the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Newark NJ, Essex County Executive Democrat Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. today called upon Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin to work together and re-enact the 2 percent on annual salary increases for police officers and firefighters that are awarded through arbitration. First adopted at the behest of Governor Chris Christie in 2011 and renewed in 2014, it sunset on December 31, 2017.
“We all agree that counties and municipalities need additional resources to control expenses and stem the rise of property taxes, and over the last several months there has been great debate and competing ideas on how this should be done. Debate is healthy, but the 2 percent salary cap on police and fire employees has proven to be effective and should be re-established,” DiVincenzo said.
The County Executive noted that because of the 2 percent salary cap on public safety raises and a 2 percent cap on tax increases (which is still in effect), Essex County has been able to limit its annual tax increase to an average of just 1.65 percent over the last eight years.
“Without the 2 percent salary cap, local governments could, once again, find themselves on the losing end of arbitration proceedings which historically have awarded higher percentage raises – clearly placing the best interests of public employee unions over the taxpayers,” DiVincenzo said. “If public employee salaries were to once again rise uncontrollably, local governments would be forced to make difficult decisions to stay within the 2 percent cap for tax increasing – having to choose between laying off employees or cutting services to balance budgets.”