New York state’s pension system lost 26 percent on its investments and shrunk by a net $45 billion in fiscal 2008-09, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli disclosed last week. Read More
Tag: Public Pensions
Despite a crushing recession and a $45 billion drop in the state pension fund, Albany’s 2009 legislative hopper includes dozens of proposals to enhance the retirement benefits of New York State and local government employees. Read More
New York’s public-pension system has become the epicenter of an in fluence-peddling scandal that has at tracted the attention of the SEC as well as state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. But the millions in shady “placement fees” pocketed by a few politically connected middlemen are small change compared with the mushrooming cost of lavish pension benefits for state and local government retirees. Read More
Before staggering away from Albany last week, the state Senate delivered a pleasant surprise for taxpayers -- rejecting a well-intentioned but badly designed bill that would have allowed the state and local governments to borrow billions from the state pension system while potentially compounding financial risks for generations to come. Read More
Talk about ingratitude. Some of New York’s top labor leaders are making it known that they may not support the reelection of David Paterson, long one of their most steadfast allies in Albany. Read More
New York’s public-pension system has become the epicenter of an influence-peddling scandal that has attracted the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the state’s attorney general. Read More
All 59 of the public retirement systems covering most teachers in the United States—including both of New York’s—face pension obligations far greater than they admit, according to a newly issued study from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and the Foundation for Educational Choice. The study estimates the total unfunded liabilities of the nation’s teacher plans at $933 billion, nearly three times the officially acknowledged shortfall, including a funding gap of more than $60 billion in the two New York systems. Read More
More than 1,000 retired New York State school teachers and administrators are entitled to annual pensions of more than $100,000, according to pension data posted today on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website. The new database from the New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) includes name, benefit rate, retirement date and last known employer when available, for 134,796 people collecting pensions in 2009. Read More