1.2 billion a year -- on Corzine's shoulders as he negotiates with union leaders.

"The governor says we need to respect the collective bargaining process, and the Legislature agrees," Codey and Roberts said. "With that said, it's not sufficient to just have negotiations. What's needed are successful negotiations."

Corzine's actions are a victory for the state's labor unions, some of which said they may consider canceling or scaling back a massive protest scheduled for Monday.

Eric Richard, legislative affairs coordinator for the AFL-CIO, said union officials will decide today whether to have the rally, but said he did not consider the changes to the reform legislation a victory for labor.

"I consider it a victory for the collective-bargaining process," said Richard. "We still have to go to the table. This isn't over yet."

Staff writer Tom Hester contributed to this report.

 Corzine blocks benefit reform

By PETE McALEER Statehouse Bureau, (609) 292-4935

Published: Friday, December 8, 200  Press of Atlantic City

SLIDESHOW

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TRENTON — Plans for major changes to public employee benefits were sidetracked Thursday when Gov. Jon S. Corzine asked legislative leaders to let him haggle at the collective bargaining table.

In a letter to Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr. and Senate President Richard J. Codey, Corzine asked that the Legislature not move forward with a list of bills it had been prepared to vote on in an effort to lower the nation's highest property taxes. Among them: a switch to a 401(k)-type program for unionized part-time employees, a “one-job one-pension” requirement and a provision to average pension payouts according to the highest five years of salary instead of the highest three.

The letter came two days after Corzine convinced the Legislature not to act on bills that would have increased the retirement age, required public employees to share the cost of health benefits and decreased the value of benefits for new employees.

“The effort to address these issues in the context of collective negotiations and discussions with public sector unions might well be significantly compromised if the noted changes were to be implemented legislatively at this time,” Corzine wrote. “I need the flexibility to pursue good faith negotiations.”

The state contract for public workers expires July 1. Unions have demanded changes be implemented through negotiations, not legislation.

 

In a joint statement, Roberts and Codey said they had been prepared to move forward with their reform package until receiving Corzine's letter.

“However, we have no intention of advancing a bill that the governor won't support,” they said.

After Corzine's letter, a bipartisan legislative committee formed to make changes to public employee benefits whittled 48 recommendations to 12, all of them dealing only with elected officials. Even those changes — such as a ban on dual office holding and a one-pension, one-job requirement for elected officials — apply only to future lawmakers.

Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole, R-Bergen, Passaic, Essex, called the final package “a watered-down version of a watered-down bill” and compared the situation to the Peanuts comic strip character Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown one more time.

“Nothing gets done in Trenton,” O'Toole said, his voice rising. “It's not going to happen.”

Assemblywoman Nellie Pou, D-Passaic, Bergen, who co-chaired the public employee benefits committee, said the committee's three months of work would still prove successful as long as Corzine follows up on the recommendations when negotiating.

“If we ignore these problems any longer, the long-term consequences will be financially catastrophic,” Pou said.

Asked if Corzine should have sent his letter months ago, at the start of the legislature's hearings, Pou answered flatly “Yes.”

Pou's co-chair on the committee, state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Middlesex, Somerset, Union, did not even show up for Thursday's hearing.

State Sen. Bill Gormley, R-Atlantic, a member of the committee, said he thought the Legislature had the authority to pursue many of the recommendations.

“If the governor thinks it's best to do this by negotiations, he is accepting the full weight on his shoulders,” Gormley said.

Public worker unions praised Corzine's move.

“We're glad that he recognized and affirmed to the Legislature that the issues should be addressed at the bargaining table,” said Bob Master, spokesman for the Communications Workers of America.

Assemblyman Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, said he had been prepared to vote for the pension bill and told union members as much during a public hearing Wednesday night in Atlantic City.

“If it's done through negotiations, fine,” Whelan said. “We just can't pretend the problem isn't there.”

Three other major cornerstones of the Legislature's special session on property taxes — a new school funding formula, a 20 percent cut in property-tax bills and a cap on property-tax increases — still have not been turned into legislation.

