New Jersey Governor Chris Christie won a key budget battle when a judge ruled he had legal authority to cut payments to the state pension system because he faced a fiscal emergency, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Christie was confronted with “staggering” shortfalls in his $33 billion budget for the year ending June 30, Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson said yesterday. Christie acted reasonably in paying $696 million to cover current employees, while deferring $887 million to help close the gap left by previous governors, the judge ruled. Unions for teachers, firefighters and other public employees sued to stop Christie, seeking full payment into a pension system underfunded by $38 billion. Christie, a Republican, said an unanticipated drop in revenue forced him to trim pension payments to balance the budget, as required by law.
