he retirement age for state workers is going up and the percentage they have to pay into their pensions is rising based on reform passed by Albany on Thursday.
For the second time this year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers worked through the night to pass key state legislative reform, including a new pension reform bill for state public employees.
A contributing factor for the pension reform has been the recent increase in what is owed by local municipalities. In 2002, local governments only owed $1.4 billion, but this year that number grew to $12.2 billion, according to Gov. Cuomo. With city budget is already tight, the only options left to local governments to pay their pension bills was raising taxes, cutting services, or reform. Lawmakers chose reform.
“This bold and transformational pension reform plan is a historic win for New York taxpayers and municipalities that will save more than $80 billion over the next 30 years, while preserving retirement security for public workers,” Cuomo said in a statement. …
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