NJ.com: It’s time for NJ’s public employees to make some sacrifices

By Michele N. Siekerka

With New Jersey in the throes of a historic economic crisis, it is abundantly clear that tough choices will need to be made during an even more challenging budget season.

Gov. Phil Murphy is often heard saying “we are in this together,” and we certainly are. As such, any plan to address our budget and economic challenges must include sacrifices equally shared by the private sector, the public sector and our taxpayers.

To this point, New Jersey businesses have already paid a very steep price toward this shared sacrifice – having been mandated to shut down or reduce operations for months, with a slow-moving reopening process that has greatly impacted the livelihoods of business owners and employees alike.

Given the shared sacrifice of the private sector and taxpayers, it is wholly appropriate to ask the public sector to share the pain, as well, in order to responsibly adjust our budget to address our economic crisis

Credit Governor Murphy and Treasurer Elizabeth Muoio for including some cuts and for avoiding borrowing and tax increases to close out the FY20 state budget. But we also believe some of those reductions, freezes and deferrals should become permanent cuts through FY21 and FY22.

More comprehensively, our public employees must be part of a shared sacrifice.

Read the full op-ed here.