Cuomos pension plan..oh yeah hes a democrat...

[luvinretrmnt]

Although this was signed in a few years back, it has remained silent all through his reelection.. and theres more news on how he is raiding the pension fund from the back door, I will post that law too, but in short..it allows counties and nys itself to not pay the pension fund by taking loans that can be paid back over 25 years...so far about 2.5 billion has not gone into the pension fund..cuomo is no friend of the unions..so dont cry about a republican when a democrat as fvcking you over..and mangano doesnt count for much of anything..just a turncoat...


Andrew M. Cuomo - Governor
Governor Cuomo Signs Law to Enact Major Pension Reform
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Pension Reform Will Save State and Local Governments including New York City More Than $80 Billion Over 30 Years


Albany, NY (March 16, 2012)

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today, joined by Mayor Bloomberg and elected officials from across New York State, signed into law sweeping pension reform legislation that will save state and local governments, including New York City, more than $80 billion over the next 30 years.

"For years rising pension costs have spelled disaster for local governments across the state. That finally changed this week, as we came together to put in place a bold pension reform plan that will save taxpayers more than $80 billion over the next three decades," Governor Cuomo said. "By putting the interests of the people of New York State first, we overcame the obstacles that for so long have stood in the way of real reform and delivered one of the most critical, widespread fiscal reforms the state has seen in years. I thank Majority Leader Skelos, Speaker Silver, members of the legislature, elected officials across the state, and particularly Mayor Bloomberg for all the hard work that went into putting in place this important new pension reform."

The state's rapidly growing pensions costs are one of the most expensive mandates for local governments. In 2002 pension payment from local governments were $1.4 billion and have grown to $12.2 billion in 2012, an increase of over 650%. The pension reform plan passed by the Senate and Assembly recognizes the unsustainability of the current system and takes unprecedented steps to control growth, saving state and local governments, including New York City, more than $80 billion over the next 30 years.

New York City Michael Bloomberg said, "Skyrocketing pensions costs have limited the ability of cities and counties to make investments vital to our future. So mounting pension costs have represented a double tax: first paid by today's residents, and a second tax on our future. One of the harder things to do in politics is to pass laws or take on projects where the heavy political lifting happens up front and the major benefits do not appear for years down the road. But that is exactly what happened here because the Governor was willing to take on the challenge and lead. Our coalition of mayors and country executives from across the state supported him throughout and we are grateful members of the legislature took action so we can invest in the future of our cities and counties, and in the future of our citizens."

Senate Finance Committee Chair John A. DeFrancisco, said, "The pension reform spearheaded by Governor Cuomo is a real, substantive change from the status quo which will help to provide fiscal stability for taxpayers and local governments while putting New York on a path for a stronger, more sustainable future. I praise the Governor for his leadership and for bringing together the stakeholders and both parties to make this happen for the people of this state."

Assembly Deputy Speaker Earlene M. Hooper said, "I am a staunch supporter of unions, I am a beneficiary of the labor movement. This was the most difficult vote I have had to take in the 24 years that I have served the people. However, if we did not do pension reform, all of the hard working people of the state of New York – through tax increases, fees etc. – would suffer irreparable financial damage."

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said, "I applaud Governor Cuomo for his leadership, and the State Legislature for working with the Governor to achieve real pension reform. The Governor's willingness to take on the special interests to get this done demonstrates his dedication to the taxpayers of this state. Only by reducing the burdens placed on local governments will we be able to lower taxes and reinvigorate New York’s competitive edge in attracting residents and businesses."

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner said, "Once again, Governor Cuomo has shown true leadership on critical issues facing cities like Syracuse. As they did last year, the Legislature and Governor have engaged in real reform to address some of the biggest problems facing taxpayers all across New York. Pension costs are threatening tax increases, major spending cuts and layoffs in cities like Syracuse. I am proud to support the Governor in his efforts to bring fiscal responsibility back to Albany."

