
New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, Inc.
The N. J. State P.B.A., Inc. represents over 350 Local's across the State representing Professional Federal, State, County & Municipal Law Enforcement Officers.
Helping those who help others.....
Senate and Assembly pass 2% Cap; Governor to sign soon 07.12.2010
As expected the Senate and General Assembly both passed the “compromise” property tax cap and Governor Christie will sign the bill into law soon. The bill reduces the current cap on increases in the property tax levy from 4% to 2% and eliminates nearly all of the exemptions. The bill eliminated the waiver to exceed the cap for public safety purposes and it does not take into account existing collective bargaining agreements. The bill does provide exemptions from the cap for pension and health benefit costs. Finally, the bill provides that the cap can be exceeded only by a 50% plus 1 vote of the public via referendum.
The State PBA strongly opposed this legislation, as it did the 4% cap and Senator Sweeney’s 2.9% cap proposal, because it does not take into account the need for local governments to provide for the public safety. The State PBA presented focused exemption language to prevent layoffs but the Legislature, despite several members acknowledging our concern, moved quickly to score political points in the face of the Governor’s continued onslaught against them. The reality of this bill will be severe – without more State aid to local governments, municipalities will be forced to layoff police officers and cut back essential law enforcement services. While we are formulating a plan to work within the confines of this new law, the immediate impact is not positive. It is therefore shocking and disappointing that the State FOP sent out a letter to its members ENDORSING the cap bill. Their reasoning is beyond comprehension as layoffs will hit FOP members just as hard.
The State PBA now turns its attention to the Governor’s “toolkit” proposal that would eliminate civil service and end binding arbitration as we know it, among other things. We will continue to spend the summer meeting with Legislative leadership, individual members and Mayors to protect the safety of our officers and the rights we require to be treated fairly for the difficult job we do for our communities.
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Layoff & Demotion Seminar's Being Offered
06.29.2010
The State PBA will be hosting a series of seminars at the State PBA Office in July and August that will focus on assisting Local Association leadership in planning for and working through threats of, or actual Layoffs and Demotions.
Expert speakers will discuss methods available to help you formulate a response to claims from local government of financial crisis that may result in service cuts.
Subjects will include Labor Relations, Financial Analysis, Public Relations and working with the Press.
All seminars will begin at 9:00 AM and conclude at approximately 12:00 PM.
Please RSVP to info@njspba.com as soon as possible as space is limited to 40 seats per session.
Seminar Dates
August 4, 2010
August 11, 2010
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2010 NJ State PBA Convention @ Universal Studio's
04.15.2010
This years annual Convention will be at Universal Studio's on either 15-21 or 16-22 September 2010. For the Brochure and registration information - click here
**Wednesday Sept 15 flights are almost sold out (Call Debbie at office for most recent info)**
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State PBA & FMBA Charity Golf Trip, 06-10 OCT 2010
04.29.2010
Join the NJSPBA & FMBA in the fight against Autism. Enjoy a relaxing Golf/Fishing?Relaxation package for 5 Days & 4 Nights in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. For all the details - click here
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Retirement Seminars
04.20.2010
- August 24th at the State Office in Woddbridge at 1100hrs
Upcoming Events from Around the State
| Clark Motorcycle Run - click here | 25 JUL 2010 |
| Eatontown Golf Classic - click here | 26 JUL 2010 |
| Franklin Twp. Fishing trip - click here | 28 JUL 2010 |
| Passaic Co. Sheriff's Beefsteak - click here | 29 JUL 2010 |
| Piscataway Pig Roast - click here | 01 AUG 2010 |
| Ocean Co. Correction's poker run - click here | 01 AUG 2010 |
| Tpr. Castellano benefit by MC Conf. - click here | 01 AUG 2010 |
| Cranford PBA Blood Drive - click here | 03 AUG 2010 |
| Wall Twp. Pig-nic - click here | 14 AUG 2010 |
| Warren Co. PBA Golf event - click here | 16 AUG 2010 |
| Raritan Golf outing - click here | 16 AUG 2010 |
| Bloomfield Golf event - click here | 17 AUG 2010 |
| Hopatcong Golf outing - click here | 19 AUG 2010 |
| State PBA Ride & Slide in Seaside Hgts - click here | 21 AUG 2010 |
| Freehold Twp. Clambake - click here | 21 AUG 2010 |
| Charity Golf event for Tpr. Castellano - click here | 23 AUG 2010 |
| Westfield Golf Tournament - click here | 23 AUG 2010 |
| Charity Flag Football 4 Tpr. Castellano - click here | 28 AUG 2010 |
| Berkeley Heights Golf outing - click here | 30 AUG 2010 |
| Bergen Co. Police Golf outing - click here | 03 SEP 2010 |
| West Windsor Golf outing - click here | 03 SEP 2010 |
| Maplewood Golf outing - click here | 07 SEP 2010 |
| Hackettstown Golf outing - click here | 10 SEP 2010 |
| Robbinsville Golf outing - click here | 10 SEP 2010 |
| Local 50 Chharity Poker run - click here | 11 SEP 2010 |
| NJSPBA Family Day at Great Adventure - click here | 12 SEP 2010 |
| Bridgeton PBA Charity Golf event - click here | 17 SEP 2010 |
| Monmouth Correction's charity run - click here | 18 SEP 2010 |
| Federal Agents Golf outing - click here | 20 SEP 2010 |
| Union Twp Golf event - click here | 21 SEP 2010 |
| Red Bank Golf outing - click here | 21 SEP 2010 |
| Fort Lee Golf outing - click here | 22 SEP 2010 |
| Monm. Co. Sheriff's "Day @ the Races" - click here | 26 SEP 2010 |
| Washington Twp. Golf outing - click here | 28 SEP 2010 |
| Hoboken SOA Golf outing - click here | 28 SEP 2010 |
| Mahwah Golf event - click here | 30 SEP 2010 |
| South Orange Yankees' seats Raffle - click here | 01 OCT 2010 |
| Fair Haven Golf Tournament - click here | 10 & 11 OCT |
| Ocean Co. Sheriff's Golf Tournament - click here | 11 OCT 2010 |
| Belleville Charity Walk - click here | 14 OCT 200 |
| Elizabeth & Cancer Society marathon - click here | 31 OCT 2010 |
President Tony Wieners’ Message
07.13.2010
STATE PBA WARNS OF PUBLIC SAFETY GAPS DUE TO 2% CAP
The New Jersey State PBA today warned that the 2% property tax cap signed into law today by Governor Christie will result in massive layoffs, reductions in law enforcement services and potential gaps in public safety coverage unless a public safety exemption is enacted to prevent layoffs.
