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Gannett/Asbury Park Press,September 29, 2009 'The power of unions - New Jersey's fractured governmental system is little match against police and school unions. Here's why...'
'Schools, unions at odds- Is there a better way to negotiate school contracts?'
September 29, 2009
The power of unions
New Jersey's fractured governmental system is little match against police and school unions. Here's why..
STAFF WRITER
Meet the $90,000 patrol officer.
He's not a vision of the future.
He makes nearly two-thirds more than the average Philadelphia cop, who works in a city so violent that its nickname is "Killadephia."
When overtime is factored in, it would take almost two Philly cops to meet the salary of one local officer at the Shore.
In Point Pleasant Beach, population 5,400, a patrol officer could be making almost $114,000 by 2015 after just seven years on the force — before any overtime and longevity pay is added.
"I believe it to be the next big municipal bubble to burst, if it hasn't already," said Mayor Robert Bergen (left) of Keyport, where some patrol officers make more than $80,000 a year and want 5 percent annual raises over three years.
Police salaries are "clearly not sustainable," he said, and "I think there's really a problem with the whole system."
A dispute over Keyport's police contract is in binding arbitration, which is overseen by the state, according to Bergen.
But Richard D. Loccke, a Hackensack lawyer and state AFL-CIO co-counsel who represents police and other unions, said police services in New Jersey have a minimal impact on property taxes.
If you pay $6,000 a year in property taxes, about $300 goes to police and $4,000 goes to schools, he said. The balance would go to county and the local government.
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DAY THREE: MORE ON THE TAX CRUSH |
But some mayors have complained that New Jersey's collective bargaining process needs repairs to rein in costs that have helped result in the nation's highest property taxes. Union representatives oppose changes to the system.
The status quo doesn't serve the taxpayers, according to Jerry Cantrell of Randolph, president of the nonprofit New Jersey Taxpayers' Association, which is pushing for tax reform. Property taxes will "continue to skyrocket," he said.
A "safety valve" is needed to allow contracts to be renegotiated, based on the economic situation, Cantrell said.
Jim Ryan, state Policemen's Benevolent Association spokesman, said "public employees are trying day in and day out to … work with their communities and whatever the struggles are being faced. We realize that we're not in 2002."
Larger budget share
Unions are adept at using New Jersey's fragmented government system to their advantage. If, for example, a town or school board agrees to 4 percent annual raises, that settlement will be cited by other unions seeking parity.
Belmar Mayor Kenneth E. Pringle (left) said police costs are "eating up the budget at a rate that is causing the towns to have to cut back on other services …. and that's been our case."
"Unless we can cut our police costs somehow through sharing services, it's going to continue to grow and be a further burden on our taxpayers," Pringle said.
Belmar police contract negotiations entered binding arbitration in September, according to Borough Administrator Robbin Kirk.
Police costs account for $3.7 million, or 28 percent, of Belmar's $13.1 million current fund appropriation in the municipal budget this year, according to figures provided by Kirk.
By 2015, costs could reach $5.5 million, or 37 percent. Costs could nearly double to $10.8 million, or 57 percent, by 2025.
As an example, a Belmar officer hired in 1994 had a base salary of $87,920 last year and grossed $109,975, including $9,416 in overtime, according to borough payroll data.
Belmar, Bradley Beach, LakeComo, Neptune and NeptuneCity are using a $75,684 state grant to look at ways to share police services.
Ryan, the state PBA spokesman, said the PBA will support plans to share services that make sense.
Union officials said collective bargaining and binding arbitration are not the bogeymen. The true property tax culprits are New Jersey's bumper crop of governments and a lack of state aid, they said.
School salaries rival police
Police salaries in New Jersey have soared in recent years, but school budgets are where most tax dollars end up. School spending accounts for about three-fifths of property taxes.
And from 2000 to 2008, overall property taxes in New Jersey rose 63 percent — more than twice the inflation rate.
Municipal costs statewide, which include police costs, rose 72 percent to $6.4 billion. School costs rose 61 percent to $12.4 billion.
Senior teachers, principals and superintendents are paid as well as police officers, the Press found in its review of salaries. But there are many more teachers than cops in a town.
Howell had 96 police officers enrolled in the state police pension system last year. In its public schools, there were 680 educators, including administrators.
Of the 600 school superintendents statewide, 60 were paid more than $200,000 last year, according to Department of Education records. Their assistants and principals weren't too far behind them on the salary scale.
Examples of top school salaries last year include:
-- In the Howell School District, 259 administrators, teachers, psychologists and librarians were paid more than $90,000 for a total of $25.4 million.
-- In the Toms River Regional District, an assistant superintendent was paid $187,000.
-- A school principal in the Freehold Regional High School District was paid $146,316.
School boards are making progress in controlling costs, such as health insurance, according to Frank Belluscio, communications director for the New Jersey School Boards Association, which includes 4,800 local school board members.
Steve Wollmer, communications director for the 200,000-member New Jersey Education Association, said that although school boards are "feeling the squeeze" on property taxes, "it's not the fault of public schools or teachers that property taxes are high."
They're high because the state is not paying its fair share of school costs, Wollmer said.
The state provides about 40 percent of education costs, while the national average is 53 percent. Property taxes make up the balance.
Investigations Editor Paul D'Ambrosio contributed to this story.
September 29, 2009
Schools, unions at odds
Is there a better way to negotiate school contracts?
By TODD B. BATES
STAFF WRITER
The school boards association and teachers' union in New Jersey are at odds on whether the collective bargaining process should be fixed to help limit property tax hikes.
School boards need more power at the bargaining table to get a better grip on rising costs, according to Frank Belluscio, communications director for the New Jersey School Boards Association, which includes 4,800 local board members.
Until 2003, state law allowed school boards to impose "last best offer" contracts after negotiations were fully exhausted, and the association would like to see that tool — rarely used in the past — restored, he said.
A "last best offer" was the final word in contract negotiations. A school board could unilaterally impose a contract on a union, something that happened only 11 times from 1977 to 2003, according to a state Public Employment Relations Commission report that cited PERC records.
But Steve Wollmer, communications director for the 200,000-member New Jersey Education Association, said the "contract imposition" provision in the past led to strikes.
Although public teacher strikes are illegal in New Jersey, more than 225 striking Middletown teachers and secretaries went to jail after they disobeyed a court order to return to work during a 2001 contract dispute.
"I don't think the answer is to go back to the bad old days ... where we had endless strife at the bargaining table, strikes, contract impasses, which only upset people," Wollmer said. "Nobody benefits from that."
The median school teacher's salary was $58,545 last year, according to state Department of Education records.
School boards are making headway in coping with rising costs, such as health insurance and teachers' salaries, according to the school boards association.
An association analysis of 2009-10 teacher contracts shows that 65 percent have provisions to limit health benefit costs, such as requiring employees to contribute toward insurance premiums. Contributions range up to $650 a month and possibly more, according to Belluscio.
As of mid-August, however, the average salary increase in 2009-10 contracts was 4.47 percent. But the average was slightly lower for contracts settled since January, according to the association.
From 2007 to 2008, the collective pay for teachers and administrators rose $357 million, to a total of $9.6 billion.
Pay hikes, which will add tens of millions of dollars to the cost of education, include raises linked to an additional year of experience but don't reflect contributions toward fringe benefits.
The school boards association expects that the poor economy will result in lower raises, but many teacher contracts won't expire for a year or two.