“The people want their property taxes lower,” Gormley said. “They hear scenarios like this and they go, ‘What was this all about?' What was the dollar amount saved? As of now, that dollar amount is zero.”

To e-mail Pete McAleer at The Press:

PMcAleer@pressofac.com

 

Corzine caves on benefits  - Editorial

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/9/06

One of the few bright spots about the work of the special legislative committees that studied property tax reform was the series of recommendations for reducing pension and other benefit costs of public employees. Now, even that flickering flame has been dimmed, if not extinguished.

 

Gov. Corzine, who back in the summer implored legislators to "make history" and to be "bold, bold, bold" in devising ways to reduce property taxes, sent a letter Thursday to Senate President Richard J. Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr., urging them to delay action on several employee benefits reform bills central to that mission.

 

Corzine, who could have spared the committees lots of trouble by telling them to back off on those reforms weeks ago, told Codey and Roberts to defer action on most bills aimed at implementing the reforms because it might compromise ongoing contract talks with the state's public employee unions.

 

Corzine's request, and Roberts' and Codey's unflinching willingness to grant it, constitute a major victory for the unions, who had lobbied furiously to take the issues out of the legislative arena. It is highly unlikely the state will achieve at the negotiating table anything close to what was recommended by the legislative committee studying benefits reform.

 

The letter gave Roberts and Codey the political cover they needed to avoid locking horns with the unions. In a laughable response to the letter, they wrote: "We were prepared to move forward with the pension and benefits reform legislation. However, we have no intention of advancing a bill that the governor won't support." What a crock. Codey said earlier this week that the proposed public employee reforms would be handled through negotiations, not legislatively.

 

Corzine and the Democratic leadership in the Legislature have squandered a golden opportunity to establish broad parameters for contract terms at all levels of government — not just state government. The state employees affected by the ongoing negotiations with Corzine comprise fewer than 20 percent of all public employees in New Jersey. The governor and Legislature should have approved reform legislation that would have established a uniform set of benefit minimums and maximums that could have paved the way for permanent tax relief and ensured that all public employees were treated equally.

 

The Legislature's decision not to exercise its prerogative to establish reasonable minimums for employee health care contributions, standardized rules for pension eligibility and payouts, and maximums on allowable paid holidays, vacation days and sick days will continue the pattern of costly hodgepodge negotiations whose outcomes will stem more from the skill and clout of bargaining units than fundamental fairness to public employees and taxpayers.

 

Corzine's sellout to the unions comes on the heels of the so-called 20 percent property tax relief plan — one of the biggest flimflams ever perpetrated on the taxpaying public. Codey and Roberts announced earlier this week that at least 70 percent of New Jersey homeowners would receive 20 percent reductions in their property tax bills through a tax credit. Although they still haven't revealed how the state will pay for it, it appears the chief funding source will be recycled tax dollars.

 

To illustrate: Nonsenior taxpayers with gross incomes of $60,000 to $70,000 a year, for example, would see their median property tax of $4,451 reduced by $890. If you subtract the current homestead rebate of $350, the credit is actually $540. If you subtract the state's estimate of the average cost to families of this year's increase in the sales tax — $275 — the net tax reduction is $265.

 

In effect, that 20 percent property tax reduction is a net tax decrease of less than 6 percent. And most of that will be offset by increases in next year's school, county and municipal budgets. The word "sham" immediately comes to mind.

 

The tax credit shell game, the decision to negotiate benefit reforms and the legislative committees' recommendations to increase school spending by $1 billion and to reject mandated school and municipal consolidation all point to state leadership that is incurably wed to perpetuating the system.

 

If the system is to be changed, voters will have to change their legislators.

