The Corrections Department and other state agencies need to keep in mind the short- and long-term burden to taxpayers as they operate, said Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Albany-based Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative government watchdog group. "Every decision you make that has to do with a public employee goes back to a taxpayer," said Hoefer. Read More
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli likes to point out that he oversees one of the nation's best-funded public pension systems. That's true—although, given the competition, it's not nearly as impressive as it may sound. Read More
“This is an unsustainable model that gets more expensive year after year,” said Empire Center Executive Director Tim Hoefer. Read More
The number of people receiving pensions larger than $100,000 from the New York City Teacher Retirement System doubled between 2008 and 2013, according to data obtained by the Albany-based Empire Center and posted at SeeThroughNY.net. Read More
The $300 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers), America's largest public pension fund, is eliminating its $4 billion stake hedge funds due to their "complexity, cost, and the lack of ability to scale," the fund's interim chief investment officer has just announced. But the the $180 billion New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS), the nation's second largest public pension fund, is poised to move in the opposite direction. Read More
Public employee unions, naturally, are staunch defenders of the old-fashioned defined benefit plans. But as E.J. McMahon noted in 2012 testimony before a joint legislative fiscal committee: "The current public pension system in New York, as in most other states, exposes taxpayers to intolerable levels of financial risk and volatility." Read More
The state's general pension fund was recently valued at a record $180.7 billion. Some, though, cautioned about future costs. "The state pension system remains a ticking time bomb," the Empire Center's E.J. McMahon wrote in his group's blog, NY Torch. Read More
E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank, criticized the new law, particularly since it allows union officials to earn pensions through both systems at the same time. Read More