Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean issued the following response to today’s announcement from the State Treasurer’s office:

“Treasurer Muoio and Governor Murphy owe New Jersey taxpayers an explanation as to how or if these healthcare savings could have been factored into the State budget, which increased State spending by 5.4 percent.  If these initiatives had been enacted, maybe these new, onerous tax increases could have been avoided.

“While I’m happy to see some action, these reforms are not nearly enough. We need comprehensive public employee benefit reform in order to deliver real relief to property taxpayers across New Jersey.

“Senate Republicans have solutions on the table and our reforms are an order of magnitude greater. In fact, enacting the reforms we proposed could save more than a billion dollars for the State, and perhaps double that for local municipalities.

“We stand ready and willing to work with the administration and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get this done as soon as possible. The people of New Jersey deserve no less than an immediate response to this crisis.”