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One of the bills in Governor Chris Christie's so-called property tax-cutting tool kit would make it easier for municipalities to furlough police and firefighters. Union presidents are imploring not put economic above public safety.
Bill Lavin, president of the New Jersey Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association and Tony Wieners, president of the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association are telling legislators that authorizing governments to temporarily lay off police and firefighters tramples on collective bargaining rights and could compromise public safety.
"The last thing we need is to make it easier to put less cops on the streets than we have now. In fact, I argue it should be harder not easier to furlough a cop if not prohibited outright," says Wieners. "Listen to me very clearly and I'll come back in a year if I'm wrong. My prediction is that our police departments in New Jersey are going to be reduced by one-third, by one-third under this cap."
The bill is one of dozens of Christie's proposals to help towns, counties and school districts keep within a 2% cap on spending and property taxes. Christie signed the cap into law this month and urged the Legislature to consider the other ways to manage costs. The cap is designed to curb property tax increases. Because certain costs that are outside the cap, like employee pensions and health care premiums, most experts feel it's unlikely that tax increases will be held to 2% a year.
Lavin says, "We can't plan and schedule fires and we can't plan and schedule incidents of crime……Basically this is what amounts to a Russian Roulette mentality of trying to pick and schedule when members of the police and firefighters will take a furlough." He adds, "This bill chooses economics over public safety."
Because police and firefighters are union workers, furloughs currently are negotiated. The bill discussed last week would give furlough power to local governments. Lawmakers heard testimony on the legislation, but did not take a vote.
Copyright 2010 by Millennium Radio New Jersey. All Rights Reserved.
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