 

 

 

Posted on Fri, Dec. 08, 2006  Phildaelphia Inquirer
Corzine:Change pension bills The move angered many Democrats, who had been working on efforts to address soaring costs. By Jennifer Moroz and Elisa Ung Inquirer Trenton Bureau TRENTON - Gov. Corzine, who last month beseeched Democratic lawmakers to take bolder action to cut the country's highest property taxes, yesterday asked them to strip down legislation aimed at reducing the soaring cost of public pensions and benefits. In a move that had many legislators - including fellow Democrats - fuming, Corzine asked that he be allowed to address most measures relating to rank-and-file public employees at the bargaining table with union leaders. The targeted proposals include provisions that would prohibit employees from earning pension credits for more than one job, require them to forfeit their pension if convicted of abusing their office, and eliminating a sick leave and injury program. Corzine's request came just as lawmakers were getting ready to hold their first public hearing on the pensions-and-benefits legislation, as well as several other bills that emerged from a months-long special legislative session on the property-tax issue. Some lawmakers accused the governor of caving in the face of union opposition, and questioned why they had spent the last several months working to make recommendations they were never going to be allowed to enact. State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D., Union), who co-chaired the special legislative panel that made the pension and benefit recommendations, said he was "concerned with the way the process has turned." "I thought it was a genuine, bipartisan effort to do some good. Now I'm not so sure," Scutari said. "Legitimately, I'm concerned about passing a bill that's a watered-down version." Scutari, who refused to sponsor the legislation and did not show up for a hearing on it yesterday, added: "I believe the governor has the best interests of the state in mind. However, I certainly question the way we're trying to get there." In a letter sent to legislative leaders yesterday, Corzine said that while lawmakers had the authority to enact some of the proposals at issue, doing so could compromise negotiations with the state's public-sector unions. Most state contracts are up June 30. "I need the flexibility to pursue good-faith negotiations," Corzine wrote, pointing out that legislators could still act on recommended changes for appointed full-time and elected officials. Senate President Richard J. Codey (D., Essex) and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D., Camden) said in a statement they would respect Corzine's wishes, adding, "We have no intention of advancing a bill that the governor won't support." The last-minute change of course seemed to appease union leaders. Chris Shelton, district vice president of the Communications Workers of America, which represents 50,000 local and state public employees, praised Corzine for "doing what needs to be done." "I think leaving it to collective bargaining is the way to go, which has been our position all along," Shelton said. Some Republicans, meanwhile, accused Corzine of turning the effort to address New Jersey's onerous property taxes into a farce. Since August, four special legislative committees have been studying ways to reduce the property-tax burden by cutting costs and increasing state aid for homeowners and schools, whose spending is the prime driver of property taxes. The committees released their recommendations last month and introduced accompanying legislation this week. "As far as we've come, we've come back to this room and accomplished nothing. Absolutely nothing," said Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole (R., Passaic), who sits on the pension and benefits committee. "This makes New Jersey look ridiculous." Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D., Passaic), the panel's other co-chair, agreed the governor's letter "perhaps should have been received three months ago." But she and Roberts said Corzine's action didn't mean the recommendations wouldn't become reality. "It's more that we do them and less how we do them," Roberts said. "We have an obligation to honor the governor's request and let him pursue these issues." Legislators yesterday also held hearings on a number of other bills that emerged from the property-tax committees. Included were provisions to give more power to county school superintendents, impose accountability measures to keep school finances in check, and create a state comptroller's office to monitor public spending. Lobbyists and lawmakers alike criticized the pace at which the bills were moving. Most were introduced this week and are expected to be considered by the full Legislature next week. Legislative leaders said they had taken months of public input over the summer and fall and were merely implementing the proposals. Sen. Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex) disagreed, saying the process "really is going 90 miles an hour." "The overwhelming sentiment is this is being rushed through too fast without an opportunity to digest and fully evaluate the consequences of this legislation," Buono said as she read through a thick bill addressing consolidation of government services yesterday. Others questioned whether any of the measures would actually produce lower property taxes. "No one should confuse activity with accomplishment," said Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance (R., Hunterdon). "Not one significant cost-control measure was discussed in the committees today." Retorted Codey: "What I had envisioned was giving New Jersey homeowners property-tax relief, and I think we're rounding the corner toward that goal." Yesterday in Trenton Gov. Corzine asked legislative leaders to gut a bill aimed at reducing the property-tax burden by tackling the soaring cost of public pensions and benefits. Corzine angered many fellow Democrats by requesting that most provisions be addressed in union negotiations for all state employees except elected and appointed officials. Lawmakers also heard testimony on bills that would increase the powers of county superintendents, create a special commission to recommend town mergers for voter approval and increase the accountability of district spending. Votes are scheduled for next week on many of the bills. Contact staff writer Elisa Ung at 609-989-9016 or eung@phillynews.com.

