Brick to Save $600K Under Pension Reform

Brick Township taxpayers will contribute about $601,374 less to retirement funds than previously projected for fiscal year 2013 under pension reforms approved by the New Jersey Legislature last year, according to a statement from Gov. Chris Christie's administration.

Local governments and school districts in Ocean County will save a total of $6.1 million under the revised bills, according to the Christie administration.

Brick Township, the township's fire districts, housing authority and the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority, as well as the Brick Township Board of Education, Ocean County College, the vocational school along with the other towns and school districts in Ocean County originally were to contribute a combined total of $86,998,825 to the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) and the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) for fiscal year 2013. That number has been reduced to $80,905,878.

The decrease in contributions for some Brick governmental entities:

• Brick Township: $331,626 less.
• Brick BOE: $180,345 less.
• BTMUA: $78,990 less.

(Editor's Note: See attached PDF for a breakdown of pension bills for Brick and other Ocean County towns.)

The governor announced Tuesday that "the historic, bipartisan pension reforms signed into law in June 2011 continue to result in millions in savings for middle-class taxpayers," an administration statement reads. "New lower bills will be provided to local governments today showing county savings of nearly $6.1 million and statewide savings of $116 million due to the pension management reforms implemented under the Christie administration."

The $116 million in savings announced Tuesday is additional, new savings for local governments. The Christie administration attributed the savings to responsible management initiatives by the New Jersey Department of the Treasury and new oversight boards.

Administration officials report that more than $43 million in local government savings come from PFRS and more than $72 million from PERS.

The Christie administration estimates the pension reforms of 2011 will save state and local taxpayers more than $120 billion over 30 years.