If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it 100 times: the average annual benefit paid by the state pension system in 2011 was $19,151 — “not a big amount for someone whose [sic] gave a lifetime of service,” as the Public Employees Federation (PEF) puts it in a letter and blast fax to state legislators. Read More
AFSCME, the nation’s biggest public-sector labor union, is mounting a statewide ad campaignclaiming that “politicians in Albany” want to “cut the pensions of firefighters, teachers and nurses by 40 percent.” Read More
The inevitable is now official: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver today said Governor Cuomo should “work out” his proposed Tier 6 pension reform with public-sector labor unions. As the governor himself pointed out just last week, the Legislature effectively prefers to give unions a “veto” over any change–which, if it sticks, means there will no meaningful change at all. Read More
An alert reader has provided the answer to a question posed on this blog yesterday: how or where did the state’s largest public employee union come up with its estimate that Governor Cuomo’s proposed Tier 6 pension plan will “reduce benefits” by 40 percent? Read More
An alert reader has provided the answer to a question posed on this blog yesterday: how or where did the state’s largest public employee union come up with its estimate that Governor Cuomo’s proposed Tier 6 pension plan will “reduce benefits” by 40 percent? Read More
The proposed Tier 6 pension for a general employee of state and local government who retires at age 65 after 30 years of service would be 50 percent of final average salary. The Tier 5 pension at the same age and for the same career duration is 60 percent of final average salary. In other words, measured on this basis, the Tier 6 benefit will be 17 percent less than the Tier 5 benefit. Read More
It sounds like Governor Cuomo may be wavering on the optional defined-contribution (DC) retirement plan that was the single most innovative aspect of his Tier 6 pension reform proposal. Read More
E.J. McMahon debated former state Assemblyman Richard Brodsky last night on The lead up to this debate includes Governor Cuomo's proposed modifications to the pension system in New York (including his proposal for an optional defined-contribution Read More
Just when you thought all the bad ideas had been taken, local publisher and suggests a new one: two minimum wages. In the Daily News, that New York State keep the current $7.25-an-hour minimum wage for people under the age of 2 Read More
State comptroller Tom DiNapoli today to assert the following: Critics of the current defined-benefit retirement plans for state workers incorrectly assert that New York State's pension system is financially sound only because of an unli Read More
OK—I admit it. Those protestors outside our pension reform event in Albany today did get one thing right. I do think people need to “gamble” some of their retirement savings on Wall Street. Read More
Nicole Gelinas has a must-read op-ed in the New York Post raising questions about Governor Cuomo’s plan to rely on public-private partnerships (PPPs) to finance infrastructure and economic development projects in New York. Read More