Pension Reforms Lighten Manchester's Bills by $218K

Manchester Township and the school district will contribute $218,280 less to retirement funds than previously projected for fiscal year 2013 under pension reforms approved by the state Legislature last year, according to a statement from Gov. Chris Christie's administration. 

The municipality and school district had expected to contribute a total of $3,310,553 to the Police and Firemen's Retirement System (PFRS) and the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) for fiscal 2013. The revised bills total $3,092,273, a $218,280 savings.

The savings in contributions for Manchester governmental entities:

• Manchester Township, PERS: $58,139;
• Manchester Township, PFRS: $88,005;
• Manchester School District: $72,136;

In Lakehurst, $277,511 was expected to be contributed to PFRS and PERS by the municipality and school district in fiscal 2013. That was reduced to $257,166 in the revised bills, a savings of $20,345.

(Editor's Note: See attached PDF for a breakdown of pension bills.)

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

The governor announced 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 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 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 within 30 years.