New York State's largest public pension fund earned 1.91 percent during the quarter ending Dec. 31, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced today. Meanwhile, the New York State Teachers' Retirement System (NYSTRS) has confirmed its contribution rate will drop for the first time in five years when pension bills for 2015-16 come due in the fall. Neither announcement says much about the long-term future path of taxpayer-funded pension costs in New York, however. Read More
Instead of a gold watch, more and more teachers are getting gold-plated pensions when they retire. The number of retirees earning six-figure pensions from the city and state teacher retirement systems nearly tripled during the past five years, according to a report from the Empire Center for Public Policy released Thursday. Read More
The number of retirees eligible for six-figure pensions from New York’s two teacher retirement systems nearly tripled between 2009 and 2014, according to new pension data posted today on SeeThroughNY.net. Read More
Say this for Sheldon Silver, who steps down today after more than two decades as state Assembly speaker: He’s doing New York taxpayers an unexpected favor. Not only will Silver be saving taxpayers nearly $10,000 a year by not giving up his Assembly seat, he’s driving home a much-needed lesson about the urgent need for public-pension reform. Read More
Florida is luring more than just New York’s residents. It’s also absorbing a growing pile of cash from the state’s largest pension. Read More
He was shocked — shocked — that Sheldon Silver did anything wrong. The founder of a law firm that paid Silver millions over a dozen years for doing virtually no work gave the disgraced Assembly speaker his walking papers Wednesday. Read More
Sheldon Silver's 38 years in the Assembly allowed him to amass immense political power which he is accused of abusing to pocket millions of dollars in kickbacks. And it's that 38 years in a public office that will give him a pension worth more than the annual salary of a rank-and-file assembly member. Read More
If Sheldon Silver remains a rank-and-file legislator after stepping down as Assembly speaker, he will be losing money on the deal, according to the Empire Center's pension calculator. Read More