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New Jersey Governor Calls For Full Pension Payment in 2021
Governor Phil Murphy called for a $6.4 billion payment into the state's pension system in the fiscal year that begins in July. If his budget proposal is approved by the legislature, it would mark the first time in 25 years that the state would make its full, actuarially determined contribution.
New Jersey Governor Calls For Full Pension Payment in 2021
Governor Phil Murphy called for a $6.4 billion payment into the state's pension system in the fiscal year that begins in July. If his budget proposal is approved by the legislature, it would mark the first time in 25 years that the state would make its full, actuarially determined contribution.
The proposed budget, totaling $44.8 billion overall, would accelerate by one year Murphy's pledge to ramp up pension payments to achieve a full contribution. Previous plans had anticipated a 90 percent contribution in fiscal year 2022. Dedicated revenues from the state lottery will cover some of the cost.
The Murphy Administration's decision to make a full contribution a year early will reduce obligations in coming years, and would save taxpayers $861 million over the next 30 years.
“The combined pension contributions by the Murphy Administration in four years will roughly total an unprecedented $18 billion, which is $9.4 billion more than the prior Governor contributed over two terms,” the Governor's office said in a news release.
“The problems and shortfalls in our pension system have absolutely nothing to do with our hardworking public employees who have dutifully paid their full share into the pension funds every two weeks. They've been scapegoated for far too long,” Murphy said in his budget message. Instead, he pointed to past administrations of both parties that skipped the payment of pension obligations, with damaging consequences. “We won't go back to those failed, old ways,” he said.
“Making the payment is keeping our word to hundreds of thousands of retirees who depend on their pensions,” Murphy said. “We did it without attacking the middle class and slashing services,” he continued, adding, “When we keep making this payment, we'll go from a pension system that many said was destined for bankruptcy, to one that is solvent, healthy, and sustainable.”
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You may also be interested in: Public Pensions On The Agenda In Kentucky; Public Pension Legislation on Backburner in 2020 and 2021; NCPERS Delivers 10 Constructive Approaches To Closing Public Pension Funding Gaps.
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