Business at Hand > Christie’s plan for sick pay is good for New Jersey

Written by Ann Richardson Tuesday, 10 January 2012 12:10

It was our governor at his vocal best: a crowd, a tirade and – if you don’t collect a pay check from the state of New Jersey – another great sound-bite.

Refusing the demands of public workers and the Democrats supporting them, Christie put forward what he deemed a “common sense policy to finally end the wasteful practice of paying out taxpayer dollars to public workers for unused sick days.”

These local government obligations, he said, have a “real and direct cost to property taxpayers.” The state legislature has failed to consider proposed reforms despite the fact that accumulated sick and vacation liabilities already total over $825 million on municipal books, according to Christie.

Public workers argue that they are contractually owed the money, but Christie says the payouts are suffocating taxpayers.

Democrat and Republican legislators agree that these accumulated liabilities should be capped. Democrats proposed capping the payout at $15,000, but Christie said nothing doing and ripped into the opposition’s argument.

Delivering a blunt “zero means zero” speech on the radio in interviews with NJ101.5’s Eric Scott and in various appearances over the last month – some recorded on YouTube - Christie used his rhetorical skills to say he had enough of the argument that public workers would simply call in sick and use them up that way if they couldn’t stockpile sick days for a payout.

“There is no intellectual efficacy to their argument,” he said. “So now they have to go to ‘well, people will commit crimes and commit fraud if we don’t pay them more money for not being sick.’ Let me tell you something, the people of New Jersey know that that is a complete pile of garbage.”

It’s quite a conundrum; taxpayers are in the middle, caught between our empty wallets and our much-loved friends and neighbors in the public sector.

Those of us toiling in the private sector trenches live in a different world, so we look at this garbage pile a little differently.

The private sector has been decimated; if you still have a job, you’re lucky, but you’re probably earning less money. Raises and bonuses are a thing of the past. The ability to accumulate sick and vacation pay is non-existent. If we get sick, we have a certain amount of days; if we don’t get sick, we thank our lucky stars. We never cash out and we fund our own pensions.

Christie conditionally vetoed legislation that would have capped payouts at $15,000, returning the bill with changes to eliminate any cash value for unused sick days moving forward, and limit the ability to carry forward unused vacation days to one year.

“The reality is that the abusive practice of cashing out unused sick time has a direct and significant impact on local budgets and our overburdened property taxpayers. In New Brunswick, the highest per-taxpayer liability in the state, the average property taxpayer is on the hook for over $1,300,” Christie said.

In Elmwood Park, the retiring police chief and six other officers are owed a combined $1.2 million for unused sick, vacation and comp days. In Lower Township, three employees just walked away with over $100,000 each.

Ocean City police officers and firefighters are capped at $22,000, CWA union members at $19,000. Ocean City doesn’t have as big an obligation, but the total exposure is $4.96 million.

Last month, a bipartisan group of 234 mayors, including Ocean City’s Jay Gillian and Upper Township’s Richard Palombo joined Christie in calling for the legislature to pass real sick and vacation pay reform that will lower costs, provide significant taxpayer savings and “give local governments additional tools to manage their budgets and hold down property taxes for New Jersey families.”

Without reform, Christie said sick and vacation benefit liabilities will continue to accrue at the expense of property taxpayers all across the state, including those property taxpayers already facing some of the highest per household liabilities in the nation.

Christie said it’s part of the larger budgetary issue facing New Jersey, and one that has long caused highly-taxed residents and in particular, business owners, to flee the state.

“The Democrats' budget rhetoric is simply history repeating itself,” Christie said. “No matter the budget year or circumstances, Democrats in the legislature have their budget rhetoric on repeat as they trot out the same recycled, overused and rabidly partisan rhetoric to distract from their own empty promises. New Jerseyans are sick of the political gamesmanship and tired attacks. Instead of engaging in more political theatrics, legislative Democrats' efforts would be better spent addressing the issues they neglected over the past year, like education reform for every New Jersey child and the unfinished business of the Governor's property tax relief tool kit.

“I’m here to tell you there is no magic wand ... The only way to stop it is to stop spending,” he said. “The great things New Jersey once had, New Jersey will have again, not only for us, but for our children and grandchildren.”

Christie implored residents to “get on the ‘zero means zero’ train.”

“It’s imperative for them to get the sick pay finished,” Christie said. “Folks are outraged by this.”

Only liberal Democrats, he said, would consider “three and a quarter billion dollars” added to the burden, a small amount.

He said that to give people five or six figure checks in addition to their pension as they walk out the door is outrageous.

“It’s contrary to common sense.”

Christie said it’s a lonely place to fight the fight, but promised he will continue to put the pressure on because that’s his job.

If the legislature fails to act, Christie said “every dollar that accumulates from here forward is the responsibility of the Democrats in the legislature.”

He said the Republican party stands for “unburdening taxpayers and not giving gifts to the public sector unions.”

“Zero means zero, I’m not compromising,” he said.

“There is a solution here, and I am not going to solve it by putting a three and a quarter billion dollar burden on the backs of New Jersey taxpayers, who are already overburdened,” Christie said of a proposal to cap sick pay at $7,500.

No wonder so many people across the nation wanted Christie to run for president. If only we could clone him. Powerful, direct, blunt, honest; that’s what we need to fix this obscene mess.

Using the example of a New Brunswick couple, Frank and Joan Deiner, Christie said the whole system is “rigged against the taxpayer” in favor of public sector unions. The private sector, he said, is getting the short end of the stick.

He said $1,300 just to pay the already accumulated sick pay is “a lot of money.”

Retirees, Frank Deiner said, “used to get a watch.”

Private sector employees would be “knocked over,” Christie if their employers handed them a check the size some public workers are walking away with.

“We pay for all these sick days that they didn’t use, we literally write them a check,” Christie said.

Using humor to illustrate his point, Christie suggested the taxpayers be invited to Municipal Hall when a public sector employee retires. Taxpayers would line up and each, he said, would be told what their check should be.

The mayor would be there to introduce the person, and you would present your check, he said. “The person could at least say ‘thank you.’ At least you’d get a thank you; right now you don’t even get a thank you.”

The accumulated liability, $825 million, is “used for nothing more than paying people for unused sick pay,” he said.

“You can’t change the deal in the middle,” he said. “I say from this day forward no more … If you’re fortunate enough to not get sick, the payment you get is not being sick.

“You should get on your knees and thank God that you weren’t being sick,” he said.

When asked about his blunt approach, Christie said he thinks “there’s something different going on” in New Jersey and the nation.

“People are ready to hear the truth,” he said. “I didn’t sit back, I put a plan out.”

He got booed by firefighters in Wildwood last year, but started the conversation.

The legislature let him go first, to “see if he gets burned at the stake.”

He’s still standing, he said, because taxpayers realize there is a big problem; it’s no longer fatal to tell the truth. The system is unsustainable and broken.

“When you tell them what needs to be done, taxpayers will reward you for your courage,” he said. “You just have to have the spine to take the risk. That’s why we elect leaders. You can’t be in the middle of the pack, you have to lead. Everything involves risk. I didn’t come to this job to mark time, I came here to succeed and achieve.”

Christie wants us to get on the “zero means zero” train? All aboard!

---

< Prev		Next >