Van Drew Sees ‘Brutal’ Budget Process Ahead For State Lawmakers

Trenton — First District State Sen. Jeff Van Drew foresees a “brutal” budget process in store for the State Legislature as representatives and the incoming administration of Gov. Chris Christie grapple to set the state’s fiscal house in order.

Wihout going into de­tails, the Cape/Cumber­land/Atlantic senator made his comments in announcing that he had been named a member of the Senate Budget Committee.

In his brief press re­lease, Van Drew also indicated a conservative bent that could prove helpful to the new conservative governor, a Republican who rode to victory over a Democratic incumbent seen as not having done enough in tough economic times to stem rising fiscal discontent in a state with the highest taxes in the nation.

Christie faces a multimillion-dollar gap in the current state fiscal year which goes till the end of June; nevertheless, when he took office last Tuesday he pledged to abide by campaign promises to cut taxes and come up with a balanced budget. His administration inherits a fiscal dilemma in which tax collections are declining despite increased state spending.

The incoming governor also called upon the democratically-controlled State Legis­lature to join him in a bipartisan effort to get the state’s fiscal house in order, literally calling upon Senate President Steve Sweeney, Salem/Cumberland/Gloucester, and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, Essex, to join him in a “handshake of re­solve and friendship, a handshake of commitment.”

In his press statement, the day after Christie’s inauguration, Van Drew issued his own commitment of sorts. Referring to his seat on the budget committer he said:

“This is a great opportunity for our voices to be heard in South Jersey during a budget process that is going to be brutal. Sacrifices and compromises will need to be made but South Jersey must receive its fair share.

“The days of gimmicks and one-shot deals are over,” he emphasized.

In addition to being named to the budget committee, Van Drew is chair of the Community & Urban Affairs Committee and vice chair of the Veterans & Military Affairs Committee.

Earlier this week, the governor’s press secretary, Michael Drewniak, issued a statement in response to testimony before the Assembly Budget Committee on Monday by Legislative Budget & Finance Officer David J. Rosen of the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services.

It is “not unreasonable” said Rosen to assume a budget shortfall of more than $1 billion:

“The non-partisan Office of Legislative Services today confirmed what we’ve been saying all along—New Jersey is confronting a budget deficit of approximately $1.3 billion for the balance of the fiscal year.

“There are no phantom surpluses or face-saving magic numbers to fix the mess we have inherited.

“Now is the time to move forward and focus on tackling this very real problem head on.”

The press secretary’s comments ap­peared to confirm what the Christie administration had heretofore been saying and which the outgoing Corzine administration had not only denied but exaggerated in opposition. The Christie people had been predicting a more than $1 billion shortfall in the current fiscal year budget; Corzine’s people had countered that the outgoing administration was actually leaving office with a multimillion-dollar surplus.

Also on Monday, Sweeney announced that next Monday, the Senate will begin the 2010 legislative session by seeking swift action on measures to complete the sweeping overhaul of the public employee pension and benefits system first proposed nearly three years ago.

Sweeney says he is seeking a dialogue with state worker unions, the Christie administration and fellow legislators to build common ground on the initiative.

Among the concepts Sweeney said the Senate “must revisit” include rolling-back a 9 percent increase legislatively enacted in 2001 which resulted in a significant increase in the pension fund’s unfunded liability, increasing the number of high- salary years used to calculate pension benefits from the average of three years to the average of at least five years, requiring all part-time employees to enroll into a defined-contribution plan instead of the pension system and allowing all current non-vested public employees to opt into a defined contribution retirement plan.

The measures would affect future government employees.

And, again, this past Monday, Christie released a statement praising Sweeney for making pension and benefit reform an early priority of the new Senate session; said the governor:

Senate President Sweeney is sending a clear signal that results matter and that bipartisan action is critical to reforming a broken pension and benefits system.

I applaud the Senate leadership’s decision to complete the sweeping overhaul of the public employee pension and benefits system that was first proposed over three years ago.

The only way to ease New Jersey’s fiscal pain and close our budget gap is by working together to fundamentally change the way government operates and today’s move is a very positive first step.