Assemblyman John McKeon last week introduced a bill that would add to an already controversial law that allows some public officials to vastly boost their pensions. | AP Photo Lawmakers rush to pass another bill to sweeten elected officials’ pensions

New Jersey lawmakers are once again working to boost elected officials’ pensions, under a proposal that would have taxpayers picking up the tab.

Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) last week introduced a bill that would add to an already controversial law that allows some public officials to vastly boost their pensions. The bill, NJ A4176 (18R), which was introduced on June 14, is scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly Budget Committee Monday afternoon.


Under the bill, elected officials who are already receiving a pension for a previous elected job would be able to request that their current elected position be counted towards that pension without forcing them to re-enroll in the pension system; re-enrollment requires officials to stop receiving pension payments until they retire.

Upon retirement, those officials’ pensions would then be recalculated to take into account their current salaries and additional years of service. They would receive a retroactive payment based on the difference between how much they had already received in pension benefits and how much they should have received under the more generous calculation.

Despite the improved benefits, the bill would not require the officials to pay any more into their pensions than they already have.

“This is crazy,” said Fred Beaver, who directed the New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits from 2002 to 2010. “The whole thing is screwy. It makes no sense. It’s a total gift. Nobody is paying for it.”

Beaver said the bill could have a major impact beyond pensions: increasing an elected official's years of service in the pension system could also qualify him or her for lifetime retirement benefits from the state.

McKeon did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.

A 2007 law took newly elected officials out of the Public Employees Retirement System and shifted them into 401(k)-style defined contribution accounts. Under that law, elected officials who changed elected offices after 2007 were placed into the defined contribution accounts, with the pensions they had been earning for their previous elected office frozen in place.

Last year, Democrats who control the Legislature hastily introduced and passed a law to allow elected officials who changed offices after 2007 to re-enroll in the pension system and to buy back the time during which they were out of the pension system. The law, which was signed by former Gov. Chris Christie in January, also allows those elected officials to remain in the same, most generous pension tier, rather than one of the more recent pension tiers enacted after state cutbacks to public employee retirement benefits.

The law signed by Christie appeared to have been written mainly to benefit former Camden Mayor Dana Redd, who had seen her pension earnings frozen when she was elected mayor after serving as a Council member. Without the change in law, Redd’s pension benefits upon retirement would have been based on 20 years of service and a salary of $92,000. But a week before Christie signed the law, Redd was hired without competition for a job leading an obscure university board that pays $275,000 a year — triple Redd’s pensionable salary — and her future pension was further sweetened, with more years of service added to it.

Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin, who chairs the Assembly Budget Committee, said she also has questions about the McKeon bill and plans to talk to legislative leaders about it.

“I actually have a question about that bill and I’m meeting with leadership at 10:30,” she said in a brief phone interview. “I won’t be able to comment on it.”

It’s not clear how many people the bill would impact, but sources in the Legislature said it would affect at least two lawmakers: Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Essex) and state Sen. James Beach (D-Camden).

Both Caputo and Beach currently receive pensions from PERS in addition to their $49,000 legislative salaries, according to their financial disclosure statements: Caputo’s is between $10,000 and $25,000, while Beach’s is between $25,000 and $49,000.

Caputo’s pension is based on his years as an Essex County freeholder, from 2003 to 2011. (This is actually Caputo’s second stint as an assemblyman; he also served from 1968 to 1972).

Beach was a Camden County freeholder for three years and the Camden County clerk for 13 years clerk before joining the Senate in 2009.

Under the bill, Beach and Caputo would be able to improve those pensions upon retirement by having their legislative service counted, without having to re-enroll in the pension system and buy back time.

Caputo said he’s aware the bill could affect him and will refrain on voting on it to avoid a conflict of interest. He said he did not request the bill be written.

“The pension department will have to review this. They’ll make the decision whether people fit into the regulations,“ Caputo said. “I can’t prejudge it but I’ve got to make sure I stay away from it.”

Beach could not immediately be reached for comment.

The bill comes despite the pension system being underfunded by billions of dollars.

“It’s gamesmanship. They talk about the system being in so much trouble. Why do you keep aggravating it with special deals?” Beaver said.