Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — Governor Chris Christie called for reducing New Jersey's pension burden and said he won't be more specific because it would hurt his bargaining position with New Jersey Democrats.

The second-term Republican said he would consider using executive actions if the Democratic-led legislature won't agree to more changes. New spending on debt service and pensions, which accounts for 94 percent of the growth in the $34.4 billion budget unveiled yesterday, is "not productive," Christie told a capacity crowd of 525 people at a town-hall meeting in solidly Republican Morris County.

Christie proposed the largest budget in New Jersey history yesterday, blaming rising costs for health benefits, pensions and debt. A 2011 overhaul of benefits that Christie persuaded Democrats to support didn't go far enough, the governor said, without saying what else needed to be done. He referenced Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy after it became saddled with debt and pension obligations.