The new law puts in place a new Tier VI pension plan for workers hired after April 1, 2012. Existing employees and retirees retain all benefits. The new law includes:

New Employee Contribution Rates: The new tier increases employee contribution rates in a progressive fashion to ensure lower paid state and local workers are not seriously affected. Employee contribution rates vary depending on salary:
$0 - $45,000: 3%
$45,000 - $55,000: 3.5%
$55,000 - $75,000: 4.5%
$75,000 - $100,000: 5.75%
$100,000+: 6%

These rates remain substantially lower than the large majority of similar state systems around the country.
Increase of the Retirement Age: The pension reform law includes an increase in the retirement age from 62 to 63 and includes provisions allowing early retirement with penalties. For each year of retirement prior to 63, employee pension allowances will be permanently reduced by 6.5%.
Readjustment of Pension Multiplier: Under Tier VI, the new pension multiplier will be 1.75% for the first 20 years of service, and 2% starting in the 21st year. For an employee who works 30 years, their pension will be 55% of final average salary under Tier VI, instead of 60% under Tier V. This readjustment brings New York more in line with most other states and will save billions of dollars for taxpayers and local governments.
Vesting: Under Tier VI, employees will vest after 10 years of service.
Protect Local Governments From State Pension Sweeteners: The new law requires the state to pre-fund any pension enhancers, ensuring that these costs are no longer passed to local governments.
Adjustments to Final Average Salary Calculation to Help Reducing Pension Padding: The law changes the time period for final average salary calculation from 3 years to 5 years. To limit how much overtime can be used to determine an employee's pension, pensionable overtime for civilian and non-uniformed employees will be capped at $15,000 plus inflation, and for uniformed employees outside of New York City capped at 15% of base pay. Tier VI puts in place new anti-spiking measures which cap growth in salary used to determine pension allowances at 10% for all employees statewide. These reforms will take major steps toward addressing instances of abuse and pension padding. Tier VI also eliminates lump sum payments of unused sick and vacation time from the calculation of final average salary.
Voluntary and Portable Defined Contribution Option: The new law includes an optional defined contribution plan for new non-union employees with salaries $75,000 and above. In the modern economy, employees often change jobs multiple times and need pension portability. Many states, the federal government, and most private employers provide some form of defined contribution plans to their employees. The state will make an 8% contribution to employee contribution accounts. Currently, SUNY and CUNY offer such an option through TIAA-CREF that has been successful and popular. This is a voluntary option for those employees who prefer the portability and vesting feature not available with defined benefit options, and will help attract top talent to state government.
Adjustments to SUNY/CUNY TIAA-CREF Plan: Under Tier VI, SUNY and CUNY employees who elect the TIAA-CREF plan will receive an employer contribution of 8% of salary for the first 7 years of service and 10% thereafter.
Limiting Number of Sick and Leave Days that Can Pad Pensions: Tier VI reduces by half- from 200 to 100- the number of sick and leave days that can be used for retirement service credit.
Salary Reform: Previous tiers allowed salaries from an unlimited amount of employers for calculating retirement benefits. Tier VI allows only two salaries for the calculation.
Limiting Pension Benefit of High Paid Employees: For new higher paid employees, the amount earned above the Governor's salary (currently $179,000) will not be eligible for pension calculation under Tier VI.

[luvinretrmnt]

Part 2..the deferment of pension payments.....oh yeah..more democrat meddling in your money...


NY’s big, fat pension gimmick compromise

by E.J. McMahon | March 21, 2013 | NY Torch

So, in the end, the state’s pension guardian caved, after all.

To his credit, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli did not embrace Governor Cuomo’s dubious proposal to allow localities to massively underpay pension contributions to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS), trading short-term savings for potentially open-ended long-term liabilities.

However, NYSLRS’ sole trustee did the next-worst thing: unnecessarily offering an “alternative” revision to an existing pension cost deferral program, enacted with his support three years ago.

(Click here for subsequent post on separate teacher pension funding changes.)

Since 2010, both the state and its local governments have had the option under the comptroller’sContribution Stabilization Plan of choosing to pay a special discount “graded rate” instead of the “normal annual contribution” established by the system’s actuaries. For 2013, the average normal rates — i.e., what employers should be paying –are 18.9 percent for the Employee Retirement System (ERS) and 25.8 percent for the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS). The graded rates are just 11.5 percent and 19.5 percent, respectively. The difference between the two is deferred – effectively converted into a loan by the pension fund to the employer, repayable over a 10-year period at a rate of interest pegged to taxable municipal bond rate, which equates to about 3 percent.

The annual change in the graded rate is limited to one percentage point a year, meaning they can’t go up or down any faster than one percentage point. Each succeeding a year, the difference between what a participating employer pays and what it actually owes is converted into a new IOU, repayable over a 10-year period.

