It’s the biggest issue nobody seems ready to do anything about. The Transportation Trust Fund, that mechanism for funding bridge and highway maintenance and mass transit projects, is mired in debt and unable to fund much of anything nowadays. But what is this TTF? What was it supposed to do and how did it get so broke. Martin Robbins spent more than a quarter century as a policy planner for the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the Port Authority, NJ Transit and a host of other transportation entities. David Cruz, NJTV News Read more
N.J. lawmakers call for replacement of Port Authority Bus Terminal
Two North Jersey Democratic leaders joined state Senate President Stephen Sweeney at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan on Tuesday to call for the building’s immediate replacement. Christopher Maag, The Record Read more
Pay attention, government workers — and taxpayers — in New York and New Jersey.
Last week, letters informed these Teamsters they’re facing cuts in benefits of up to 60 percent. Why? Because their pension fund is going broke.
The Central States Pension Fund covers workers from more than 1,500 trucking, construction and other companies in 37 states. Thanks to trucking deregulation, declining union rolls, aging workers and weak stock-market returns, the fund is now paying out $3.46 in benefits for every $1 it takes in. That’s $2 billion a year in red ink.
At that rate, doom arrives in 2026, sinking Central States and maybe even the federal fund that’s supposed to insure such private-sector pensions. Retirees would get even lower benefits — or maybe nothing at all.
Which is why Congress and President Obama last year gave “multi-employer” funds like Central States the green light to restructure if necessary — and slice benefits.
Average pay and benefits $52,688 higher than non-gov’t employees
BY: Elizabeth Harrington
October 8, 2015 2:45 pm
Employees for the federal government earn far more than their counterparts in the private sector, according to a new study by the Cato Institute.
Federal workers’ pay and benefits were 78 percent higher than private employees, who earned an average of $52,688 less than public sector workers last year.
The study found that federal government workers earned an average of $84,153 in 2014, compared to the private sector’s average of $56,350. Cato based its findings on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
But when adding in benefits pay for federal workers, the difference becomes more dramatic. Federal employees made $119,934 in total compensation last year, while private sector workers earned $67,246, a difference of over $52,000, or 78 percent.
Nearly 10 percent more government workers retired in the first seven months of the year than in the same period last year, a rise some labor leaders say is a response to Gov. Chris Christie’s overtures toward cutting benefits. Samantha Marcus,NJ.com Read more
Two things are clear. One, the state’s worst problem, by far, is a growing budget shortfall that leaves it unable to fund the outsized pension promises made by politicians. Two, elected leaders won’t even start trying to address that problem until residents make them do so by demanding proposals, voicing their preferences and voting for those taking action. The Press of Atlantic City Read more
New Jersey ranks worst in the country for state debt, according to a new nationwide study.
Each state taxpayer would need to pay $52,300 to erase New Jersey’s existing bills — including public pensions and retiree health benefits — reports Truth in Accounting, a think tank in Chicago.
Among “sinkhole states,” New Jersey was followed by Connecticut, $48,600 debt burden per taxpayer; Illinois, $45,000; Kentucky, $32,600; and Massachusetts, $27,400.
In the past year, the debt per taxpayer in New Jersey increased by $16,300, or 45 percent, according to the nonprofit.
The findings are consistent with a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of State Treasury records that found the Garden State’s pension and health benefit deficit for public workers is nearing $200 billion.
Earlier this week, New Jersey Watchdog reported:
New Jersey’s public pensions are underfunded by $113.1 billion. The state bears $80.5 billion of that burden. Local governments are responsible for the remaining $32.6 billion. State and local governments are also on the hook for $81.4 billion in unfunded health benefits for retired and active workers. The state owes $65 billion; the local share is $16.4 billion. The total shortfall is $194.5 billion – more than $60,000 per household. The figure is nearly six times higher than New Jersey’s total annual budget, currently $33.8 billion.
At the present pace, those unfunded liabilities will exceed $210 billion next year.
In its report, Truth in Accounting reported states have a combined total of $1.3 trillion in debt despite balanced budget requirements in 49 states.
