TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Democratic leaders of New Jersey’s state Legislature say they disagree with Gov. Chris Christie’s suggestion that the state needs to make changes to its pension system for public workers.
State Senate President Steve Sweeney said Tuesday that “we’ve done what we need to do with the pension system.” He was referring to major changes made in 2011, when public employees were told to pay more for their benefits and the state agreed to increase its contributions gradually.
In his budget proposal Tuesday, the Republican governor said the state would make its agreed pension contribution, but he lamented that the increase would take half of the new revenue projected for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
He says changes will need to be made but hasn’t proposed a specific plan.
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