Editorial: Reform N.J. pension laws

The Asbury Park Press editorializes against double- and even triple-dipping in New Jersey's public pension system:

It's little wonder there's been no legislative action to end the practice of pension tacking — earning pension credits from multiple part-time public jobs to create a much larger pension upon retirement. About a third of New Jersey's legislators have more than one state-funded pension, so they have little incentive to act.

One Assembly member, Christopher "Kip" Bateman, R-Somerset, wants to change that. Not only has he introduced bills to address tacking, but he is giving up his pension rights from three municipal jobs. Legislators from both sides of the political aisle should join him in his bid to end a practice that is a drain on the pension system and contributes to rising property taxes in New Jersey.

It's a big budget number. A Gannett New Jersey review last year of pension data from 2002 showed that $238 million — 3 percent of the entire payroll of local, county and state government, excluding police, firefighters and teachers — was paid in salaries to 9,500 people holding 24,700 government jobs.

Bateman's first bill (A-696) would require legislators with more than one job in the Public Employees' Retirement System to choose only one position to earn pension credit. That's what he's doing in giving up his credits for serving as municipal prosecutor in three Somerset County towns. The other bill (A-119) would apply to anyone in the state retirement system hired after the bill becomes law.

Both bills face a rocky future because they hit two entrenched groups — legislators and public employees — in their pocketbook. But the price is paid by all taxpayers who fund pensions for retirees for years to come.