TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Municipalities and school districts in New Jersey are wrongly letting hundreds of private attorneys and contract employees remain on state pension rolls at a potential cost of millions of dollars, in some cases bending rules “to get the results they sought,” the state comptroller said Tuesday.

Gov. Chris Christie’s office assailed the practices as a “taxpayer rip-off” and warned that local aid payments would be in jeopardy if municipalities don’t purge all private employees and independent contractors from the state pension system.