Christie announces $300M N.J. Statehouse renovation project

Gov. Chris Christie speaks at the Statehouse in Trenton last month.

(Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

TRENTON -- A controversial plan to give raises to a wide swath of high-ranking government employees in exhcange for permitting Gov. Chris Christie to profit from a book deal while in office could cost taxpayers more than $7 million next year and more than $10 million in 2018 and later years.

That's according to an estimate released by the nonpartisan state Office of Legislative Services on Friday -- a day after state Senate and Assembly committees began advancing the bill, which is moving quickly through the state Legislature.

Final votes in both chambers are scheduled for Monday, only a week after the measure was quietly introduced.

The office estimates that the bill (S2851/A4430), if passed and signed by Christie, would cost the state and county governments $7.45 million in 2017 and at least $10.6 million in 2018 and beyond because of the raises.

Sponsors of the measure say it's been years since these employees received a pay hikes, and such increases are only fair.

They admit the legislation is a compromise between the Republican governor and Democrats who control the Legislature, securing Christie's support for the raises in exchange for the book provision.

Christie -- who is about to enter the last year of his second and final term -- has not publicly revealed he is writing a book or if there is a pending deal. But the deal would clear the way for him to cash in on one.

A current state ethics law bars any New Jersey governor from being compensated in any way beyond his or her $175,000 salary. This legislation would loosen that law to allow the governor and his cabinet members to make money from a book deal.

It appears the book deal part of the bill would not cost taxpayers anything.

But the measure would allow all 120 members of the Legislature to increase the salary allotments for their staff members $30,000 to $140,000.

It also would permit the governor to pay cabinet officials up to $175,000, up from $141,000.

Plus, judges would get 3 percent raises in 2017 and 2018, and their salaries would be tied to the Consumer Price Index in 2019 and beyond.

And county prosecutors would get pay hikes, from $165,000 to as much as $175,000 by 2018.

The costs are only a fraction of New Jersey's nearly $35 billion state budget.

Still, opponents note that the bill is being fast-tracked only weeks after Christie signed a controversial law increasing the state's gas tax by 23 cents a gallon.

"The juxtaposition of having this legislature and governor implement the largest tax increase on our residents that's occurred in a decade and then six weeks later, before the ink is barely dry, turning around and giving raises to the political elite is unconscionable," state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) said at a hearing on the measure Thursday.

Critics also note that it comes at a time when Christie's approval ratings have fallen to record lows.

But proponents say they don't see a problem in allowing Christie to profit from a book in exchange for raises they argue are long overdue.

"When it comes to the governor writing a book, why not?" state Sen. Brian Stack (D-Hudson) said at Thursday's hearing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.