By Jarrett Renshaw
Passaic County Herald News
For the second year in a row, state figures show public employees across New Jersey are retiring at a record rate.
Nearly 15,000 public workers are expected to retire from January through the end of July, a slight increase from the same period last year, when a record number of state employees left their jobs.
The steady rise in retirements comes amid economic uncertainty, with changes in pension and health benefits for public employees remaining at the top of the state’s political agenda.
As a result, an increasing number of the more than 500,000 state and municipal employees are choosing to retire rather than risk having their benefits cut.
“People have a certain set of expectations, and at some point it just makes sense to retire,” said Jim Ryan, a spokesman for the state Police Benevolent Association.
144 troopers may exit
Ryan said retirements, combined with layoffs, have left police departments around the state understaffed and in many cases without the streetwise experience needed to conduct adequate investigations.
“If there is a shooting or a fight between gangs, a veteran police officer knows the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s going to take time to fill in the gaps.”
The numbers provided by the Treasurer’s Office show that State Police officers are also retiring at a record pace, a trend that the superintendent, Col. Rick Fuentes, told a Senate committee was disturbing.
By the end of July, records show, 144 state troopers are expected to retire, significantly higher than any 12-month period since at least 2000.
In the previous decade, an average of 61 state troopers retired each year.
Overall, more than 20,000 public workers retired last year, a 60 percent increase over 2009 and the highest number in at least a decade.
The unexpected surge may eventually force the state to pay more money into its troubled pension fund.
‘Low level of morale’
Every three years, the state examines such assumptions as retirement rates and employee levels, which serve as the basis for pension payments, and adjusts accordingly.
The next study will look at the three-year period from June 2008 to June 2011, when retirements jumped.
“This is very destructive and indicates a low level of morale that workers are leaving jobs in this bad economy,” said Hetty Rosenstein, president of the Communication Workers of America, which represents about 40,000 state workers.
Rosenstein blamed the wave of retirements on Christie’s public comments, in which he has spoken disparagingly of public employees and the benefits they receive.
Christie’s office declined to comment for this article.
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