Gov. Chris Christie Pushes Property Tax Cap, Public Benefits Reforms After School Budget Elections

property tax capClaiming the school budget defeat as a validation of his shrinking government plan, Gov. Chris Christie today pushed the next reforms on his agenda: A 2.5 percent constitutional cap on property taxes, and reforms to public worker pensions, benefits and the collective bargaining process. Christie said New Jerseyans sent “an extraordinarily clear signal,” and the Democrat-controlled Legislature and local elected officials “ignore these results at their own political peril.” “He used the wage free to say, ‘Look, we don’t really have to go up in taxes,’ but that wasn’t true. Taxes would have gone up anyway,” Sweeney said. “But it was good theater.”

Sweeney said he agrees with Christie that “we need to do some things to make it easier for governments to control their costs,” and is willing to work with him on some of the reforms. But Democrats also want the governor to reinstate an income tax surcharge on the wealthy, Sweeney said.

Political watchers cautioned Christie against viewing the budget defeat as a mandate.

Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray said the school vote is is unlikely to win over the Legislature with regard to Christie’s proposed state budget. 

“What’s going to happen is we’re going to continue the partisan bickering that has marked these budget hearings, and the unfortunate thing is if there is any clear message coming out of the school board elections is that is exactly the kind of disfunction that New Jersey does not want to see,” Murray said.

“The irony is that New Jersey doesn’t want business as usual, and the unfortunate product of this election is probably going to be business as usual.” Star Ledger

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Did Patrick Murray fill out his Census Form? Hey Patrick – can you take a poll and see how many people in monmouth University filled out their census forms? Do you think Sweeney did?

  2. Patrick Murray like so many other public sector employees just don’t get it. They of course chose public sector jobs due to the overwhelmingly easy path to wage guarantees. Politicians don’t like bad press it keeps them from getting re-elected. Any protest that grabs media attention usually winds up in the protesters getting what they want, and those teachers in particular went out and passed flyers telling people to vote yes at 3:30 PM while regular working slobs were still plugging along. Half a day at work and plenty of steam left to grab for more!

  3. Do you think Bruce Williams filled out his Census form? He sounds like the type of guy to do it – Intelligent, Upstanding, and believes in what he does. I’m going to assume he did. Way to go Bruce… two points for you. But we still don’t know about Patrick Murray…..

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