Gov. Chris Christie reached a milestone in state reform when state Democrat officials in the Assembly reached a compromise yesterday on a key part of his toolkit – arbitration.  A compromise for a new formula will limit the increases to 2% annually for police and fire contracts.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer an early advocate of the Governor’s reforms will see an impact locally when the legislation reaches Gov. Christie’s desk.  Final approval is expected by January.

Currently Hoboken’s police and fire unions have been in negotiations with the city, all four operating without a contract for several years now.  Many speculated the logjam would result in the entire matter going to arbitration.

Back in September the police unions’ leadership expressed confidence an agreement would be reached.  The political reality of this arbitration legislation may hasten that process.

Here’s the video with Gov. Christie announcing the agreement:

Some of the key areas in the agreement:

Link to the NJ.com story:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/nj_gov_christie_announces_deal.html