Under these terms, over the past three years, the state and local governments opting into DiNapoli’s Contribution Stabilization Plan have deferred a total of $2.2 billion in pension contributions. As of fiscal 2012, a smaller number of local governments around the state also owed the fund a total of $325 million for 2004-07 contributions they were allowed to amortize for up to 10 years under a 2004 deferral law.

DiNapoli’s “New Alternative Contribution Stabilization Plan,” to be included in the 2013-14 state budget, differs from the current plan in these respects:

the maximum annual change in pension contributions is half as much – i.e., 0.5 percentage points, so the increases and decreases will be at a slower pace;
the repayment period is 12 years;
the interest rate on deferred payments is linked to the rate on Treasury bills, plus one percentage point, which also currently equates to roughly 3 percent, and
the state government is not eligible to participate, but all local governments, public hospital corporations in several counties, and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) will be eligible.

The new law will open a one-year window for opting into the new plan at graded rates of 12 percent for ERS and 20 percent for PFRS (Cuomo’s starting point was also 12 percent for ERS, but 18.5 percent for PFRS) compared to normal rates of 20.5 and 28.9 percent, respectively, for 2013-14.

Once checked into the plan, participating employers will not be allowed to exit from it. They may elect not to defer a portion of their contributions in any given year, but their savings when rates decline (whenever that happens) remain limited to a half-percentage point, even if the decline in normal rates is faster.

DiNapoli’s original plan was objectionable because it constituted a form of borrowing from the pension fund. It allowed participating employers to push costs further into a murky future, at which point the fund could be holding a big pile of IOUs from financially distressed governments.

The new, decidedly unimproved alternative plan allows for more borrowing, for a longer period of time. This risk is that this will generate a bigger stack of IOUs from New York’s shakiest local governments, giving rise to more political pressure to defer even more if the future brings more economic and fiscal hard times.

But, for all that, the comptroller’s alternative is less financially risky and objectionable than Cuomo’s plan, which would have messed with the actuarial mechanics of the state pension fund to purportedly create a “stable” rate for 25 years. The underlying assumption was that the normal rate will decline fairly steadily and steeply as new employees are hired under the Tier 6 pension plan, which has a lower “normal” cost to employers.

But what if the fiscal weather turned foul and the pension fund needs more to keep its head above water? The governor’s plan gave the comptroller the ability to raise the rate by no more than two percentage points after five years, and then again after 10. So in the worst case, the maximum rate paid by participating employers (again, excluding the state) would have been 16 percent — even if the pension fund required, say, 20 percent. Beyond that, if the pension fund were falling further behind in what it needed to raise to cover future liabilities, the comptroller’s only recourse would be to extend the repayment period beyond the 25 years. Out to infinity, conceivably.

DiNapoli’s compromise plan at least requires a payback schedule of no more than 12 years – albeit 12 years starting in the last year a participating employer defers a portion of its required contribution, which will be years from now. Participants have the flexibility to defer a portion of each year’s bill – meaning they could voluntarily pay more, or benefit to at least a limited extent from any sharp drop in pension rates, rather than being locked into the governor’s “stable” rate for a longer period. Compared to Cuomo’s proposal, DiNapoli’s plan will allow localities to defer smaller amounts over a shorter period of time.

The New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS) has not previously offered any pension deferral plan, but a draft of something similar (but not identical) to DiNapoli’s plan is circulating and is likely to be in the same budget bill, whenever it appears. More on that in this space soon.

The basic problem with all these pension deferral approaches is that they represent a step further down a slippery slope that could very easily lead to more serious abuse and underfunding of the pension systems in the future — especially if the future brings more economic and fiscal stress for local governments. If experience in other states teaches us anything, it’s that the bad habit of underpaying pension contributions is easy to develop and difficult to shake – until it’s too late.


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[beltfed]

I wonder who the PBA backed running for governor? Cuomo?

[luvinretrmnt]

Nov 11, 2014 10:46:17 GMT -5 beltfed said:

I wonder who the PBA backed running for governor? Cuomo?

yup. you guessed right on that one...ask them why..

[beltfed]

Cuomo's probably made them all kinds of promises. Being a politician and a Democrat on top of it, he'll reneg on everything as soon as the vote is tallied.