Check out this very important article from the New York Post which warns taxpayers that New York’s liberal state Legislature is at it again in pandering to municipal unions. https://nypost.com/2024/03/27/opinion/albany-dems-latest-suck-up-to-labor-another-pricey-pension-perk/
Our center has warned in the past that extravagant public pensions threaten to bankrupt the state. In fact, our report stressed that the inclusion of overtime as a factor in calculating pensions will cost taxpayers an astounding $50-$80 billion over the next two decades if corrective action is not taken.
In 2012, the Legislature actually did a good thing in creating a new Tier 6 that would change the system, at least for newly hired workers. There would be greater contributions by the employee into the retirement system and the amount of overtime factored into pensions would be limited.
Of course, the latter would not create any benefit to taxpayers for decades down the road, but at least it was a start. However, now we have the unions pressuring our elected class to reverse these reforms and give those employees hired after 2012 the type of lucrative benefits that those hired before that date have received.
It’s simply unsustainable.
The legislators in both parties simply hope that the public will not be watching. Let’s hope that they will do the right thing and prevent this fiscal armageddon from coming to fruition.
The Center for Cost Effective Government is a think tank dedicated to exposing wasteful government spending and educating the public on various measures that can control taxing and spending for the purpose of creating more hospitable conditions for taxpayers and the business community.