The state's largest public union is right. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposal to "smooth" pensions for local governments and school districts is "a bait-and-switch scheme ... that will allow public employers to underfund their pension obligations," as the Civil Service Employees Association described it last week. Read More
The Empire Center for Public Policy will ask the state’s highest court to hear an appeal of a court ruling today that would allow New York State’s public pension funds to keep secret the names of pension recipients, the Center’s director, Timothy Hoefer, today announced. Read More
For every $100, the state of New York spends on employee salaries, it now spends another $44 on benefits. That figure will jump to $62 dollars in three years, according to the budget division. As the New York Post : The Read More
New York--despite facing a $55 billion liability--is one of 20 states that has set aside absolutely nothing to pay for the growing cost of health insurance for retired public employees, according to a national report. The by the Pew Center on t Read More
Democrats in the New Jersey Legislature--as well as the state's new Republican governor--are giving a cold shoulder to once powerful public employee unions. The unions, "long seen as a potent political force and often depicted as an 800-pound gorilla looming over the Statehouse, are running short.. Read More
Visions of sugar plums dance in the heads of older state workers--amid Albany's $9 billion budget gap. They dream of fatter pensions should Senate approve Governor Paterson's early retirement bill as the Assembly did this week. Although a bonanza for... Read More
Local governments are not racing to adopt the state's early retirement incentive, which would help trim their payrolls while increasing their pension costs. In St. Lawrence County, officials have advised county legislators to vote against offering... Read More
School superintendents don't get overtime, but that didn't prevent former Niagara Falls School Superintendent Carmen A. Granto Jr. from collecting a pension larger than his salary. He did so by cashing in 45 unused vacation days and 747 unused sick days... Read More