(Letter to the Editor)

LEAGUE SEEKS STATE HELP ON LOCAL COST DRIVERS

Municipal officials are more concerned about ever increasing property taxes, than those who serve at other levels of government. As costs rise, and State budget-makers forsake their statutory responsibility to provide barely adequate relief, only the property tax seems to provide the necessary monies to keep the ship afloat.

As we’ve often informed the Trenton power structure, personnel and personnel related costs make up about 70% of municipal budgets. Binding interest arbitration has been a principal reason for the increase in public safety salaries and it has also caused other salaries to increase more than they might have without binding interest arbitration.

We need the help of State policy makers to stop the growth of personnel costs-not only salaries but other related costs such as health insurance and pension benefits. (Today's salary increase is tomorrow's increase in the pension bill, with or without unfunded liabilities.) To do this we have to:
     
1)  convince the Legislature to amend the binding interest arbitration laws to mandate greater emphasis on municipal fiscal realities in arbitration awards in recognition of the direct impact these awards have on the taxpaying public. This limitation on the awards should be mandatory and should be on a department salary line basis.  This will prevent arbitration awards from forcing a municipality to short-change other departments to pay a higher increase for police or fire employees;

2) ask legislators to direct PERC to educate the arbitrators about the massive damage their decisions and mediated settlements are causing to the property tax levy, and to cease the practice of keeping all unions at the same relative position regionally with their peers;

3)  pursue regional, non-partisan, fiscally tight and disciplined strategies to contain the total cost of wage and benefit increases for all public employees to less than half the rate of inflation; and 

4) negotiate regional settlements that reduce the whip-sawing effect of current individual negotiations.

Local officials can make some of these changes, but they cannot do this alone.   Therefore, we ask that Mayors discuss these actions with their governing bodies and contact their legislators and the Governor to get their support in achieving these goals.  We all need to convince the State of the strong connection between current binding arbitration awards and practices and the overwhelming property tax burden on New Jersey residents.

William G. Dressel, Jr.
Executive Director