 

Democrats say Corzine turnabout threatens reform

Codey, Roberts insist lawmakers felt duped

Saturday, December 09, 2006

BY DEBORAH HOWLETT AND DUNSTAN McNICHOL

Star-Ledger Staff

Gov. Jon Corzine's abrupt refusal to support legislation trimming public employee benefits makes it less likely the Legislature can muster the votes to adopt other controversial measures aimed at reining in property taxes, top lawmakers said yesterday.

"It certainly makes the climate a lot harder," Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) said during a joint appearance with Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) before The Star-Ledger editorial board yesterday. "Some attitudes and opinions have changed."

The leaders said Democrats who had backed a reform bill in the face of union opposition felt duped after Corzine on Thursday said he wanted them to strip out every element that would affect government workers covered by collective bargaining agreements.

"I think there is a fair amount of frustration on the part of members that they extended themselves, demonstrated courage, and it has not led to where it should, in the short term," Roberts said.

Corzine said yesterday he was not attempting to derail pension and benefit reforms, but to shift the discussion of key changes out of the Statehouse and onto the contract bargaining table, where he said they rightly belong.

He acknowledged that places squarely on his shoulders the burden of delivering what he estimated as "hundreds of millions of dollars" of savings that could result from changes in health, retirement and other benefits for state and local public employees. The administration is currently bargaining with public worker unions for new contracts to take effect July 1.

"I'm going to have to stand responsible for what we come up with in the collective bargaining contract," Corzine said after a speech to county officials at a breakfast meeting in Trenton. "It's very clear we intended to deal with many, if not all, of those issues."

Corzine said any last-minute confusion over details in the pension reform bill was his fault. "There was some breakdown in communication," he said. "I'll take the responsibility for not being as detailed as we should have been when we talked about some big picture items."

Codey and Roberts said that as a result, they are now finding it harder to persuade lawmakers to continue backing other pending reform measures, such as plans to impose new oversight and limits on local school boards. Those plans are critical elements of the Legislature's ongoing efforts to pare down local government costs and control soaring prope

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rty tax bills.

An early test of the Legislature's resolve will come Monday, when the full Senate and Assembly are scheduled to consider nine property tax reform measures as thousands of teachers and unionized workers rally in protest outside the Statehouse.

 

 

 

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No tax increases planned next year

State treasurer says gov's budget won't rely on raising revenues

Abelow called on county officials to find government savings through consolidation and sharing services.

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/9/06

BY JONATHAN TAMARI
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

TRENTON — Gov. Corzine's administration does not plan to increase taxes in the next state budget, state Treasurer Bradley Abelow told county officials Friday.

"We're not going to look to increase taxes in the next budget," Abelow said at a New Jersey Association of Counties conference at the Marriott Lafayette Yard near the Statehouse. "We think there is enough taxpaying out there."

Abelow worried higher taxes could wind up "choking the economy." Job growth is already slow; the number of nonfarm jobs in New Jersey — 4,081,500 — was the same in October it was five months earlier.

Abelow's comments came about two and a half months before Corzine is scheduled to lay out his budget plans for fiscal year 2008. Corzine raised the state sales tax from 6 to 7 percent last year in an effort to balance the budget. He has repeatedly called for sound fiscal policies that ensure the state has enough money to pay for all its programs and needs. But he also has said improving the business climate is a top priority.

Abelow said the state deficit heading into the next budget will be between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, down from roughly $4.5 billion a year ago.

Abelow called on county officials to find government savings through consolidation and sharing services.

A recent report on state budgets from the independent National Conference of State Legislatures stated New Jersey's current budget is stable and on target.

Jonathan Tamari: jtamari@gannett.com

 

Corzine isn't doing taxpayers any favors

Home News Tribune Online 12/9/06  Editorial

From time to time Jon S. Corzine has been mentioned as a possible candidate for president, but who knew that meant the presidency of the New Jersey teachers union? Given Corzine's actions of late, he sure looks to fancy the job.