“Reducing our reliance on property taxes is important to every New Jersey resident but establishing artificial caps without the consideration of their impact on the public’s safety is a mistake we can’t afford to make,” said State PBA President Anthony F. Wieners. “We are experiencing unprecedented layoffs with a 4% cap but the new 2% cap has no exception for public safety costs and I expect we are going to see massive layoffs soon that will impact both proactive and reactive law enforcement services.”
The 2% cap law signed today eliminated a waiver for public safety. The State PBA requested a limited exception to prevent layoffs by allowing only potential layoffs for economical reasons to fall outside the cap. The PBA recommendation was not voted on however despite the lessons learned from California, Colorado and Massachusetts whose caps have led to significant losses of police personnel and services.
“Our members are very concerned that they will not be able to respond to calls for help or to provide backup for themselves under this new cap law,” Wieners continued. “There is no such thing as an “overstaffed” police department in New Jersey and the nearly 700 layoffs we have experienced, combined with nearly 1500 retirements, will no doubt lead to gaps in public safety in every community in the State.”
Wieners pointed to the recent announcement by the Oakland, California Police Department that they will no longer be immediately responding to calls for crimes such as burglary, grand theft and a variety of nuisance crimes as a result of layoffs due to the tax restrictions in place in that State. Colorado law enforcement ended patrols when gas prices rose beyond their cap (which has since been suspended by the voters) costs that are not outside the revised 2% cap. The State PBA President fears this cap will lead New Jersey in that direction as well and it raises the question about why the State is ignoring the negative impact a hard cap has on public safety.
“Sadly, this cap has more to do with winning political points than with serving the people,” Wieners concluded. “The Governor is more concerned with looking good to the national media than taking into consideration the very real costs of a tax cap that doesn’t preserve the public’s safety. Trenton needs to act to fix this serious problem and not one of my members had better come into harm’s way because this cap led to a loss of equipment, manpower or training.”
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V.P. Keith Dunn's corner
07.21.2010
Thanks to all the Delegates, Presidents, and PBA Members who attended the “Legacy of Heroes” event on July 21st ,
in Liberty State Park. This commemorative event was to honor the service of Jersey City Police Officer Marc DiNardo and bring awareness to the importance of organ and tissue donation. As police officers, we proudly serve and protect the citizens of our State every day. Through organ and tissue donation we can continue that service by making a difference for the thousands who are awaiting a transplant. If you would like more information regarding organ and tissue donation, visit the Sharing Network website at wwwsharenj.org.
Rob Nixon's legislative news
07.16.2010

Legislative Report
July 20, 2010
Overview
The Legislature is working in a rare “summer session” to analyze the proposed “toolkit” of employee/employer relations and government management changes proposed by Governor Christie. The Senate and Assembly have so far approached this review differently with the Senate scheduling meetings into late August and the Assembly breaking the review down in “issue areas” Chaired by Assembly members. There appears to be no immediate movement of bills though consideration of some form of the “toolkit” is expected by the Fall. However, when combined with the recent pension and benefit changes and the 2% property tax cap, this discussion further adds to the weight of this unprecedented summer legislative activity.
There can be little doubt that the onslaught to impact the existence of collective bargaining, employee rights and protections and pensions is well underway and that the Governor and Legislature have so far not distinguished between police and other types of public employees despite their public comments to the contrary......
For the full report - click here
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From the desk of John Hulse
07.07.2010
Now that we are well into the summer and we are all enjoying the warm weather and festivities that accompany the season, please take a moment to think about keeping yourself safe.
We have lost several fellow Law Enforcement Officers this year to off duty motor vehicle accidents. Driving the number of miles we all do day in and day out automatically makes us more likely to be involved in a crash than the average citizen. Many times accidents are unavoidable but a little extra caution may go a long way.
Please keep our lost members in your prayers and make safety your priority when behind the wheel.
NO OTHER EVENTS WILL BE POSTED.