CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -  Close, but no deal yet between New Jersey’s Republican governor and Democratic legislative leaders on pension and benefit reforms involving state workers.

Word is that Gov. Chris Christie and State Senate president Steve Sweeney have come to terms on requiring state workers to pay more for health insurance and pensions, with the state resuming pension payments that have been suspended for most of the past decade.

Indications are that Democrats in the state Assembly are balking on the health care front.

Christie, at an event today in Camden, expressed confidence that a deal would be in place by the end of the month.

“We’re on the precipice of disaster,” Christie said, “and those people who play politics with this issue do so at the peril of the taxpayers.”

He wouldn’t point a finger of blame at anyone in particular, but suggested that legislators will want to work this out quickly, given the elections coming in November.

Public sector unions have insisted that any changes be dealt with in contract negotiations, not through legislation.

Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio 1060