Stuff in the ‘Pension and Benefit Crisis’ Category
FY2025 Budget: Our Status Quo Governor Takes Care of His Government Union Pals While Leaving His State with an Unsustainable Budget
Posted On07/08/2024 byGov. Murphy is a status quo governor. He was elected with the support of New Jersey’s powerful, taxpayer-funded government unions, especially its largest, the NJEA, which spent over $20 million supporting Murphy. Murphy has repaid the favor by largely governing for their benefit. The FY2025 budget is no exception. Another record-high budget at $56.6 billion…Read More
Despite Gov. Murphy’s Happy Talk, Another Study Ranks NJ Dead Last for Fiscal Health
Posted On04/23/2024 byAnother report comparing the fiscal health of the 50 states, another last place finish for New Jersey. Gov. Murphy likes to talk about his fiscal responsibility but the numbers say otherwise. A recent Cato Institute study looked at the audited 2022 financial reports ranked the 50 states by their Unrestricted Net Position (UNP). UNP is…Read More
Strong 2023 Investment Returns But Teachers’ Pension Plan Is Still in Trouble
Posted On08/01/2023 byThe Star-Ledger reports that state pension investments have “raked in huge gains” so far this year, but the structurally unsound state pension system is still in trouble. It is of course good news that stock markets have had strong returns this year and that state pension plan assets have rebounded after a dismal 2022. And…Read More
Sweeney Center Warns of “Fiscal Crisis” When Revenue Windfalls Go Away. What Happens with $7 Billion Pension Payments?
Posted On06/30/2023 bySunlight has long warned about New Jersey’s fiscal condition. In particular, we have focused on Gov. Murphy’s decision to accommodate his biggest political supporter, the NJEA, by choosing to make the full required pension payment rather than doing the hard work of reforming the teachers’ pension fund (TPAF), the largest and most distressed of the…Read More
New Jersey Gets Bond-Rating Upgrades, But Many Challenges Remain for the Future
Posted On04/18/2023 byThe good news: all three bond-rating agencies upgraded their ratings for New Jersey’s bonds for the second time in the last year. The upgrades are good news in that they reflect an improved fiscal condition, largely due to efforts to address New Jersey’s substantial long-term debt burden. The Murphy administration is taking victory laps, but…Read More
Urban Institute: NJ Teachers’ Pension Plan Still in Deep Trouble, Projected to be Insolvent in 20 Years
Posted On03/29/2023 byAs Gov. Murphy proposes to pump another $7 billion of the state budget into New Jersey’s unreformed public pension system, Sunlight thought it would be a good time to highlight this reality check from an Urban Institute report entitled “Addressing and Avoiding Severe Fiscal Stress in Public Pension Plans.” The authors examine the 2021 data…Read More
State of the State: What About Learning Loss, Public Pensions and Healthcare Costs, Governor Murphy?
Posted On01/12/2023 byGov. Murphy gave his State of the State speech and there was a lot of talk about New Jersey “leading the nation” in this or that, which tells you a lot about where Murphy’s head is. But it’s what Murphy left out of his speech that is really telling. There were three large gaps in…Read More
Truth In Accounting 2022 Survey: New Jersey’s Financial Condition Is Dead Last in the Nation
Posted On12/21/2022 byDespite federal pandemic relief funds, record tax revenues and a lot of happy talk from Gov. Murphy, New Jersey’s long-term financial condition was ranked the worst in the nation. That’s according to Truth In Accounting (TIA), which just published its 13th annual review “Financial State of the States 2022.” While the Murphy touts New Jersey’s various…Read More
New Healthcare Law Saves Millions for School Employees but Taxpayers Are Paying More
Posted On05/31/2022 byMary Ann Koruth of NorthJersey.com brings some needed focus on the reality of the much-heralded 2021 “Chapter 78 relief” law negotiated by then-Senate President Steve Sweeney and the NJEA. In “New state teacher health plan didn’t deliver promised savings, say school districts,” Koruth reports that out of the 158 school districts surveyed, 85% said that…Read More
NJ’s Public Pensions Remain at Risk Because There Are Fewer Active Workers Per Retiree; So Taxpayers Will Pay More
Posted On05/06/2022 byA brief addendum to Sunlight’s blog on Tuesday about how the teachers’ pension fund (TPAF) is still at risk despite record contributions by Gov. Murphy. The ever-vigilant BuryPensions provided some additional words (data) of warning about the condition of New Jersey’s public pensions. Bury’s data shows that from 2000 to 2021, the number of retirees has…Read More