Contracts with law officers came as surprise to governor's successor
Star Ledger
March 17, 2005
By RICK HEPP AND JOSH MARGOLIN
In the final weeks of his scandal-shortened administration, Gov. James E. McGreevey signed contracts with eight unions representing state troopers and corrections officers that will cost taxpayers $24.5 million more for salaries this year.
McGreevey approved the pacts without telling his successor, Richard Codey. Now the acting governor, along with the Legislature, must find the money to pay for the deals as the state faces a budget crunch.
The State Police contracts that cover troopers, sergeants and lieutenants were agreed to Nov. 12 -- three days before McGreevey's departure date. The governor was personally involved in negotiating those agreements, according to two administration sources.
Contracts with the five unions representing corrections officers were completed during a four-week period beginning Oct. 22. All eight contracts were later ratified by the members.
Codey said he did not learn of the contracts until after McGreevey left office, even though the two had been working together during a three-month transition period following McGreevey's announcement that he was resigning amid a sex scandal.
"You know 'Hey! Big Spender'? When he was leaving ... I guess he remembered the song," said Codey. "I got stuck paying the piper and that's life, and I'm not going to walk away from it and shrink but face it and deal with it as best I can."
Asked whether McGreevey should have informed him of the deals, Codey said, "That's a tough call, because he was the governor and I respected that."
The former governor did not return calls for comment.
The eight union pacts completed all outstanding collective bargaining agreements for employees during the McGreevey administration.
Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) said McGreevey should have made the contract agreements public.
"Compensation regarding state employees is a significant issue moving forward; this only proves the point to an even greater extent," Lance said. "Not only should the Legislature have been informed, the incoming acting governor should have been informed."
Lance said he intends to question state Treasurer John McCormac at next month's budget hearings about McGreevey's financial activities in his final three months in office, to find out, "Is there any other such action of which he is familiar?"
The three State Police contracts all call for pay increases of approximately 4 percent in each of the next four years -- the same increases included in the contract that expired last June 30, according to information provided by the governor's office. State Police captains and majors, who are not represented by a union, received similar raises because state policy requires them to earn more than their subordinates.
"My hat's off to Governor Jim McGreevey, who in the eleventh hour recognized the efforts of the men and women in the New Jersey State Police and what they have done for the people of this state in the last three years under his administration," said Dennis J. Hallion, president of the State Police Non-Commissioned Officers Association, which represents about 900 troopers with the rank of sergeant.
The corrections contracts -- negotiated on behalf of officers, sergeants, lieutenants, captains and internal affairs investigators, who had been working without a contract since July 1, 2003 -- included a 13.5 percent wage increase for most employees over four years, the governor's office said. But senior officers are receiving a total pay hike of 18 percent because the contract includes an additional pay step after 11 years on the job.
The pay increases laid out in the four-year contracts were similar to those approved in the last round of talks with the state's civilian work force, although unlike the State Police pacts they were not retroactive.
Both sets of contracts allow for the elimination of a so-called "Cadillac" health-insurance plan for employees and new retirees, beginning this July. The "Cadillac" plan contained few restrictions in terms of eligible doctors and services, and it cost the state $1,228 a year per family.
"That agreement is really significant, because it's going to result in long-term savings for the taxpayer," said corrections spokesman Matthew Schuman.
Instead, employees will have to choose from other state health plans that cost the state much less and have higher co-payments and deductibles, the governor's office said.
Total savings expected from that concession were not available yesterday.
David Jones, executive director of the State Troopers Fraternal Association, said talks turned serious last October after state budget analysts predicted that rising expenses and a New Jersey Supreme Court order prohibiting borrowing to balance next year's state budget could lead to a gap of about $4 billion between what the state will take in and what it will spend.
"We recognized there was a problem," Jones said. "We understood this situation was not going to be better, and that's when we started to make a move to address the health care issues."
