(Trenton) – Assemblyman Daniel Benson (D-Mercer, Middlesex) issued the following statement regarding the Governor’s statement in today’s press conference on cutting or delaying pension payments to close the gap in the FY14 and FY15 budget:
“Toying with public workers pensions cannot be the go-to strategy every year to fill New Jersey’s budget deficit. It is outrageous that the Governor continues to balance the budget on the backs of working families while protecting millionaires.
“And to continue to blame past administrations is unacceptable and insulting to taxpayers and the thousands of public workers I represent in my district and throughout the state.”
“Contributing to the pension should not be viewed as an option because it is not. It is a promise we make, that while public workers invest not only in time but their own money into the pension system, the state must meet its own financial obligations to the pension system as every municipality and county is doing.”
“After six rating agency downgrades, clearly this administration had to have learned by now that exaggeration and wild solutions only dig a deeper hole down the road. It is time for real solutions. Solutions that do not sacrifice or compromise pensions for our public workers’, and burden New Jersey’s taxpayers and working families more in this tough economy.”