Governor: With Current Path 'Unsustainable,' We Must Do the 'Really Hard Things'

The 300-plus people who packed the Hillsborough Township Municipal Building’s multi-purpose room Wednesday morning heard Gov. Chris Christie reinforce his view that the state must do the “really hard things” because “the path we are on is unsustainable.”

With members of the audience overflowing into the hallway during the governor’s 31st town hall, Christie focused on the need for pension and benefits reform. Such reforms, he said, could positively impact property taxes in the state.

“We need to get the pension and benefits reforms we need to get done and get them done the right way,” he said.

In the area of health benefits, he said, “I am asking state workers, teachers and others to pay 30 percent of the health benefits premium. If we did that, it would save $320 million at the state level alone. We would provide them more choicees so they could pick the plan that’s best for them and that they can afford. I don’t think it sounds unfair or unreasonable. This is just common sense. It has nothing to do with breaking the union.”

Christie also pointed out that 75 percent of property taxes go to pensions, salaries and benefits.

“If I’m going to control property taxes, we’re going to have to control pensions, salaries and benefits," he said. "There has to be pain involved here. There has to be sacrifice involved here. We have a choice today.”

The state pension fund, he noted, is now $54 billion under-funded and, if it continues on that trend, it will be $183 billion under-funded in 30 years. “But it won’t,” he declared. “It will be broke in nine years.”

The governor’s proposed reform cuts the existing under-funded amount in half and, according to Christie, “puts us on track to balancing it.”

With the reforms he has proposed, Hillsborough would save $8 million in pension expenses that would not have “to go into your property taxes,” Christie told the audience.

He also explained that, rather than spending $20 million to mail rebate checks, the property tax rebate would be credited directly to homeowners’ property tax bills.

“This stuff’s got to get done. The path we are on is unsustainable,” he said.

Christie responded to several questions from the audience. Matthew Galven, of Belle Mead, questioned the wisdom of government being in the golf business and competing with private industry. Each freeholder board would have to make its own decisions about how golf fits into its budget under the 2 percent cap, according to the governor, who also encouraged residents to attend public meetings.

Martha Bittle, a district teacher for 30 years, asked about allocating state funds for such projects as a casino while individuals are not getting cost of living allocations in their pensions.

“It makes no sense to me,” she said. “Atlantic City is already having such a troubled economy that it doesn’t make sense to me to add another casino.”

Christie responded, “It will take 3,000 people to build a casino and more will be employed when the casino is open. This is a domino effect. You have to make an investment. We will get the $261 million back in 10 years through profits from the casino.”

Hillsborough High School teacher Bob Fenster brought 21 of his AP U.S. Government & Politics students to the town hall. When student Emily Rosenbach’s asked what the state is going to do to help young women’s health issues, the governor noted that the state contributes $65 million to federally qualified clinics throughout the state.

In response to Christie’s comments about having “skin in the game,” student Michael Zhang asked how that can be when his own youngsters attend private schools.

“That’s a choice for every parent to make,” Christie declared. “My property taxes are $38,000, an overwhelming majority of which goes to fund public schools. When I pay for that public education, I think that gives me plenty of ‘skin in the game.' Every child who goes to public school in New Jersey is my responsibility.”

“You are privileged because you go to an outstanding public school here in Hillsborough,” he told Zhang. “I am the governor in large part because I got an outstanding public education. For New Jersey to be as great as it can be, kids in failing public schools have to be educated, too. I’m fighting that fight. You can’t get more political ‘skin in the game’ than that.”

Hillsborough resident Jennifer Haley asked what was being done to stop the exodus of the pharmaceutical industry to other states.  

“I have proposed doubling the research and development tax credit to 100 percent,” the governor said. “We want to get people back to work. Part of the way to do that is to make our state more competitive.”

Christie encouraged residents not to be disengaged from government and concluded, “We have great things to do in this state together. We need to work together, be honest with each other, do the big things that need to be done and leave nothing left unsaid between us.”