Andrew Kitchenman`s is the Statehouse correspondent for NJBIZ, which he joined in May 2009. He previously worked as a reporter at The Times of Trenton and the Journal Inquirer of Manchester, Conn., and as an editor for Sun Newspapers (now Sun-Gazette) in Northern Virginia. He has a master`s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor`s degree from St. Mary`s College of Maryland. He grew up in Willingboro and in Bucks County, Pa. 
Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney are divided over whether to cut unemployment insurance benefits — and, by extension, the tax increase facing businesses.
Christie’s proposal calls for cutting the average UI tax increase to $130 per employee by reducing the benefits paid to the uninsured. The maximum benefit paid per week would fall from $600 to $550 per week, and the first week of benefits would be eliminated.
Without any changes, the average increase would be $400, according to the administration.
The proposal met a sharp response from the Democratic Sweeney, whose office is in West Deptford, but the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce offered its strong support to Christie's proposal in an announcement Thursday afternoon.
Christie’s proposal received a positive but guarded reaction from Guy Falzarano, principal of Rainbow Academy, a Piscataway operator of 10 child-care centers that employs 350.
Falzarano said he paid $140,000 more last year in UI taxes, requiring him to freeze employee salaries until he knows the size of the increase this year. He said if the projected increase is not reduced, it could force some of the centers to close.
Falzarano described himself as “somewhat encouraged” by Christie’s proposal. He said current unemployment benefits are too generous.
“Unemployment is now up to 99 weeks,” he said. “I have employees asking me to be fired” so that they can collect nearly $30,000 in benefits.
He said raising taxes without cutting benefits is a “one-sided approach.”
“If you just support people who are unemployed, then they stay unemployed, because they can’t find jobs” due to the high costs facing employers, Christie said.
Dennis Bone, chairman of the chamber and president of Verizon New Jersey, agreed, and said the governor's proposal “should be applauded for attempting to reduce costs on business during the worst economic crisis in generations.”
E-mail Andrew Kitchenman at akitchenman@njbiz.com
