Research

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it 100 times: the average annual benefit paid by the state pension system in 2011 was $19,151 — “not a big amount for someone whose [sic] gave a lifetime of service,” as the Public Employees Federation (PEF) puts it in a letter and blast fax to state legislators. Read More

Suffolk County lawmakers are shocked -- shocked! -- to learn that someone has been gambling with the county government's fiscal future. It's a full-blown "emergency"! In the words of County Executive Steve Bellone, the resulting problem is "larger than any of us imagined." Read More

The inevitable is now official: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver today said Governor Cuomo should “work out” his proposed Tier 6 pension reform with public-sector labor unions. As the governor himself pointed out just last week, the Legislature effectively prefers to give unions a “veto” over any change–which, if it sticks, means there will no meaningful change at all. Read More

An alert reader has provided the answer to a question posed on this blog yesterday: how or where did the state’s largest public employee union come up with its estimate that Governor Cuomo’s proposed Tier 6 pension plan will “reduce benefits” by 40 percent? Read More

An alert reader has provided the answer to a question posed on this blog yesterday: how or where did the state’s largest public employee union come up with its estimate that Governor Cuomo’s proposed Tier 6 pension plan will “reduce benefits” by 40 percent? Read More

The proposed Tier 6 pension for a general employee of state and local government who retires at age 65 after 30 years of service would be 50 percent of final average salary. The Tier 5 pension at the same age and for the same career duration is 60 percent of final average salary. In other words, measured on this basis, the Tier 6 benefit will be 17 percent less than the Tier 5 benefit. Read More

Battle lines have been drawn on public pension reform in New York and some of the fiercest public employee union attacks are focusing on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to let future government employees choose between a traditional pension and a defined-contribution retirement savings plan. Read More