We're talking, of course, about the governor's decision on Thursday to trash a series of critical reforms that would scale back the overly generous pension and health benefits enjoyed by educators and other union workers employed by the state. Corzine insists that all benefits reforms be negotiated at the bargaining table — a tactic, history shows, that is certain to fail. The reforms as drafted would have saved the state an estimated $1 billion.

In one fell swoop, Corzine also managed to render meaningless much of the work done by four legislative committees responsible for compiling a list of nearly 100 ways to ease New Jersey's property-tax burden. The panels produced a fair number of quality ideas, yet everyone knew the tough part always was going to be the implementation of those initiatives over the objections of certain-to-be-rabid special-interest groups, those organizations and their memberships that benefit so enormously from the status quo and fear its demise. Now, with the governor hoisting the union flag, that task has grown more difficult than anyone ever imagined.

Worse, the caterwauling from organized labor isn't over. In fact, it's about to hit fever pitch on Monday when the New Jersey Education Association still plans to hold a Statehouse rally against any cuts to benefits. This first day of the work week won't be any such thing for thousands of New Jersey teachers who skip school — and their obligation to their students — to march on Trenton. There's even speculation that Monday's exodus from lessons might shut down classrooms and schools.

So much for a commitment to education. And for what?

Teachers enjoy perks that few private-sector workers can ever imagine receiving, perks that are bankrupting the state, perks that are breaking the backs of New Jersey taxpayers. Consider that a large percentage of private-sector workers who live in New Jersey are struggling for pay increases that, if those people are lucky, barely keep up with inflation; they are paying thousands of dollars out of their own pockets for health insurance before they ever see a doctor — if they receive health insurance at all; they are forking over expensive co-pays for drugs and sick visits that strain their wallets, and they are saving for old age largely on their own, through payroll deductions and 401(k) investment accounts.

All the while those same private workers are reaching into their own pockets to pay for the gilded compensation packages that teachers enjoy, to the point that the education union and its members have come to think of those handsome benefits as some sort of statutory right.

Average teaching salaries in New Jersey start at more than $40,000 and can ramp up to better than six figures. There are still teachers who pay nothing for their health plans. Even when they do, point-of-service fees are comparatively small. Teachers retire with guaranteed pensions based on the average of their top three earning years. To top it off, teachers receive lifetime job protection after three years, unheard of anywhere else.

Something has to give, but that only can happen if something else doesn't budge: the will of lawmakers to stay the course. Otherwise, there's only one answer left: Can anyone say "constitutional convention?"

12-10-06 articles

Another 'holiday' for some schools

Teacher protest rally forces Monday closing

Saturday, December 09, 2006

BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL AND BRENDAN BERLS

Star-Ledger Staff

Classrooms in several school districts around the state will be empty on Monday as officials have canceled classes to accommodate thousands of teachers traveling to Trenton for a union protest rally against proposals to trim public employee pensions and benefits.

The Morris School District and the South Amboy school system sent letters home to parents yesterday announcing the unscheduled closing.

"Since the schools can't guarantee an effective day of instruction without the presence of our staff, the district schools will be closed," South Amboy Superintendent Robert Sheedy wrote. "This day will be rescheduled after evaluating our use of the emergency snow day allotment. ... I apologize for any inconvenience that this adjustment to the school calendar will cause."

Officials in the Morris School District decided to cancel Monday's classes after 80 teachers notified their superiors they would not be at work.

"The decision to close schools was not made lightly," Superintendent Thomas Ficarra wrote in a letter to parents. "However, as the number of teachers notifying us of their anticipated absences continued to rise, it became apparent that we would not be able to ensure a safe environment and quality instruction for our students."

For parents, the sudden day off meant a scramble for child care.

"I'm sorry the teachers are unhappy, but why do we all have to pay?" said Karen Smith, a Morris Township mom with children in grades 2, 4 and 6.

Smith, a stay-at-home parent, considers herself lucky.

