Christie blames Dems; Sweeney cites cuts to state aid
Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney have traded barbs over who is to blame for rising property taxes. TRENTON — After months of listening to Gov. Chris Christie tell audiences they should blame Democrats if their property taxes go up, Senate President Stephen Sweeney fired back today, saying the real culprit is the governor’s decision to slice state aid to towns and schools last year.
In a briefing with reporters, Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said lawmakers have passed the most crucial pieces of Christie’s "tool kit" aimed at curtailing costs for local governments, such as caps on spending and arbitration awards. The remaining pieces have either been vetoed by Christie or were redundant and ineffective, Sweeney said.
ELECTION SEASON
"Listen, the governor is trying to deflect from what he’s doing to the budget," said Sweeney. "He’s said we’ll own the property taxes. Well, guess what, Governor? You own them. Because this is garbage. We passed the real stuff."
Michael Drewniak, Christie’s spokesman, said Sweeney abandoned "his promises and pledges" to pass reforms and suggested he was bowing to special interests.
Sweeney’s offensive comes at the onset of an election season in which all 120 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs and as towns face tough budgets and the prospect of tax increases.
Property taxes jumped 4.1 percent in 2010, the largest year-over-year jump since 2007. Christie has said he is not responsible for that hike and will take ownership of the issue when lawmakers pass all 33 of his proposed reforms.
"If they pass all the things that I proposed then it’s completely my responsibility," Christie said at a March 16 news conference. "If they don’t, then they own it. You can’t give me part of my solution and then expect me to be responsible if the solution doesn’t work."
Lawmakers have passed eight of Christie’s proposals, including signatures pieces that capped municipal and school spending, along with arbitration awards. Christie signed those bills, but vetoed three important measures.
"These were the bills that municipalities were pushing for and that help control taxes, and we passed them," said Sweeney.
VACATION TIME
Among the bills Christie vetoed was one that would cap payments of unused sick and vacation time at $15,000 for new workers, while freezing the amount of accrued time for veteran employees. Christie said the benefit should be eliminated and wanted to force current employees to draw down on their banked time when taking future vacation or sick days.
Sweeney argued the measures that have yet to pass would not provide the type of financial relief the governor has promised. For example, Christie wants to eliminate pension eligibility for nongovernment groups and associations. "There are 800,000 people in the pension system, and this bill would target about 50 of them. That’s not relief," said Sweeney.
Other bills that have yet to pass involve civil service reform. Though Sweeney has supported the measures, he downplayed their significance, providing data that shows municipalities with civil service spend less per capita than those without such protections on hiring and firing.
Drewniak said Sweeney has been quoted frequently supporting civil service reform and made a "180-degree turnaround."
"There has got to be a better, honest explanation for his weakening of the knees and abandonment of his promises and pledges," Drewniak said. "You have to ask yourself — ask Senator Sweeney — if the real reason is that he’s caving in to entrenched, monied special interests in an election year rather than protecting taxpayers."
Sweeney said lawmakers will pass measures in upcoming months to help towns, such as pension and health benefit reform and a plan to push them to share services. He stressed the state still needs to restore aid to towns and schools.
Bill Dressel, executive director of the League of Municipalities, said the Legislature and governor promised to tackle rising health and pension benefit costs after the law capping property tax collections was signed in July.
"Now we’re seeing almost nine months later that the management reforms still have not been enacted," Dressel said.
By Jarrett Renshaw and Megan DeMarco/The Star-Ledger
Matt Friedman contributed to this report.