With a lump sum, NJ makes record pension payment

Buoyed by a recent windfall of tax revenue, Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration announced last week that it has already contributed $5.8 billion to New Jersey’s public-worker pension fund for the new fiscal year that began on July 1.

The hefty pension payment was made in a lump sum last week, instead of in separate installments at the close of each quarter of the fiscal year, which the state has generally done since 2017.

The lump-sum payment set a record as New Jersey’s largest-ever annual pension contribution, and it is expected to add millions of dollars to the state’s bottom line if professionally managed pension investments match their assumed returns over the next 12 months.

It also marks the first time since the 2007 fiscal year that such a pension payment was made at the start of a fiscal year instead of later, according to the Department of the Treasury.