Christie stumps for proposed state cuts in Mount Laurel

Mount Laurel Mayor Jim Keenan has a lot to be worried about.

His township would lose 20 percent of its municipal aid - that's $726,374 - in the proposed state budget released this week, at a time when tax appeals, foreclosures, and various expenses are rising and revenues are falling.

Nonemergency municipal employees took their monthly unpaid day off yesterday in an effort to save $22,000.

But the Republican mayor voiced support yesterday for the new administration's tough fiscal measures during a visit by Gov. Christie to Burlington County, a GOP stronghold.

"I'm not mad," said Keenan, standing alongside Christie before an audience of several dozen people - including local party officials - in the Mount Laurel Library. "The truth is, we have to do these things. . . . If we do have to raise taxes, we have to justify why."

Christie's appearance came in a week in which his administration announced aid cuts of $819 million to public schools and $446 million to municipal governments.

In Burlington County, 30 out of 40 towns had their aid reduced more than the 17.5 percent state average. Some - such as Southampton, Bass River, and Woodland - took cuts far deeper than Mount Laurel's.

Over the last decade, Christie said yesterday, towns and school boards have spent more money and the state has "papered over" increases by giving them more aid.

He said that had excused local governments from making difficult decisions - and now the state simply doesn't have the money.

Opponents have raised concern that Christie's measures will simply lead to property-tax increases as local governments try to make up for the aid reductions.

The governor pressed the need to mandate a 2.5 percent cap on property-tax increases - down from the current 4 percent - to "force people to make choices," with exceptions for higher levies approved by residents.

Christie said the state could not afford to give salary increases to public employees and pay 100 percent of their health-insurance costs. He lashed out at the state teachers' union, saying it had fostered a reputation "that they are not people to be messed with."

"They live in this unreal world where someone else is always paying for it - they're not," charged the governor, who said he doubted that children would focus more or learn better if teachers got a salary hike.

The New Jersey pension system is underfunded by $46 billion, and would only be 74 percent funded if the state had met every penny of its obligation, he said.

"Benefits for some sectors are too rich," and employees don't pay their fair share, he said.

The Senate already has approved pension changes and the Assembly is scheduled to vote on them Monday. Christie vowed yesterday that "the minute they walk it down the hall, I'll sign it."

Citing New Jersey's high taxes, he said, "We do not have a revenue problem in this state. We have a spending and a debt problem."

"People are concerned and they're not happy . . . but I think people understand I have a job to do and they want me to do it."

In an interview, Keenan summed up his reaction to the municipal aid cuts in one word: "Ouch."

In Mount Laurel, which operates on a $37 million budget, about 140 of the township's 220 employees have taken one unpaid day off every month since November. The furloughs will extend through June for a total savings of $176,000.

The township has been looking for economies since early 2009, he said. Mount Laurel is in contract negotiations with four unions and is pressing for wage freezes and employee contributions to health benefits.

"I can tell you that $700,000 [cut] out of the revenue portion of the budget will hurt us. . . . How is it going to affect us? We don't know yet," said Keenan.

Deitra Chamberlain, a Mount Laurel resident in the audience, expressed support for Christie even though she voted for Gov. Jon S. Corzine in November.

"I feel that [Christie] had to make some very tough decisions, but they were really for the betterment of the state," she said after the event.

She said she knows some teachers who are unhappy with the governor's proposals, "but when you're pushed into a corner, there's not a lot of choices you have."