$2.43 billion are at risk of being stolen from public worker pension funds.   As a result of Governor Christie’s failure to effectively balance the state budget he has already reduced this year’s mandatory pension contribution from $1.6 billion to $696 million.  He is threatening to reduce next year’s payment from $2.25 billion to $681 million.  In addition to being disastrous to the state’s credit rating, this outright theft from hard working public employees would be devastating to an already crippled pension fund and could put it on the brink of bankruptcy.

Three years ago Christie jeopardized the mandated pensions for teachers, police, firefighters, and other public school and government employees by signing a law that would allow him to only make 1/7 of the state’s necessary pension contribution.  This would be followed by 2/7 the next year and so on until the full payments are made seven years later.  He only made it to the 3/7 payment before breaking his word and the law by reducing this year’s payment by more than $900 million via executive order.  He is planning to reduce next year’s 4/7 contribution by more than $1.5 billion.  However he cannot do this without the approval of the state legislature!

As the pension system hurtles toward bankruptcy thousands of public employees who have contributed to the pension system their entire careers now face the uncertainty of whether or not the system will be able to support them in retirement.  There is no telling exactly when the pension system will go belly up.  Many people retire between their late-fifties and mid-sixties.  Those who are fortunate to live into their eighties, nineties, and beyond could outlive the pension system and stop receiving payments in the years they need it most.

Personally I am a third grade special education teacher in Somerset County.  I am 31-years-old.  The single largest deduction from my paycheck is my contribution to the pension system (thousands of dollars per year).  However at the rate we are going it is unlikely that I will collect any money at all from the pension system when I reach retirement age despite making substantial contributions my entire adult life.

While it is too late to restore the money Chris Christie has robbed from the pension system by executive order for this fiscal year, the state legislature can stand up to him and refuse to pass any budget that does not include the full 4/7 pension system payment.  We must urge our elected officials to tell the governor he must keep the promise he made three years ago and not balance his budget on the backs of the hard working, middle class public employees!