State lawmakers would make it easier to inflate the pensions of teachers, police officers and other state and local employees, costing taxpayers about $4 billion. New analysis shows.
The proposed change, overwhelmingly supported by Paul in Albany after pressure from powerful labor unions in an election year, would immediately cost New York City taxpayers $163 million a year, according to the Empire Public Policy Center. This would force them to pay an additional $10,000 in pension costs.
“That’s a lot of police officers and teachers,” said Ken Girardin, director of research at the Empire Center, who wrote the report, referring to who would be affected.
“School districts and local governments will all face rising pension costs, forcing them to either cut programs or raise taxes,” he said Monday.Employers hardest hit include New York. City,” he said.
Under the proposed cuts, pensions would be calculated primarily based on a worker’s last three years of salary, rather than their current five years, and workers typically earn the most in their last few years. Since you should be earning more money, your pension will probably be increased.
Democrats in the Assembly and state Senate are seeking pension increases for state and local government employees hired after 2012, commonly known as “Tier 6” members. spending resolution As part of the ongoing budget process.
Girardin said the proposal would retroactively increase pensions for workers who retired in the past two years and increase future pensions after retirement for about half of New York City’s public sector workforce.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo advocated and approved the Phase 6 changes a decade ago to rein in runaway pension costs.
Mr. Cuomo pushed for reforms to curb pension costs and benefits for new hires, as lawmakers are prohibited from cutting benefits for public employees after they are hired.
Analysis shows proposed pension relief measures would add $2.2 billion in debt to New York City’s five pension systems and $1.5 billion in debt to the New York State and Local Public Employees’ Retirement System over the next few decades will be done.
The biggest beneficiaries are teachers, who earn higher salaries than most civil servants.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents New York City educators, has been lobbying hard for the reforms, along with other labor leaders, legislative sources said.
Mulgrew defended the proposed changes Monday as a pro-labor advocate.
“Empire Center believes only the wealthy should receive decent retirement benefits, but our members deserve real retirement security,” Mulgrew said in a statement. . “The current Phase 6 proposal would increase the city’s annual payments to the Teachers Retirement System by just over 1 percent, according to the city’s own estimates.”
He has a member of Congress on his side.
“Tier 6 is a big concern, and rightly so. It’s not a good thing,” Assembly Education Committee Chairman Michael Benedetto (D-Bronx) told the Post.
Benedetto blamed pension restrictions for making it more difficult to recruit and retain teachers in the city’s public school system.
Mr Girardin disputed claims that the pension increases were necessary to curb the workforce recruitment and retention crisis, saying the plan was “a giveaway to trade unions ahead of the 2024 elections”. did.
The proposal, authored by State Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) and Rep. Stacey Pfeffer Amato (D-Queens), is supported by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Karl Carl. It was blessed and included in the spending resolution. Heastie (D-Bronx).
“‘Tier 6 is everywhere. You can hear it echoing through the halls,'” a smiling Jackson said, referring to his support for the proposal.
Representatives for Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to block pension increases during budget negotiations, issued a statement Monday that declined to take a position.
“Governor Hochul’s Executive Budget makes record investments in New York’s future while ensuring New York State maintains a stable long-term fiscal trajectory, and the Governor is working with the Legislature to make these “We plan to produce a final budget that achieves these goals,” the spokesperson said.
Hochul, who is up for re-election in 2022, agreed to rescind some of the pension system changes sought by labor unions, with new civil servants having to wait 10 years instead of five years, which were approved in 2010 and 2012. repealed a law requiring people to join the pension system after 2015. The same applies to previously hired employees.
New York state is known for offering generous government benefits, especially rules that make it easier for elected officials to “double-dip” and receive large pensions while working.
Such is the case with Staten Island’s power couple, District Attorney Michael McMahon and his wife, state Judge Judith McMahon.
