By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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on August 29, 2015 at 8:30 AM, updated August 29, 2015 at 9:34 AM
TRENTON — New Jersey’s faltering public-sector retirement system would be swamped by new pension liabilities if the state Supreme Court strikes down cuts to retirees’ pension benefits, the state Senate president said this week.
Those cuts were a critical piece of a 2011 overhaul of government worker benefits expected to save tens of billions of dollars over the coming decades. A group of retired state workers brought a lawsuit against the state challenging a freeze on cost-of-living adjustments in their pension payouts.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) told The Star-Ledger’s editorial board Thursday that a victory for the retirees and the restoration of COLAs would bankrupt the pension system, but he predicts the state will prevail.
“I don’t think they win it, to be honest with you. And I think it would cause the bankruptcy of the pension system,” he said.
https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/08/sweeney_restoring_pension_colas_would_bankrupt_nj.html