TRENTON — Even with Gov. Chris Christie’s biggest piece of the "tool kit" completed, some towns across the state will still be struggling to balance their budgets when the impending cap on property taxes takes effect next month. Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer was one of a legion of mayors who joined Christie today as he signed the arbitration cap...
Gov. Chris Christie signs arbitration legislation during a ceremony at the Elks Club in Wayne. TRENTON — Even with Gov. Chris Christie’s biggest piece of the "tool kit" completed, some towns across the state will still be struggling to balance their budgets when the impending cap on property taxes takes effect next month.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer was one of a legion of mayors who joined Christie today as he signed the arbitration cap into law, which will limit pay increases to 2 percent for police and firefighters when contract negotiations hit an impasse.
But the new law, set to go into effect Jan. 1, won’t help Zimmer, whose city has been in arbitration for nearly two years over its public safety employee contracts. The new limit on contract increases won’t apply to those that have already expired.
While her city’s contracts could grow by more than 2 percent a year, plus back pay, Zimmer won’t be able to increase property tax collections at the same rate without approval from Hoboken’s voters.
Christie acknowledged that the new law won’t fix every town’s problem.
"Everyone is going to have to make tough choices," Christie said. "We are handing over a significant set of tools. That doesn’t mean their choices are going to be easy, it just means they’re going to have choices now."
Zimmer hopes the unions and arbitrators will consider the new limits moving forward. "The pressure will be on the arbitrators to give awards in the spirit of the law," Zimmer said.
Contract negotiations that drag on for years, like Hoboken’s, will be remedied under the new law, which requires decisions within 45 days. As an incentive for quick decisions, Christie noted the pay for arbitrators has been capped at $1,000 a day and $7,500 for the entire case.
While the state provides some aid to municipalities, which was cut under Christie’s past budget, he said he won’t increase aid for cities stuck in contracts that exceed the cap. Lori Grifa, commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, said her office will be working with municipalities and unions to try to renegotiate contracts that call for pay hikes of more than 2 percent.
Bill Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, is also hopeful that arbitrators will keep with the intent of the cap even when considering contracts that don’t fall under the new rules.
"Sometimes, the spoken word is more powerful than the written word," Dressel said. "They said, very clearly, that the intent and purpose of this law is to bring these awards down."
Christie isn’t unfamiliar with limits he supports becoming the center of controversy before they go into effect. His proposed cap on school superintendent salaries has caused a spat between his office and school boards that sought to circumvent it by approving larger contracts in anticipation of the new limits.
Christie has warned that unions or arbitrators who try to do the same thing will be targeted. Some safeguards have been built into the new law to help keep unions from trying to circumvent it in the future.
"Smart lawyers and conniving arbitrators can’t create non-economic terms as a way of going around the cap," the governor said.
Previous coverage:
• Gov. Christie signs arbitration bill into law in Wayne
• Gov. Christie plans to sign bill capping police, firefighter raises at 2 percent through arbitration
• N.J. Assembly approves arbitration reform bill with 2 percent pay cap for police, firefighters
• Gov. Christie, N.J. Democrats reach 'tool kit' deal on union arbitration reform
• Gov. Chris Christie may propose business, income tax cuts by next month