Standard & Poor’s Cites Christie’s Lack of Pension Payment as One Reason for Newly Lowered Bond Rating
Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee Chair Gary Schaer – a financial services professional with two decades of experience – today pointed to Standard and Poor’s lowering of New Jersey’s bond rating as a direct result of Governor Christie’s failure to make any payments into the state pension system this year.
“Gov. Christie travels the state and the nation claiming that he fixed an $11 billion budget deficit last year. But he fails to mention that he skipped a $3 billion pension payment to help ‘balance the budget.
“Today, his delinquency has caught up with him and all New Jersey taxpayers. A lowered bond rating will mean increased costs to New Jersey taxpayers.
“Governor Christie is right to think that we need reforms to our pension system. But he is wrong to think that we can skip pension payments and not suffer negative consequences for our state and residents.”