(Bloomberg) -- Governor Chris Christie contributed18.6 percent of what New Jersey’s pension fund needed infiscal 2014, lowest among U.S. states, according to Moody’sInvestors Service.

The governor, a 53-year-old Republican seeking the presidentialnomination, skipped billions of dollars in payments for 2014 and2015, and reduced the 2016 planned contribution, saying the statedidn’t have the money.

A state Supreme Court ruling in June allowed Christie to bypasshis own 2011 law requiring a series of extra payments to bring thefund, with 800,000 beneficiaries, closer to actuarial demands.

For 2014, adjusted net pension liabilities declined for 27states, driven by strong investment returns. Still, 50-stateaggregate liabilities increased to $1.3 trillion, and Moody’sexpects fiscal 2015 liabilities to grow because of weaker marketperformance.

“Most states made budgetary contributions at or close to theiractuarially determined contribution levels,” according to a reportreleased Friday by Moody’s. Thirty-six gave more than 90 percent.Only two--New Jersey and California, at 48.2 percent--fell below 60percent.

Kevin Roberts, a Christie spokesman, said the governor “hascontributed more to the pension system than any other governor inNew Jersey history.” By June, he said in an e-mail, the total willbe $4.4 billion. The governor has urged Democrats who control thelegislature to agree to more benefits changes, saying the cuts madeduring his first term didn’t go far enough.

“The statistic to focus on is how broken and outsized thebenefits structure is, when a teacher who works for 30 years andpays only a total of $126,000 for his pension and health insurance,over his entire career, retires and takes $2.4 million out of thesystem in return,” Roberts said.

California is using more conservative actuarial assumptions,according to Moody’s, and is making extra payments.

New Jersey is $83 billion short of what it needs to make good onretiree payments, and the stress has led to nine credit-ratingdowngrades under Christie, a record for a New Jersey governor.

“Several states coping with pension underfunding and outsizedliabilities will continue to face significant credit challenges,”Moody’s wrote. The company gives New Jersey a rating of A2,sixth-highest, with a negative outlook, indicating anotherdowngrade is a possibility. Only Illinois has a worse creditrating.

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