New Jersey is still weighed down by a staggering amount of outstanding and anticipated debt: $239 billion. But the amount it owes is slowly shrinking compared with the record high set in 2017.

New Jersey owes $45.16 billion in bonded debt, money taxpayers must pay back to bondholders with interest. But that’s $937 million less than the $46.1 billion it owed in 2017. That’s about a 2 percent decrease.

"The state has really only done modest borrowing over the past couple of years," said Marcy Block, New Jersey analyst for credit rating agency Fitch Ratings. "If they continue down that path, it will continue to trend downward."

The Garden State has $193.9 billion in obligations when looking at all non-bonded debt owed, which includes the pension as well as retiree health liabilities, loans and capital leases. That’s still an improvement, representing a 10 percent drop from 2017, when New Jerseyans were on the hook for $215.8 billion. These numbers look huge next to previous years, but that's "an apples to oranges comparison," because auditors made changes in how they calculated the health benefit liabilities in 2017 and 2018, Block said. "But we still recognize that the number is exceptionally large."

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New Jersey taxpayers are expected to shoulder $99.6 billion to support the severely underfunded public pension system. That’s about $15 billion less than the previous year, or a 13 percent decrease, according to the state Treasury Department’s latest debt report for fiscal year 2018.

The state still hasn’t hit the required yearly payment to the plan to keep pension and benefit costs from getting out of hand and hurting the state’s credit rating. Gov. Phil Murphy proposed giving a record-high $3.8 billion to the state worker funds for the 2020 fiscal year, up from the $3.2 billion in his first term. That’s still only 70 percent of the recommended amount, but Murphy expects to ramp up payments to reach the correct total by 2023.

"As the payments go up, the assumptions the auditors are going on are better, which is why you'll see a lower obligation," Block said.

But New Jersey's debt is still quite a bit larger than the $38.9 billion budget Murphy proposed for 2020, and New Jersey remains one of the most debt-burdened states in the country. The state paid $4.2 billion in 2019 just on its debt service payments, though that number is expected to decrease in the coming years.

And a recent analysis by bond ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service found that New Jersey is one of two states, along with Illinois, that could least handle a potential recession.

What puts the state in that undesirable position? Its pension liability and small surplus.

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The Legislature and governor’s office are in disagreement over the state’s savings. Murphy proposed a $1.139 billion surplus to begin fiscal year 2020, as well as $317 million to be directed to a “rainy day” surplus revenue fund, an account that could be tapped only in emergencies, such as a recession. It’s been empty since the Great Recession, when the state drained it of its $735 million in 2008.

Murphy added the $317 million rainy day fund infusion to his proposed budget after April state revenues came in higher than anticipated. New Jersey statute requires that a fraction of unexpected revenue be deposited in that fund, though that rule can be overridden in the budget.

Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said the state should instead focus on long-term savings, and the extra funds be spent on pressing needs like NJ Transit or direct support professionals. He introduced a package of 27 bills earlier this month to rework public worker health plans and consolidate school districts as cost-saving measures.

"I don't know if you know, but it's been raining in New Jersey for years," Sweeney said.