The lack of truthful, timely and transparent financial information is increasing cynicism and mistrust and it is a risk for our representative form of government,” said Shelia Weinberg, CEO of Truth in Accounting. “Citizens do not have the information need to hold their politician accountable, much less cast an informed vote.”
The full study is scheduled for release next week.
State governments have had a hard time restoring budget reserves since the last recession, and New Jersey remains among those struggling the most, according to new state-by-state fiscal data released by The Pew Charitable Trusts. John Reitmeyer, NJSpotlight Read more
Observed on the first Monday in September, Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, parades and athletic events.
Labor Day, an annual celebration of workers and their achievements, originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters. In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages. People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.
As manufacturing increasingly supplanted agriculture as the wellspring of American employment, labor unions, which had first appeared in the late 18th century, grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay. Many of these events turned violent during this period, including the infamous Haymarket Riot of 1886, in which several Chicago policemen and workers were killed. Others gave rise to longstanding traditions: On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history.
The idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it.Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later, when a watershed moment in American labor history brought workers’ rights squarely into the public’s view. On May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives.
On June 26, the American Railroad Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers. In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.More than a century later, the true founder of Labor Day has yet to be identified.
Many credit Peter J. McGuire, cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, while others have suggested that Matthew Maguire, a secretary of the Central Labor Union, first proposed the holiday.Labor Day is still celebrated in cities and towns across the United States with parades, picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays and other public gatherings. For many Americans, particularly children and young adults, it represents the end of the summer and the start of the back-to-school season.
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
LABOR DAY LEGISLATION
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
FOUNDER OF LABOR DAY
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
SEPTEMBER 5, 2015, 10:58 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015, 12:16 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG, LINDA MOSS AND JOHN BRENNAN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
What does it take for a developer to borrow a billion dollars to build a mall in New Jersey?
It takes winning over people like Lyle Fitterer, an investor in Menomonee Falls, Wis., who controls $17.5 billion in other people’s money. He invests only in government bonds, including the type that Triple Five, a Canada-based conglomerate, expects to sell soon to complete American Dream, the long-stalled shopping and entertainment complex in the Meadowlands.
So what does Fitterer think of American Dream? Well, it’s complicated.
Demand for such high-risk, high-profit bonds is stronger now than it was two years ago, when Triple Five first received government support for a bond sale, Fitterer said, but the market remains weak. Whereas the original deal offered only tax-free bonds, the revised proposal includes both taxable and tax-free bonds, a mix that he said will broaden the pool of potential investors.
But because the bonds are not backed by taxpayers in New Jersey or the borough of East Rutherford, where the project sits, Fitterer would avoid losing money on the deal only if American Dream succeeds.
And since few have ever attempted a project quite like American Dream, that makes Fitterer and many of his deep-pocketed peers nervous.
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
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.
Faced with the difficulties of benefits reform, some stakeholders’ instincts have been to stand still and resist change. The state’s current position, however, is untenable: It faces an $82 billion pension deficit which, in the absence of funding increases beyond the realm of reason, will lead to state workers’ pensions beginning to run out of money within a decade. Credit ratings agencies this week again stressed the state’s need to reduce its employee benefits costs. Moody’s Investors Service concluded in assessing the state’s creditworthiness: “Without meaningful structural changes that improve the affordability of the state’s liabilities, the state’s structural imbalance will persist and/or pension liabilities will grow, and the state’s rating will continue to fall.” Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
Gov. Chris Christie’s office says recent actions by credit-rating agencies confirm his view that the cost of New Jersey’s state’s pension system is a long-term issue. (Associated Press) Read more
Christie comes out swinging at N.J. teachers’ union in N.H. Just as soon as Gov. Chris Christie took a seat on stage at an education summit in New Hampshireon Wednesday, he came out swinging against New Jersey’s largest teachers union. (Matt Arco, NJ.com) Read more
N.J.’s credit rating may fall more if court rules against state in lawsuit challenging Christie’s pension-reform law New Jersey’s low-end credit rating could continue to fall if the state Supreme Court rules that retired public workers are entitled to yearly increases in their pensions, according to Moody’s Investors Service. (Salvador Rizzo, The Record)Read more
