Post by proudpd on Jan 1, 2009 21:06:34 GMT -5
From the desk of Lou Weiser
Gov. Paterson has proposed reduced pension benefits for newly hired state and municipal workers. Under the governor's proposal, workers in the state pension system would have to work until they were at least 62 instead of 55. Future police and firefighters would have to work 25 years and reach age 50 before collecting a full pension, compared to the current right after 20 years' service regardless of age. The city employee changes had the endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg and the PBA head, Patrick Lynch immediately condemned the proposals as "undoing the progress made in compensation".
In addition another proposal would eliminate the practice of accumulating overtime hours in the final year of service to maximize future benefits. Remember, these are proposals and have not been made into law!
The massive city budget crunch that proposed to eliminate the latest police classes has been slightly reduced by the city council. They have increased the size of the classes to 250, a significant drop from the original 1000! The aim is to keep headcount at 35,770, which is 5000 fewer than were in the NYPD in 2001!
The former executive director of the NYC Employee Retirement System, John Murphy, has termed the recent losses in the pension systems "a scary situation". He has estimated a $30 billion pension investment loss due to the market downturn. NYCERS alone has lost about $3.5 billion in 3 months ending Sept. 30, and about twice as much since then. Losses by the other four pension funds - police, firefighters, teachers and other city employees, bring total assets down $30 billion from more than $100 billion a year ago, Murphy and other sources estimate. I am still awaiting the latest police pension audit reports. The last reports showed all police pensions well funded including the separate VSF's with an excellent balance of over $1 billion. The Police Officers and Superior Officers have separate funds with the Superior Officers Fund's total assets exceeding its liabilities by $1.2 billion. The Police Officers funds are also in healthy condition.
Further, all of the Plan's deposits are insured and or collateralized by securities held by a financial institution separate from the Plan's depository financial institution. I mention the above because of recent headlines on pension fund investments and the sad state of the nation's largest pension funds, California's CALPERS, which made very risky investments in real estate.
My latest information is that the latest benefits under attack are our health benefits. The city is questioning our Medicare Part B reimbursement with emphasis on the spouse benefit portion. In addition, they are also seeking adjustments on all other health and welfare benefits. RE: the losses in pension funds, by law, the city must make up the difference when the pension funds earn less than 8 percent a year. The city can spread the cost of plugging that gap over the following six years.
A reader recently asked the current state of a measure that would grant the VSF to all vested, disabled and others. I don't expect that bill to get any real consideration until the economic situation improves vastly! In fact, anything that involves money has very little chance! We are in what could be termed "a holding pattern" meaning not losing or diminishing any current benefits!
Gov. Paterson has proposed reduced pension benefits for newly hired state and municipal workers. Under the governor's proposal, workers in the state pension system would have to work until they were at least 62 instead of 55. Future police and firefighters would have to work 25 years and reach age 50 before collecting a full pension, compared to the current right after 20 years' service regardless of age. The city employee changes had the endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg and the PBA head, Patrick Lynch immediately condemned the proposals as "undoing the progress made in compensation".
In addition another proposal would eliminate the practice of accumulating overtime hours in the final year of service to maximize future benefits. Remember, these are proposals and have not been made into law!
The massive city budget crunch that proposed to eliminate the latest police classes has been slightly reduced by the city council. They have increased the size of the classes to 250, a significant drop from the original 1000! The aim is to keep headcount at 35,770, which is 5000 fewer than were in the NYPD in 2001!
The former executive director of the NYC Employee Retirement System, John Murphy, has termed the recent losses in the pension systems "a scary situation". He has estimated a $30 billion pension investment loss due to the market downturn. NYCERS alone has lost about $3.5 billion in 3 months ending Sept. 30, and about twice as much since then. Losses by the other four pension funds - police, firefighters, teachers and other city employees, bring total assets down $30 billion from more than $100 billion a year ago, Murphy and other sources estimate. I am still awaiting the latest police pension audit reports. The last reports showed all police pensions well funded including the separate VSF's with an excellent balance of over $1 billion. The Police Officers and Superior Officers have separate funds with the Superior Officers Fund's total assets exceeding its liabilities by $1.2 billion. The Police Officers funds are also in healthy condition.
Further, all of the Plan's deposits are insured and or collateralized by securities held by a financial institution separate from the Plan's depository financial institution. I mention the above because of recent headlines on pension fund investments and the sad state of the nation's largest pension funds, California's CALPERS, which made very risky investments in real estate.
My latest information is that the latest benefits under attack are our health benefits. The city is questioning our Medicare Part B reimbursement with emphasis on the spouse benefit portion. In addition, they are also seeking adjustments on all other health and welfare benefits. RE: the losses in pension funds, by law, the city must make up the difference when the pension funds earn less than 8 percent a year. The city can spread the cost of plugging that gap over the following six years.
A reader recently asked the current state of a measure that would grant the VSF to all vested, disabled and others. I don't expect that bill to get any real consideration until the economic situation improves vastly! In fact, anything that involves money has very little chance! We are in what could be termed "a holding pattern" meaning not losing or diminishing any current benefits!
