Mayor Lou Manzo urges residents to take action in state’s ‘Path to Progress’ report
Lou Manzo
MAYOR’S MESSAGE
Ok, so this issue, I hold your feet to the fire on the assignment in the previous Mayor’s Message: Did you read the “N.J. Path to Progress” report? Did you look at it? Anyone? Bueller? Showing my age in the reference to the 1986 movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; but I’m guessing most of you didn’t complete that “homework.” Just like in high school, though, you still have to take the test.
Question one: Did the report identify specific actions to be taken to address the looming fiscal crisis? Answer: Yes.
Question two: After reading the report, do you have a better understanding of the crisis?
You should. Studies show that New Jersey’s pension system ranks among the most underfunded in the county. Police and Firefighters System (PFRS) and Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) that provide pensions to county and municipal employees is 71.5 percent funded, while the seven state-funded pensions, including the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF) are just 55.8 percent funded. Estimates show the TPAF will be depleted by 2029 and the PERS zeroed-out by 2034 if action is not taken. Is that surprising to you?
The only question that matters in my little test is: Do you want our representatives in Trenton to take the required action steps to save these programs and our state? Yes or no? If you want to go deeper, which of the recommendations in the NJ Path to Progress Report would you want enacted? How about creating a blended defined benefit and defined contribution plan for all employees with less than five years of service that would provide a defined benefit pension for your first $40,000 of income and establish a cash balance account for income above that? Perhaps provide an option allowing employees to opt out in favor of a 403b or 457 Plan (similar to a private sector 401k)? These are recommendations being considered in the report.
Want more?
Increase the retirement age for full benefits for all new employees to coincide with eligibility to collect Social Security. Shift the State Health Benefit Plan from platinum to gold level and require new retirees to pay the same percent of premium costs they paid while they were working. Merge all school district into kindergarten through 12 grade regional districts. Require the 565 municipalities to share certain services like courts, dispatching and construction offices to increase efficiency. These are just a few of the report’s recommendations that will be under consideration starting in January. This is real, folks, and I’ll say it again: something is going to happen in 2019.
Now my request: Email our representatives in Trenton and, at a minimum, simply state: “Take action on the NJ Path to Progress Report.” If you have an opinion on which actions in the report to support or reject, tell them that.
Our fifth legislative representatives are Senator Nilsa Cruz-Perez (SenCruzPerez@NJLeg.org), Assemblywoman Patricia Egan-jones (ASWEganJones@NJLeg.org) and Assemblyman Bill Spearman (ASMSpearman@NJLeg.org). Include Senate President Steve Sweeney on your email at SenSweeney@NJLeg.org.
The time has come to make the hard choices they were elected to make. Let Trenton know that we are watching.
