For Christie, a new list of challenges awaits
For the foreseeable future, Gov. Christie likely will not be talking about terrorism, the international refugee crisis, illegal immigration to the United States, or Marco Rubio's debating skills.
For the foreseeable future, Gov. Christie likely will not be talking about terrorism, the international refugee crisis, illegal immigration to the United States, or Marco Rubio's debating skills.
But as the former presidential candidate returns to Trenton, people there definitely will be all ears to hear his views on pressing issues closer to home: New Jersey's underfunded pension system for public employees, Atlantic City's financial crisis, and the state's nearly depleted fund for roads and bridges.
Christie, who dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination last week, will have an opportunity on Tuesday to lay out his agenda with his annual budget address to the Legislature.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) says he is welcoming the governor back to New Jersey with open arms, ready and willing to negotiate on a host of policy issues. But, Sweeney added in an interview, Christie "might think that four years from now he could run again" for president.
Christie is midway through his second and final term as governor.
"If that's what he thinks, I'm sure that'll weigh a lot on what we decide gets done here," Sweeney said. "There's very few things you can do without the governor."
At the same time, as Democrats such as Sweeney race to succeed Christie in 2017, "I don't think they're going to give him a win," said Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R., Union), who is also a possible gubernatorial candidate.
"If you're running for governor, you've got to be the anti-Christie," Bramnick said, referring to the Democrats.
What's more, Democrats picked up four seats in November's Assembly elections, expanding their majority to 52-28 and increasing the likelihood that they'll finally be able to override one of the governor's vetoes.
Pensions
New Jersey's pension system for public employees is underfunded by about $40 billion, according to the state Treasury Department. Under federal accounting standards, that number doubles to more than $80 billion.
Democrats, led by Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto of Hudson County, are advancing a proposed constitutional amendment that would require the state to phase in bigger contributions to the pension plans. Voters would ultimately have to approve the amendment.
A report released last week by a Christie-appointed commission warned that the proposal would inevitably result in "broad-based" tax increases and cuts to services - a theme Christie is likely to hit on Tuesday.
Christie prefers to overhaul pension and health-benefits systems for public employees that would restrict those costs to 15 percent of the state's budget. On the current trajectory, pension and benefit costs will consume 27 percent of the budget by 2022, according to the commission.
Atlantic City
Credit agencies have warned that the resort town could default on its debt-service payments as early as April. Christie last month vetoed legislation that would give the city a cash infusion and help stabilize its finances by requiring the city's eight casinos to make payments in lieu of taxes.
Democrats are working with Christie to take over the city's finances, which Standard & Poor's last month said appeared to be "unsustainable in the long term."
The city hasn't made progress in negotiating with the Borgata casino hotel, which is owed $180 million in tax refunds.
New Jersey's fund for road, bridge, and rail repairs and maintenance is set to run out of money when the fiscal year ends June 30.
All revenue from the state's 14.5-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline goes toward debt service. Sweeney says he wants $2 billion in new revenue annually for a robust Transportation Trust Fund. Any new plan is likely to require a tax increase, probably on gas.
There may be room for a deal.
Christie has called for abolishing New Jersey's estate tax, and hinted that that would be the price of his approving a gas-tax increase. Democrats have said they would be agreeable to phasing out the estate tax.
A tax cut there could make a gas-tax hike more politically feasible.
856-779-3846@AndrewSeidman