The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
Angry over the uncertainty of a constitutional amendment requiring the state to contribute annually to their pensions, public workers on Monday rallied outside the Statehouse and called for Senate President Stephen Sweeney to put the measure up for a vote. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
Dozens of convicted criminals are collecting more than a million dollars in taxpayer-funded retirement checks, including at least one who is still behind bars, an Asbury Park Press investigation found. Andrew Ford, Asbury Park Press Read more
State public-employee pension systems across the country are facing a combined $1 trillion in debt, and many states, including New Jersey, aren’t getting much help on the investment side these days thanks to stubbornly low interest rates. Medical breakthroughs are also testing the math of pension systems as retired workers are now living much longer. John Reitmeyer, NJSpotlight Read more
Ridgewood NJ, A new study for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks each US state’s financial health based on short- and long-term debt and other key fiscal obligations, such as unfunded pensions and healthcare benefits. This 2016 edition updates theversion the Mercatus Center published in 2015. Using the approach pioneered in 2015, the 2016 edition presents information from each state’s audited financial report in an easily accessible format, this time including Puerto Rico to provide a benchmark of poor fiscal performance.
Growing long-term obligations for pensions and healthcare benefits continue to strain the finances of state governments, highlighting the fact that state policymakers must be vigilant to consider both the short-term and the long-term consequences of their decisions. Understanding how each state is performing in regard to a variety of fiscal indicators can help policymakers as they consider the consequences of policy decisions.
The study also highlights some of the limits of the financial data reported by state governments. States release these data years after they are most relevant, and because the information is highly aggregated, analysts and the public have difficulty discerning the true fiscal position of any state.
The financial health of each state can be analyzed through the states’ own audited financial reports. By looking at states’ basic financial statistics on revenues, expenditures, cash, assets, liabilities, and debt, states may be ranked according to how easily they will be able to cover short-term and long-term bills, including pension obligations.
And of coarse New Jersey ranked in the bottom 5 along with Kentucky, Illinois,Massachusetts, and Connecticut ranked in the bottom five states, largely owing to the low amounts of cash they have on hand and their large debt obligations.
Each state has massive debt obligations. Each of the bottom five states exhibits serious signs of fiscal distress. Though their economies may be stronger than Puerto Rico’s, allowing them to better navigate fiscal crises, their large liabilities still raise serious concerns.
Unfunded liabilities continue to be a problem. High deficits and debt obligations in the forms of unfunded pensions and healthcare benefits continue to drive each state into fiscal peril. Each holds tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities—constituting a significant risk to taxpayers in both the short and the long term.
The bottom five states have changed since last year. Kentucky’s position has declined, placing it in the bottom five this year. New York is no longer in the bottom five. New Jersey and Illinois improved slightly, but remain in the bottom five. Connecticut and Massachusetts also remain in the bottom five, in slightly worse positions than last year.
Just a few miles from the Democratic National Convention, party leaders — including Senate President Stephen Sweeney and one of the campaign’s early presidential candidates — put the big New Jersey problem of public employee pensions center stage. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
The constitutional amendment requiring quarterly pension payments to public employees (ACR109) was passed by the New Jersey Assembly on Monday. Alyana Alfaro, PolitickerNJ Read more
The Auditor always loves a good fact-check, so when Gov. Chris Christie took aim at 2017 candidate for governor Phil Murphy over pensions, it was clear that merriment would soon abound. The Auditor, NJ.com Read more
With two major government worker pension court battles concluded, the next front in public workers’ fight for retirement benefits is a ballot question considering a constitutional amendment forcing the state to make annual contributions in the pension system. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on June 10, 2016 at 7:35 AM, updated June 10, 2016 at 8:05 AM
TRENTON — The state Supreme Court on Thursday morning upheld a 2011 pension reform law that stripped public workers of their annual cost-of-living adjustments.
The ruling spared the state, its taxpayers and the public pension fund itself some financial pain, but it’s a big loss for public workers who have no guarantee when, or if, the COLAs will be restored.
Here are the winners and losers in that ruling:
June 9.2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , The New Jersey Supreme Court has delivered a victory to Gov. Chris Christie and has ruled the state does not owe public pensioners cost-of-living payments suspended under a 2011 law.
In a 6-1 ruling and a major legal victory for Gov. Chris Christie’s administration, which warned that restoring the annual increases would hurl a pension system already underfunded by $59 billion closer to insolvency.
The state Supreme Court upheld a landmark 2011 law freezing cost-of-living adjustments for retired government workers, a decision effecting pensions paid to 800,000 current and former public employees.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney
Senate President Stephen Sweeney defended his proposal to constitutionally mandate billions of dollars in public-sector pension contributions on Friday from a Republican budget officer who argued that without union concessions New Jersey would go bust. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
BY SALVADOR RIZZO
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
After taking a look at Governor Christie’s new budget proposal, Fitch Ratings affirmed New Jersey’s “A” credit rating Thursday instead of issuing another downgrade.
But Fitch analysts warned that pension costs are rising rapidly while Christie and lawmakers are unable to find common ground on New Jersey’s biggest financial problems.
The ranks of retired public officials who collect more than $100,000 a year from New Jersey pensions have more than doubled in the past five years, according to an NJ Spotlight analysis of state Treasury data. Mark Lagerkvist, NJSpotlight Read more
Billions of dollars, thousands of retired workers and dozens of laws are all entangled in the latest pension dispute at the state Supreme Court. Salvador Rizzo, NJ.ComRead more
The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments later this month in a case addressing whether the state must restore retired public workers’ cost-of-living adjustments. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
