file photo by Boyd Loving
Reader says politicians mismanaged the pension funds and stole money from the pension system
If those funds were invested like they were suppose to be, earning dividends, capital gains and interest, and the State of New Jersey didn’t give every county and municipality a “pension holiday” where the county and municipalities did NOT pay into the pensions as they were suppose to. Again money lost because it wasn’t invested properly…. because politicians mismanaged the pension funds and stole money from the pension system.”
I think Christie agrees: he inherited a state pension system that was broken and on the verge of collapse. He has to make up a lot more to close the underfunding gap, I don’t dispute that. But the fact of the matter is that promises that have been made are too generous. We can’t roll back what’s already been promised, but we can try to limit the growth in these liabilities for state taxpayers and property owners. Limiting the compound annual growth in these costs is a good thing for the long-term health of the state and will help to keep the pension plans solvent.
Remember that rising property taxes compound just like investments do. The higher the base, the larger the effect. Private sector workers don’t get COLAs and haven’t seen wage increases since the financial crisis; they have to save for their retirement and pay much more for healthcare than municipal workers.
