GLOUCESTER COUNTY TIMES EDITORIAL - August 15, 2010

Two South Jersey legislators wasted no time last week in proposing legislation that would end what state Sen. Donald Norcross called "out-of-control perks" for public employees.

Responding to recent reports of misused employee benefits at the Delaware River Port Authority, Norcross, D-5, of Camden, and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty D-4, of Washington Township, are working on bills that would reduce or eliminate job-related benefits like housing allowances, vehicle stipends and credit cards for public-sector and related- agency employees. As planned, the legislation would include various ethical reforms as well.

The reforms would apply to all public employees in New Jersey, from the governor's office and the Legislature on down to municipal and county governments, state universities, state and county colleges, public schools, fire districts and quasi-independent state, county and local authorities including such bi- and tri-state authorities as DRPA and the Delaware River and Bay Authority. (However, governors and lawmakers in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York probably need to cooperate to make any changes apply to these agencies.)

"This has long been brewing," said Norcross, denying claims that the DRPA flap alone had prompted the response. He's right. Over the past five years, tight budgets statewide have prompted voters to question the salary and benefit packages for public employees. Close budgetary analyses have indeed revealed unnecessary excess.

Since Gov. Chris Christie took office, the official response has focused mostly on benefits for rank-and-file employees like teachers and social workers. It's only recently that Christie has criticized penthouse-style perquisites and freebies handed out to highly paid administrators.

Christie has already proposed some scattershot remedies, like limiting the salary of school superintendents and setting salary and benefit caps for other school administrators.

The proposals Norcross and Moriarty announced last week didn't mention salary caps, which may be addressed in separate legislation. That's OK. There should be healthy debate over whether it's prudent to dictate, by state law, the top salary of, for example, a college president. But because added perks can be well hidden, cracking down on them is appropriate.

The lawmakers' ethics proposals a two year wait before an ex-state employee could work for a state vendor would be especially welcome might also be better treated as separate legislation from a "perk" package.

Skeptics say that eliminating housing allowances and free cars for top administrators might make it harder to hire the best candidates. Others say that miscellaneous little perks like free bridge crossings amount to no more than the proverbial drop in the bucket. Maybe so. Nevertheless, a state faced with unprecedented budget deficits in the worst economy since the Great Depression can't afford to waste a penny.