"Can New Jersey afford to annually pay $15.6 billion for a budget item that now stands at $700 million (in a good year)? Based on raw data provided by the state showing retiree monthly payouts for the years 2012 through 2014 (with partial data for 2011) that is what will need to be paid in 2024 to 423,000 retirees out of the state budget (the 'trust' fund having been long depleted by then) if the rate of growth on pension payouts from 2012 through 2014 continues. But that's still a best-case scenario."