Posted on 03/05/2010 10:42:19 AM PST by Jersey Republican Biker Chick
A New Jersey lawmaker introduced legislation Thursday to freeze salaries of state workers for up to three years and keep property taxes at current levels.
Assemblyman Joe Malone, R-Burlington, said the measures would help towns keep property taxes in check and avert teacher layoffs and cuts to education programs. New Jerseyans pay the highest property taxes in the country, averaging $7,300 per household.
(Excerpt) Read more at lehighvalleylive.com ...
He and Christie will have an uphill battle with the unions.
PING!!!!
How about rolled back to levels of 10 years ago and frozen there for an additional 10 years?
frozen?
how about cut in half!
perhaps they’d get a bigger bang for the buck if they froze WELFARE benefits. I’d rather freeze the unproductive, than those whose labor I depend upon.
That’d save a lot of $$.
Time to bring these spoiled leeches/bureaucrats into the real world. It must be great to get a raise while those who bust their a-ses in the private sector get cuts.
funny how when the public section unions get 8-9% raises nobody complains, but when public sector union employees get 3-4% there's hell to pay, eh? but I don't beleive that honoring your agreements to your employees should be the first thing to go when you have a lot bigger slice of the pie than you think going to people who do not work, but feel entitled to a lifestype that would make many people blush.
It’s a start.. Their Salaries should be cut.. and Property taxes should come down!
I understand that that group got a larger 'raise' this year than the paltry 1.4% for our military - the LOWEST for our military in decades, while they fight and die.
And didn't the congress critters vote themselves a raise this year while soc. sec. was frozen and will be for coming years?
We don't need a freeze. We need a meltdown.
ML/NJ
When you depend on the taxpayer for your salary, you also deserve to be at the whim of said taxpayers when they discover that your generous salaries and benefits are bankrupting the state. Right to work states like Florida and Texas, where the public employee unions have little power, have switched toward defined contribution programs and greater employee contributions toward healthcare. Socialist states with strong public employee unions (NY, NJ, CA) will, unfortunately, likely go bust before they force the bureaucratic leeches off the gravy train.
The days of getting full health benefits and 85% of your bloated salary will go bye-bye eventually, as those of us who bust our butts in the private sector are getting sick and tired of our blood getting sucked by the vampire state, and the bureaucrats who serve it.
You are right about nit bankrupting the system. I had a co-worker that spent an entire calendar year working a double shift every day and on his days off too, he remodeled his entire house in that year and made close to $200,000 with all the OT.
Anytime I see a state with budgetary problems, the culprit is always the pension crisis. The states started giving away the store back when actuarial tables showed that the typical employee would live for only 10 years after retirement. With the continued flight of high earners out of state, it is only a matter of time before the goose is effectively sterilized and unable to lay golden eggs for state and local employees.
As a taxpayer in the most overtaxed locality in America, THIS is what makes me angrier. We had welfare reform which was a success here in NYC, we know need pension and benefit reform, which will be an even tougher fight, as the public employee unions have a stranglehold on both major parties, and have total control over the largest third party (Working Families).
I have close family who are state employees in Trenton and Newark. They love to brag about their generous retirements and their healthcare for life. Its just as bad with the local school districts.
Anytime I see a state with budgetary problems, the culprit is always the pension crisis. The states started giving away the store back when actuarial tables showed that the typical employee would live for only 10 years after retirement. With the continued flight of high earners out of state, it is only a matter of time before the goose is effectively sterilized and unable to lay golden eggs for state and local employees.
As a taxpayer in the most overtaxed locality in America, THIS is what makes me angrier. We had welfare reform which was a success here in NYC, we NOW need pension and benefit reform, which will be an even tougher fight, as the public employee unions have a stranglehold on both major parties, and have total control over the largest third party (Working Families).
However, Pensions need to be CUT not just mearly “frozen”.
this is a very dangerous statement. what if a bunch of taxpayers gang up on certain people and their whim becomes that they should all be fired? what if a state policeman gets approached by a group of taxpayers who demand access to his gun? or demand that he harrass their political opponents. government employees are not your servant any more than government buildings are your property to use as you see fit. popularity contests are a poor way to manage personnel. when you begin to work for someone you enter into a contract with that entity. neither side can change the conditions willy-nilly. we can continue this monday if you're so inclined
If three’s good, six must be better.
If I had not left, I could have retired with 25 years in at age 44 with the huge pension every month. I know what happens there.
from the article: “State workers [already]agreed to furloughs and wage concessions [back in july 2009] to help balance the current state budget. Rosenstein said the concessions saved the state $450 million and included an 18-month deferral of a negotiated 3.5 percent pay raise now due July 1 2010.” I can confirm this as a fact.
Note that the article states this politician wants to do this to avoid having to lay off teachers. Cut the bloat there as well, including their pensions—which are also funded by the state, when it feels like it wants to pay into the any of the 3 pension funds [public employee, teacher, firemen/police are all treated differently pension-wise].
I’d like to see all the politicians, including Senate Majority leader/chief Freeloader (freeholder)of Gloucester County/union exec Sweeney vote to allow themselves to only one pension, instead of getting 3.
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