View full sizeGov. Chris Christie speaking with attendants during one of the Governor's town hall meetings, held at the St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Piscataway earlier this week.LYNDHURST — Gov. Chris Christie today said he will not sign the version of a bill to increase the state minimum wage that has passed the state Assembly two weeks ago, though he did not rule out raising it altogether.
Christie said he opposed the portion of the bill (A2162) that would automatically increase the wage each year based on the Consumer Price Index, which tracks prices for consumer goods.
“I can guarantee you one thing. I’m not signing that bill,” Christie told a crowd of about 300 during a town hall meeting at the senior center in this southern Bergen County town.
Christie did not say whether he would support an increase from $7.25 to $8.50 without the yearly boosts. New Jersey’s current minimum wage of $7.25 is the same as the federal minimum. A parallel version of the bill to hike it has not yet been voted in by the full Senate.
Christie said the bill is too burdensome on small businesses.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. They’re going to lay people off,” he said.
Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) struck a cordial note in her response to Christie.
"The governor is aware that hard-working families in these difficult economic times need some help, and I look forward to continued discussions with the governor to reach a compromise agreement that everyone can be satisfied with so we can get this done," she said.
Christie also used his pulpit to rail against Assembly Democrats for insisting that a tax surcharge on millionaires be tied to their property tax relief plan,” calling them the “skunk at the garden party.”
Christie blamed Democrats for raising taxes and fees in the eight years up to when he was governor, and threatened to tour the state to blame them for sinking a potential tax cut plan.
“So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us now that they say yeah, we want to cut taxes, but we need to raise them first,” Christie told the crowd. “If July 1 comes and that tax cut is no there for you, you can count on me running all over the state telling you who denied you that tax cut.”
Christie had originally proposed a 10 percent income tax cut, but Senate Democrats countered with a plan to offer a 10 percent income tax credit towards property taxes, which they said would benefit the middle-class more than Christie’s plan. Assembly Democrats, however, have proposed a 20 percent credit, funded in part by reinstating a tax surcharge on millionaires, which Christie opposes. The Senate plan would only apply to households making less than $250,000 a year, though a tentative deal with Christie last month that was never made official would have raised that to $400,000.
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Earlier today, Christie embraced Sweeney’s plan.
The governor also compared the amount of time it’s taken Democrats in the Senate and Assembly to agree on a tax cut plan with school children procrastinating on a book report.
“They have budget hearings in Trenton that nobody pays attention to. They send out press releases every day saying that I am son of Satan,” said Christie. “Check, got that done. Nothing on the book report though.”
Christie also said he wants to revisit the “Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights” next year. He signed the legislation last year, but said he’s heard concerns from school administrators that there’s too much paper work and it’s taking time away from instruction.
"We’re going to watch to see how this works over the first year, year and a half, and we’re going to see if we can make it better," he said.
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