If there is one lesson that I would think that Democrats in the legislature would have learned in these last ten months, its that Governor Christie is not a leader who likes to play games. But, it seems that Sweeny and Oliver have just picked up the ball again and thrown it right back to Christie. Something tells me they won’t like the move he makes, and they don’t stand to win.
When Governor Christie’s ambitious Cap 2.5 program passed the legislature this summer, it was reintroduced as a 2.0 cap with some exclusion and an extensive “tool kit” of measures for reform that were designed to ensure that municipalities can stay below the new statutory limit. Many were critical about the Governor’s decision to compromise and pass the cap statutorily through the legislature rather than sending it to the voters, but getting a lower cap through immediately that came with tools to ensure that it did what it was supposed to was a practical way to go, and we have a very practical governor.
Now, after dragging their feet for months on passing measure from the tool kit, state house Democrats are sidestepping their commitment to the original compromise. It has been clear from the beginning that arbitration reform for municipal workers was a key component to these reforms. The Governor and state Republicans have demanded a cap on arbitration awards of 2%, keeping increases in cost in line with the cap. Without such a cap, it is easy to see how a property tax cap is meaningless. If public workers go to arbitration and the process decides that they are going to receive a 3% increase, then the municipality must somehow make up that extra 1% increase without raising taxes above 2%. That probably means a degradation in the quality of services, large scale layoffs (if they even can contractually do so), or simply taking more debt.
Lou Greenwald, who unfortunately happens to represent me (geographically only) in Trenton, said,
“The two percent cap is a lazy way to govern . . . . It takes the creativity away (from contract negotiations) and will lead to layoffs.”
No kidding, Lou! But not because of the cap, only due to your parties refusal to take a hard line stance on real reform for New Jersey residents.
The Democrat argument seems to be that so few contracts actually go to binding arbitration, that we should
not even be considering this issue. However, when the property tax cap is cut in half, and municipalities have far less discretion on how much of the taxpayer’s money they want to waste, arbitration will become a more common solution to negotiation problems. This process doesn’t take “creativity” as Mr. Greenwald says, it simply takes common sense. Towns don’t have the money because the taxpayers can’t afford to pay more and more every single year. If we don’t have the money, we can’t spend it. This axiom is the crux of Governor Christie’s governing philosophy, and you can bet that these reforms won’t go through without it.
While not actually confirmed by the Governor’s office, PolitickerNJ is reporting that the Governor is likely to veto arbitration reform and send it back if there is no cap included. Save Jerseyans, you can bet on it.
