By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Voorhees Sun
The Senate and General Assembly approved a pension deferral bill in late March, but township representatives said the potential cost-saving measure was not considered for this year’s budget.
On March 16 the Pension Deferral Legislation was approved, which would allow state municipalities to reduce their state pension costs by 50 percent for 2009.
It’s only available for one year, and any municipality that decides to use the deferral would have to pay back the remaining costs by 2012.
According to the New Jersey League of Municipalities, any municipality that decides to take advantage of the deferral will have to demonstrate the need to do so and have the request approved by their local finance board.
Mayor Michael Mignogna said the township didn’t even consider using the deferrals while crafting the 2009 budget.
He had little positive to say about the deferrals, which he described as shortsighted.
“The pension deferral option is not good fiscal policy because it is shortsighted. It allows municipalities a temporary relief that has to be paid back with interest in the future,” he said. “Some have suggested that the payback would be double the deferred amount.”
See this week’s print edition of The Sun for the full story.
