Cuomo Panel to New York State workers: gravy train over
It’s really a small recommendation when you think about it, but one, that no doubt will cause gnashing of teeth across the Empire state. A panel set up the new New York Governor has recommended a new tier for pension eligibility that will apply to new state employees and while it will have little affect on the workers there now, I am sure it will be labeled draconian.
The panel’s recommendation is pretty simple. New workers can expect to contribute more than current workers into their pensions and will retire later. From Pensions and Investments magazine.
A commission has proposed that New York state create a new tier of pension eligibility in which new employees in defined benefit plans would pay higher employee contributions and for whom minimum retirement ages would be raised.
In addition, overtime would be excluded in pension calculations, and employees would have to work longer before qualifying for a pension.
The Mandate Relief Design Team offered no details about the proposed new pension tier in its preliminary report that was delivered to Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday. Changes in the pension system represented only one element of the report from the commission of private- and public-sector representatives that was created by the governor in January.
The commission recommended a new pension tier, called Tier 6, “in order to help municipalities and school districts address their rapidly escalating pension costs,” according to the preliminary report that is available on Mr. Cuomo’s website at www.governor.ny.gov/assets/documents/finalmandate.pdf.
The report said the estimated savings for the Tier 6 pension-level proposal for the local governments and school districts would be “nearly $50 billion” over 30 years.
Obviously New York has tried to fix this pension problem before, not because it’s plans are underfunded, they are not. But because they present a financial obligation to the state, cities and towns that simply is not sustainable. It is precisely what Governor Scott Walker is trying to do in Wisconsin, and for which he and others are being ridiculed and vilified. But this is a Cuomo and a Democrat and therefore exempt from the obligatory Cuomo/Hitler signs.
The recommendation is a small one, and it comes on the heals of Tier 5 set up in 2009 for new hires after that date. The fact that Tier 6 has come on Tier 5’s heals so quickly gives you an indication of the future obligations the state faces.
11 Comments
The website's content and articles were migrated to a new framework in October 2023. You may see [shortcodes in brackets] that do not make any sense. Please ignore that stuff. We may fix it at some point, but we do not have the time now.
You'll also note comments migrated over may have misplaced question marks and missing spaces. All comments were migrated, but trackbacks may not show.
The site is not broken.
Somehow I don't believe this will draw the same level of attention it would if this were a Republican governor.
“in order to help municipalities and school districts address their rapidly escalating pension costs,”….this didn't just "suddenly" happen. It's been of concern for quite awhile but it's been ignored and pushed off for another time. Now that it's becoming disastrous, "another time" has arrived. Either it is dealt with or there are going to be a lot of broke states/taxpayers. Unfortunately, the democrats/public sector unions that are in bed together don't really give a flying foo-poo about broke taxpayers. Just look at the CBS poll from this week. HA_HA_HA_.
Years ago I saw bumper sticker that read "My karma runs over your dogma." In New York, grim economic reality has come home to roost and defecate on leftist political ideology.
Part 1 of 2:
Who pays? First question you need to ask is whether or not your talking about a private or public function. For too many years we have tried to avoid the fact that pensions, health care, and public education are all "social goods", that need public institutions involvement to make sure that these goods are indeed produced and in the public interest.
For years, in the quest for private gain, we have neglecting social goods and the public interest. Private involvement in the providing of pensions and health care has shifted from corporations to indiiduals. Funding for public schools in the areas where it is most needed has lagged behind the resources necessary to create good public education.
Part 2 of 2:
Until we realize that pension, health care, and education reform are national concerns that need to be tackled by national pubic institutions, we will never be able to balance our budgets (private and public), while providing these PUBLIC GOODS in an equitable, efficient, and effective manner.
Who pays? Here's a clue. Take a look at wealth and income distribution patterns in this country over the past 30 years. The race to the top in both categories for some, and to the bottom by others, is atrocious! Those who have been partying these last 30 years, need to pay to clean up the mess. Does this include you and your callers? You tell me. When those who benefit the most from the system pay the most for its upkeep, the concept of "shared sacrifice" will no longer be a National Joke!
Personally, I peg you as being in the former group. Which makes your behavior not only atrocious, it makes it the moaning and groaning of a spoiled adolescent.
I have a name for you folk:
"The New Nattering Nebobs of Negativity"!
Grown-up conversation? First you folk need to stop your immature bitching. Then maybe we can begin to have an adult discussion.
There be trolls about
I would think that the "public good" would be much better served by politicians NOT making unrealistic promises to state employees during negotiations simply to buy their support and for which they are not ultimately responsible. The "public good" would be better served if they saved for retirement rather than relying on taxpayers to foot the bill (as well as their own), as would everyone, but the private sector doesn't have a choice. Tough love is a social good too, but grossly underemployed.
The "mess" was created by politicians and state workers winking at each other across the negotiating table. Where is this party you speak of? CT has egregious taxes, and they are about to become even more (dare I say it?) Draconian. As Gov. Rowland is fond of saying, what is the unemployment rate among state workers? The answer is zero. Is that the "shared sacrifice"? (it sure is the joke!) What percentage of their income do state workers pay for their health care? is that the "party"? Sometimes, maybe most of the time, it is in the best interests of the public good for the public to provide for their own good. It would certainly drive prices down!
Compare the income of the "bottom" to the rest of the world, and then apply the word "atrocious".
I have a name for the folks: "Wisconsin's whining wheedlers and welfare wannabes". It is the temper tantrums in Wisconsin and elsewhere by unionized babies that truly defines the "immature bitching" of which you accuse us.
It is telling that the union boosters here totally ignore the fact that Cuomo is a liberal, preferring to continue their attacks on Walker. Who do you blame in the heavily liberal state of NY?
“The New Nattering Nebobs of Negativity”!
Love it!
It is actually "nabobs", if that is all you have.