By Edward Thomson

Would you take your kids to Disney World if you were behind on mortgage payments?

That's exactly what Gov. Phil Murphy is asking the Legislature to do in his budget proposal. He ignores the reality that the state is behind on its bills and in the middle of a pension-funding crisis. Yet, he wants to add more than $2.7 billion in new spending for his wish-list budget.

The governor laid out an ambitious and costly agenda in his recent budget address that includes expanding access to pre-K programs, increasing funding for notoriously unreliable NJ Transit and offering free-to-attend community college. While these are all worthy goals, spending $2.7 billion while foregoing his promised full pension payment and other debt obligations is certainly not the way out of the state's budget hole.

Crucially, the budget will only exacerbate our very serious financial woes, including our ever-growing pension crisis. And even though this wish-list budget raises taxes by $1.7 billion, none of that goes toward making a full payment. Our pension crisis remains the 800-pound gorilla in the room and must be a part of any honest discussion about our state's finances.

The governor's budget proposes to continue former Gov. Chris Christie's payment schedule to our chronically underfunded pension system. Instead of fully funding pensions as he promised, Murphy is only contributing 60 percent of a full payment this year. The other 40 percent just so happens to be about $1.7 billion.

The scheduled payment does nothing to stop our pension systems from creeping closer to insolvency; it only adds to our nation-high debt.

In fact, at more than $120 billion in debt, New Jersey's pension system is the worst-funded in the country. The problem is getting worse as more public employees are added to the system and accounting gimmicks, such as an overestimated rate of return, make the system seem better than it is. In a few years, pension and health benefits will consume nearly a quarter of our state budget, leaving no room for the governor's wish list of new spending.

Because Murphy served as the head of the 2005 panel on pension and benefit reform, he knows how bad the crisis was more than a decade ago. Clearly, he is very aware that 13 years later, our pension crisis has worsened and now threatens the financial health of our entire state.

He even recognized some of the other challenges facing our state in his budget remarks. Our nation-high property taxes are forcing residents to flee in droves for more affordable locations. The opioid crisis continues to ensnare too many of our families, friends and neighbors. School districts throughout the state, especially suburban schools, are being forced to do more with less while receiving meager amounts of state aid under a failed and inequitable funding formula.

Each of these important issues warrants thorough consideration and substantial investment. But these issues will receive scant attention -- and minimal financial support -- in the future as a result of the governor's focus on new spending items rather than fixing the pension crisis.

The budget message was a great opportunity for the governor to demonstrate his priorities for the upcoming year and show he is truly committed to tackling the many problems that plague our state and deserve our full attention. Unfortunately, the message delivered was that our governor is more committed to new initiatives than fully meeting the financial obligations that threaten New Jersey's fiscal health for years to come.

The governor isn't going to pay the mortgage, but he will try to take the state to Disney World.

Assemblyman Edward Thomson, R-Monmouth, represents the 30th Legislative District. A federally approved pension actuary since 1987, Thomson administers more than 500 pension plans nationwide.

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