From the Asbury Park Press:
Panel eyes “significant” changes to state benefits
Lawmakers continued batting around ideas Wednesday about how to tackle two of the largest expenses that help drive the state’s notoriously high property taxes — bureaucracy and worker benefits — though without concrete action.
One Democrat heading the committee examining public worker benefits promised “very significant” reforms after a briefing on the growing costs of public employee health coverage but was not specific.
Lawmakers are examining the costs of New Jersey’s many levels of government and employee benefits as part of four committees searching for ways to reduce property taxes.
…
Beaver said the state could save nearly $500 million by requiring all state employees to pay 10 percent of their health care premiums, as was suggested in a December report by the Benefits Review Task Force appointed by then-Gov. Codey.
…
“I think ultimately we’re going to be looking at some very, very significant reforms,” Pou said.
However the sucking dry of
the nj taxpayer continues.
see todays paper more layers of
management added in trenton.
does it every stop.
NO
This one is for you..
Lenders will get $275,000 interest before construction loan begins
New Jersey taxpayers will pay Goldman Sachs and Bank of America about $275,000 over the next eight weeks as the result of glitches in a complicated deal that was sup posed to save money on borrowing for the state’s school construction program.
Because of delays in the school building program, the state does not yet need $500 million it was scheduled to borrow Sept. 1. So the loan has been postponed to Nov. 1, but under an “interest rate swap” deal worked out three years ago, the banking giants will collect money for nothing in the meantime.
Until the state actually borrows the school funds, the deal will re quire New Jersey to pay the banks interest of 4.407 percent on the nonexistent loan, while the banks will return payments of about 3.99 percent to the state. The banks will keep the difference, which experts project will total $274,678.
State officials “placed a bad bet,” said Robert Brooks, professor of finance at the University of Alabama and the author of a book on swaps. “Things like swaps really shouldn’t be used when you have timing uncertainty.”
Why shouldn’t state employees fund 25% of their health care premiums like the rest of us?