"I'm not too badly put out by it, but I know a lot of people who are," she said. "Parents (who work) are having to take the day off, which kind of stinks. I'm kind of annoyed that I'm just finding out about this now."

To make up for missing Monday, Morris students will have to attend school on May 25, which had been scheduled as a staff development day for teachers. The teachers will make up for the missed development day by coming to work on June 25, said Mary Donohoe, a district spokeswoman.

In other communities, such as Parsippany, Randolph and West Windsor-Plainsboro, local officials bargained with union officials to keep enough teachers on hand to conduct scheduled classes.

In Parsippany -- Morris County's largest district, with 7,200 students -- Superintendent Lee Seitz said enough substitutes were lined up after the teachers union warned early in the week that approximately 75 teachers would be taking a personal day to attend the rally. Hiring 75 substitutes, about three times as many as on a typical day, will cost the district about $7,000.

In Randolph, Superintendent Max Riley said he and the teachers union president had negotiated to ensure that the schools were open Monday. They agreed to allow 40 of the roughly 500 teachers in the district to go to the rally, a figure based on the availability of substitutes.

"I don't anticipate any problems," Riley said. The 40 substitutes will cost the Randolph district $2,800 to $3,600.

In West Windsor-Plainsboro, a sprawling Mercer County school district, officials persuaded the local union to send just 140 teachers to the rally -- far fewer than the 540 who had sought the day off.

Officials in Cinnaminson, Gloucester City and the Burlington County Institute of Technology were not so fortunate. They have announced plans to shut Monday in the face of widespread teacher absenteeism.

Sue Epstein, Al Frank, John Wihbey, the Times of Trenton and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

	Posted on Sat, Dec. 09, 2006
	Teachers' rally plan will close schools So many teachers plan to attend a Trenton union rally that several South Jersey schools will not hold classes. By Elisa Ung Inquirer Trenton Bureau TRENTON - Several South Jersey schools will close Monday because so many of their teachers and staff members will be attending a Statehouse rally protesting proposed cuts in public-employee benefits. Cinnaminson, Gloucester City and Burlington County Institute of Technology students will have the day off, joining students in several schools in Central and North Jersey. Dolores Szymanski, superintendent of the Burlington technology institute, said nearly half of the school's 300 employees had given notice that they planned to attend the rally. "I always make it my first goal to make sure that I have an environment where I know the kids are going to have a learning experience - and I wasn't certain, with the rally going on on Monday, that I was going to be able to provide that," Szymanski said. Gloucester City officials had a difficult time making the decision, knowing it would mean that eligible students would have to go without a subsidized lunch. But they got more requests for time off from teachers than they could find substitutes for, said spokeswoman Lynda Lathrop. "Our primary responsibility is to provide adequate instruction and, if we had so many substitutes, we couldn't provide adequate instruction," Lathrop said. She said the school had received some concerned calls, but that most parents understood after she explained the situation. All the schools that will be closed will make the day up elsewhere in the school year, on a previously scheduled day off. Lynne Strickland, of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, said closing schools for the rally "is disruptive to the education process and we're worried that that's happening." "There are those out there who think it is inappropriate, given that a holiday week is coming up in the next week," Strickland said. The rally was originally planned to protest proposed cuts in pensions and benefits for public employees that emerged from a legislative effort to overhaul the nation's highest property taxes. But this week, Gov. Corzine took most of the disputed recommendations out of the legislation, saying he wanted to address them at the bargaining table with the unions. Most state contracts are up June 30. The unions were pleased with Corzine's action, but that didn't mean they weren't going to rally. "We're still facing a major attack at the bargaining table on our health care and pension and on our wages," said Bob Master, regional legislative political director of the Communications Workers of America, the state's largest union. "All the unions feel like even though the legislative process may be changed a little bit, there's still a real scapegoating of public employees for fiscal problems." The rally will take place on a busy day in Trenton when both the Assembly and Senate plan voting sessions. But union leaders said only they, not politicians, would be speaking at this one. Even Corzine, who in June gave an impassioned speech of support to the last big Trenton union rally, will not be attending or speaking, his office said. Contact staff writer Elisa Ung at 609-989-9016 or eung@phillynews.com.