New Jersey State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. (R- Union) today called on Senate leadership to schedule a vote on Governor Chris Christie's conditional veto of civil service reform. His call comes on the heels of Democrat admission that their changes to the civil service system will not result in savings for property tax payers:
"The civil service reform bill proposed by Senator Bateman and endorsed by the Governor would have resulted in immediate property tax savings," said Senator Kean. "Unfortunately, the Democrats chose to pass a watered down version of reform that one of their own colleagues now admits will not save taxpayers a dime in the short term. Now that we are all able to agree that the Democrats' civil service bill falls short, it is imperative that the Senate schedule consideration of the Governor's conditional veto to fix this legislation."
Senator Kean said that civil service reform must allow municipalities to "opt out" of the system and allow involuntary furloughs of employees to deal with budget constraints. "Without the opt-out provision and involuntary furloughs, there is no appreciable savings for local government," he said. "Taxpayers cannot afford to wait any longer. It is time to act on meaningful civil service reform, as well as the rest of the Governor's toolkit left unfinished by the Majority."
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