State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) also repeated that the spending plan needs to include the full promised payment to the public employee pension system.
A recent report by financial analysts in the state Legislature showed there is an estimated $565 million shortfall in the current budget. Meanwhile, Sarlo said, revenue from the new plan to legalize internet gambling has lagged behind projections, and the state is about to contribute an addition $700 million to the public employee pension fund.
"We’ve got a billion-plus problem on our hands," Sarlo said. "There needs to be a plan for how we’re going to fix this."
Christie has sought tax cuts for several years, but when asked about it Monday, Sweeney was blunt: "You’ve got to be kidding me right now."
Sweeney said Christie would have to do a few things to change his mind — including restore cuts to property tax rebates, as well as the earned income tax program for the working poor.
"We all would love to be able to say, ‘We want a tax cut,’ " Sarlo said. "But we need to realistic here with what we’re faced with."
Sweeney stressed again Monday he won’t back a budget that does not include a full payment to the pension fund. "We’re going to have this pension payment funded, or we won’t pass a budget," he said. "We made a promise, and that’s a promise I can’t break."
In 2011, Christie worked with Democrats to enact a major overhaul to the pension program, requiring both employee concessions and the state’s commitment to increase payments every year. It’s set to increase from $1.7 billion to $2.4 billion in the upcoming fiscal year.
In his State of the State address last month, Christie said he and lawmakers "need to have the conversation now about further changes to our pension system and about adding further to our state’s already burdened debt load."
Sweeney responded by threatening to shut down the state government if the payment is not made.
