By Steve Levy
Our Center for Cost Effective Government just published a white paper on why political donations from municipal unions to officials who negotiate with those unions should be illegal in the public sector, as it is in the private sector.
If ever there were an example of why such legislation is so desperately needed, it is certainly the latest attempt by liberal state legislators of both parties who are seeking to reverse the Tier 6 fiscal reforms implemented in Albany back in 2011.
Those reforms, which kicked in back in 2012, were designed to address the pension time bomb that is ready to explode in New York. The enormous pension obligations burdening New York taxpayers are among the highest in the nation. They are greatly responsible for the enormously high property taxes we are forced to pay in New York.
It was understood that the legislature had given the store away to the unions as political payoffs in the past, and that changes had to be made before we fell off a fiscal cliff. The legislature did not have the intestinal fortitude to address the massive benefits that were heaped upon the existing employees at the time. Consequently, they took an easier way out by requiring incoming employees to pick up a fair share of their pension contribution, while also making them wait longer to access their pensions, and limiting the ability to exaggerate their pensions by working huge amounts of overtime in their last few years.
In a previous white paper, our center concluded that $50-$80 billion would be saved for New York taxpayers if overtime were simply removed from pension calculations starting in 2022
Those reforms never happened, of course, but the 2011 reforms did. They won’t save the day, but they definitely slowed down the detonation of the time bomb.
But, lo and behold, the liberal spenders are trying to undo these reforms to placate their union benefactors.
They falsely claim that the state has been unable to hire teachers, police officers and other public sector employees because of these changes. That’s nonsense.
The line is still out the door to get a teaching or police officer job, especially on Long Island. (If there was a decline in police recruiting, it was because of the anti-police attitude that emanated from Mayor Bill de Blasio, and others on the liberal end of the spectrum.)
Also disturbing is the fact that many Republicans are just as bad as the Democrats. Take, for instance, a Republican senator from Long Island, who has been making excuses to make these reforms, dismissively claiming that it won’t bankrupt the state.
There are a few true fiscal conservatives, such as Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Smithtown), who won’t back down to this pay-to-play mentality in Albany. But they are few and far between.
Taxpayers should look very closely at how their legislators vote on this proposal. No one voting to undo these reforms is worthy of your vote.