By promising Cadillac health benefits for government retirees without setting aside a dime to pay for them, New York politicians have dug a breathtakingly deep hole for taxpayers.

As in one-quarter of a TRILLION dollars deep — more than $12,000 for every man, woman and child in the state.

Not even California, which has almost twice the population, has racked up a state and local retiree health care tab that huge.

The Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center for Public Policy, which documented this hidden liability, calls it an iceberg that threatens to sink the state.

And it’s growing fast — soaring almost 20% since the group last ran the numbers just two years ago.

Plainly, Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature need to change course, and soon.

Otherwise, the mushrooming costs will take an ever bigger bite out of government budgets, forcing cutbacks in basic services, such as schools and police, tax hikes or both.

Retiree health benefits got out of control the same way pensions did — because politicians gave away the store to public employee unions.

As with their overgenerous pensions, former civil servants get benefits that go way beyond the norm in the private sector…..

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