Christie says proposal is 'full of holes like a piece of Swiss cheese that will allow the special interests to get more and more money from the tax payers' Watch video
During his press conference Gov. Christie mocks the press release distributed by the New Jersey Legislative Democrats that was given out during a press conference an hour prior to his.TRENTON — Minutes after Democrats presented their compromise proposal on Gov. Chris Christie's "tool kit " plan to help towns deal with limits on how much they can raise in property taxes next year, the governor called it "watered down" and threatened to veto anything that wasn't "real reform."
The tool kit is a 33-piece legislative package Christie supports that include big changes for municipalities, including civil service reform and a 2 percent cap on increases for union contracts in arbitration.
At a press conference this afternoon, Christie held up a copy of the Democrats' news release announcing their compromise plan, which includes removing the cost of health care benefits from the cap on annual employee costs and sunsetting the plan after three years. He criticized them for not including any draft legislation or meeting with his office to discuss the proposal.
"This is proposal is probably the same kind of cap the Democrats passed with Jon Corzine, full of holes like a piece of Swiss cheese that will allow the special interests to get more and more money from the tax payers," Christie said.
In terms of the specifics of the proposal, Christie had few critiques, saying that no substance was included in the news release and that he hadn't received any of the specifics. When asked about proposal to include a sunset provision and exclude health care costs from the cap, Christie responded by saying those were not in his proposal.
"The tool kit has to happen," Christie said, "not the watered down tool kit."
Previous coverage:
• N.J. Sen. President Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Oliver reach compromise in arbitration reform
• N.J. Democrats to offer compromise on Christie's proposed arbitration reform
• Municipal officials accuse N.J. lawmakers of stalling on passing key 'tool kit' measures'
• N.J. Assembly Democrats postpone voting on arbitration change for public workers
• N.J. Democrats propose changes for police, firefighter contract dispute arbitration
• N.J. police contracts benefit from salary arbitration threat, officials say
• Gov. Chris Christie tells N.J. mayors to expect state aid cuts in upcoming budget