When Todd Rouse became mayor of Canastota in 2001, the village paid $14,203 into the state retirement fund for all of its employees. This year, the bill is $131,000. It’s projected to rise to about $184,000 in 2012 — more than 10 percent of the village’s current tax levy.
“The system is broken,” Rouse said. “What has to happen is that, just like the private sector, the number of retirees in the system are going to have to realize that it’s just not feasible to keep doing this.”
Municipalities and school districts around the state are being hit with sticker shock as their bills from the state arrive for the pension fund. Through the booming stock market from the 1980s through the mid-2000s, the rise in the price of stocks made the state’s retirement funds flush with value. Municipalities found themselves paying less than one-half of 1 percent of their total payroll into the fund….
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