The President’s Message
The new ‘50 Years of Service’ rule
NEW JERSEY STATE
POLICEMEN’S BENEVOLENT
ASSOCIATION
EXECUTIVE BOARD
PATRICK COLLIGAN
State President
MARC KOVAR
Executive Vice-President
Mark Butler 1st Vice-President
Peter Andreyev 2nd Vice-President
Jerry Tolomeo 3rd Vice-President
Andy Haase 4th Vice-President
Henry Werner 5th Vice-President
Kenneth Burkert 6th Vice-President
Michael Pellegrino 7th Vice-President
Domenic Cappella 8th Vice-President
Mark Aurigemma 9th Vice-President
Manuel Corte 10th Vice-President
Mark Messinger 11th Vice-President
Eugene Dello 12th Vice-President
Michael Kaniuk Financial Secretary
George Miller Recording Secretary
John Monsees Treasurer
James Crilly Trustee
Keith Bennett Trustee
Richard Kott Trustee
Richard Brown Trustee
Bruce Chester Trustee
Margaret Hammond Trustee
Frederick Ludd Trustee
Luke Sciallo Sergeant-at-Arms
Frank Cipully Sergeant-at-Arms
John Cernek Sergeant-at-Arms
Kevin Hibbitt Sergeant-at-Arms
Ed Carattini Jr. Sergeant-at-Arms
Michael Freeman Sergeant-at-Arms
Bryan Flannia Sergeant-at-Arms
Robert Ormezzano Sergeant-at-Arms
Joseph Biamonte Sergeant-at-Arms
Terrance Benson Sergeant-at-Arms
4
NEW JERSEY COPS
■
APRIL 2015
Patrick
Colligan
Before I get to the new 50 Years of Service rule, I just want to know how
Facebook and Twitter became the newest authority on what was going
on in the state when it comes to Pensions & Benefits. I will tell you all
that we have gone to great lengths to get the right information out to all
of you, both on our website and through Facebook and Twitter. When
we know something, or have new information, it is posted almost
instantaneously. We don’t post something we aren’t sure of, and we certainly aren’t going to post rumors.
The latest “fact” I was asked about from one of our members was that
he wanted to know when we were going down to 55-percent funding in PFRS. Of
course, I needed to know where he got that one from. “Midnight briefing, one of the
guys was talking about it,” he told me. Let me take a wild guess: another expert who
hasn’t been to a PBA meeting in five years but spends two hours of every day on Facebook?
Let me address the Pensions & Benefits Commission and the rumors that continue
to swirl fast and furiously. NOTHING has happened since the weeks before the governor’s budget address. Let me repeat that: NOTHING has happened since the weeks
before the governor’s budget address. Now, as the days tick by, it becomes more and
more likely that nothing will happen this year and a lot is happening behind the scenes
to come up with some very viable alternatives. The governor and the state legislators
are under very tight time constraints for anything to appear on the ballot in November,
and they currently seem to be pretty far apart. When we know some solid facts, you will
know them too. Like the duck that looks calm on top of the pond, we are working feverishly under the surface. We have cultivated some very unlikely allies in this fight to keep
us carved out, and we are making some great progress. This is an incredibly important
issue; check out your PBA meeting for some pretty important updates.
We have a PFRS Pension Trustee election coming up. I certainly hope that more than
8000 of you will choose to take the 25 seconds required to cast a vote for your future.
That’s all that voted the last time. Once again, I’m not quite sure what it will take to get
you to vote online (in less than a minute), but I hope that you consider the future of
your pension system is important enough. I know I do.
And now for the “50 Years of Service’ rule: If somebody read the title and didn’t bother
to read the article, I’d guess that will be the next rumor at the midnight briefing. Fear
not my fellow law enforcement officers. It was the recent anniversary celebrated by our
own Pat Fluta at the State PBA office. Now, I suspect she won’t be very happy reading
about this in NJ COPS, but most of us complain getting to just half of that benchmark.
I just can’t let 50 years of dedicated and loyal service to our members go unnoticed. Her
work ethic is unequaled and the NJ State PBA would truly be crippled without her. I’m
truly grateful she chose to stay when Marc and I took over, and I wish her the very best
of luck for the next 50 years.
Thank you, Pat, for all you do! d