New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation, a crushing burden to middle-class families and indisputably the top concern of voters.



It's a problem that can't be solved until we contain the salaries and benefits of public workers. That is not a liberal view, or a conservative view. It is about the math. And it's up to the next governor to face it.



The first test is coming soon, when a law setting a 2 percent cap on salary increases for police and firefighters in arbitration settlements is set to expire in December. The Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, wants to renew the cap. But the front-runner, Democrat Phil Murphy, is keeping his options open.

Cops in N.J. now earn over $100K. See how much they make in your town



Start with this fact: Our police and firefighters are already among the nation's best-paid. The median police salary was $105,106 at last count. That doesn't include overtime and bonuses.

And the best paid cops are in wealthier suburbs with very little crime. In Alpine, for example, the median cop salary is $135,856. The portion of police officers earning more than $100,000 has jumped to 60 percent, up from 30 percent in 2009.



Both police and firefighters can collect big payouts for unused absences, too. It's not unusual for the rank-and-file to walk away with $50,000 or $100,000 in unused sick and vacation days. In the most outrageous cases, police brass have taken home more than $500,000.



Why does this happen, even in the face of rage over property taxes? Because in many towns and cities, the unions are the most powerful local political force. Their allies have won elections and awarded them generous contracts. In effect, the unions sit on both sides of the negotiating table. Before Gov. Chris Christie's arrival, they usually won political fights at the state level, too.

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Gov. Chris Christie pushed back, and among his victories was this 2 percent cap, approved by the Democratic legislature. But now, a bill to renew the cap, sponsored by Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, has stalled. Democrats say they're waiting for a pending task-force study of the cap's effectiveness and any recommendations about how to improve it, due by the end of the year. But the last annual report found the cap is working - limiting annual raises through arbitration from nearly 5 percent to just under 2 percent since it was put in place.



Patrick Colligan, head of New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, argues cop salaries are in line with our high cost of living, and questions why, "just because we're not in private industry, we need to have a permanent cap on our salaries. If the town has the ability to pay, then it has the ability to pay." But if you remove the cap entirely and have unrestrained collective bargaining, we've seen what can happen.



Before this cap, big raises in one town led to big raises in the next, since arbitrators were supposed to keep them in line with one another. The cap helped break that momentum.



Yes, it could be tweaked, and maybe a cap should apply to other municipal employees, too. But police and fire are among the highest-paid, and we can't just release their cap and do nothing.



If the unions have a better idea, let's hear it.

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