Posted on 08/01/2006 11:24:21 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
Faso calls for end of public pensions for new hires By MICHAEL GORMLEY Associated Press Writer
August 1, 2006, 1:51 PM EDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Republican candidate for governor John Faso called Tuesday for a state law that would eliminate traditional pensions for newly hired public workers.
"It's a generational savings that would accrue to the taxpayers," Faso said. "Over 20 years, that kind of thing would really save taxpayers money ... We have to have dramatic change in New York state."
The plan would gradually eliminate costly pensions for public employees, an expense increasingly blamed for growing local government and school property taxes. Faso would allow the state, school districts and local governments to offer new workers only 401k-type retirement funds, with the employee and employer contributing a percentage of wages each pay period.
The issue wouldn't be subject to union negotiations.
But any such plan would face a difficult ride in the Legislature if opposed by Albany's powerful public employee unions. This election year, for example, lawmakers showered the unions with added protections and other benefits. There was no immediate reaction to the proposal from the unions.
Faso said the funds would be similar to the 401k savings plans offered in the private sector. He said employees would benefit by having a retirement fund they could take with them to other private or public sector jobs.
The plan would allow employees to invest a percentage of their wages and the employer would contribute roughly 7 percent of salary each pay period, Faso said. Depending on how much an employee chooses to invest in the stock market or other securities, the savings plan could be riskier than a pension. A public pension is based on years of service and salary and typically doesn't have a provision for an employee to save a larger share of wages, as they can in a 401k plan.
Democratic front-runner Eliot Spitzer opposes the idea, said Spitzer campaign spokeswoman Christine Anderson.
Faso said he is also open to the alternative of creating a new "tier" of lower pension benefits for new public employees.
There was no immediate comment from Democratic candidate Tom Suozzi, the Nassau County executive. The Democratic primary is Sept. 12.
Most polls show Spitzer with a better than 50-percentage point lead over Suozzi and Faso, the former Assembly Republican leader.
a good idea.
but this will only serve to get Spitzer 97% of the teachers and municipal workers votes, instead of 93%.
the average sheeple taxpayer doesn't even realize what their local property tax and state taxes are going to pay for.
I agree. It will take a collapse in the state budget, a collapse in medicare, a collapse in social security to get people to accept the obvious and address the third rail issues.
Excellent idea - he has my vote!
I work for a municipality that offers retirement benefits as well as a 457 plan. I put every nickle I can afford in my 457. Carefully managed, it should do better than my city retirement. I also invest in a Roth IRA and have advised my college age children to start one as one of the first things they do when entering the workforce.
there is nothing wrong with the defined benefit plan.
the problem has become - that teachers making let's say $100K a year, can retire with 90% pension - FOR LIFE. there needs to be some realistic caps here, its these pensions that are draining the taxpayers.
headline should of read faso concedes race after that proposal
That will NEVER happen. Not once but never.
he is going to lose anyway.
its better that he run an honest campaign, highlighting the real issues that state taxpayers are facing. no person from any political party, dares to say a word about the public schools except for "teacher salaries are too low". I am tired of hearing that.
Which if you include his vote means that he'll get ... maybe 3.
This is a good idea and given that he's going to get steamrolled there is no reason not to float it, but it'll never happen in New York.
Those civil service unions will keep at it till every private sector job is gone from the state... and then they'll burn the furniture and eat the books.
This is VERY consistent with what private large corporations have done over the past few years.
New hires are NOT getting Medical Benefits and/or pensions at "Retirement" as part of their policy.
No question it is a needed change, BUT there is also no question that public teachers and state workers will not vote for an end to their gravy train.
With the control of two of the largest Unions (NEA and ASCFME), the Democrats are so be-holdin' to the unions in general that they won't let it happen.
The biggest mistake was EVER allowing ANY gubmint employees to Unionize, in the first place. A socialist agenda did it, and the socialist agenda is drilled into every student in the schools now.
The ONLY time a Union was confronted properly was when Reagan FIRED the striking Air Traffic Controllers when they illegally struck, and that will never happen again, purely due to the loss of votes for who does it.
Its a simple matter, they can have a defined on contribution plan that will be worth something or a defined benefit plan that will be worth less. The public pension crisis is coming and it won't be pretty.
The state of Michigan stopped the defined benefit pension system in 1997 - nearly 10 years ago.
New York is just now considering it?
so long as they can vote themselves whatever tax increases they need - it will not end. in fact, its getting worse. in NY, teachers salaries are increasing much faster then the inflation rate, and far faster then private sector wage gains - making the pension commitments even greater.
Yeah, and look at the bright side: you get more voters indoctrinated that vote for carpet-bagging lying bi#$%es............
The issue for our area is health care.
For the Board of Education I sit on, our District has a Collective Bargaining Agreement (expired 06/30/06, but still in force) that provides for teachers and other staff in the bargaining unit to have POS (i.e. HMO health insurance) paid for 100% by the school district - as in NO contributions by the teacher.
Such an arrangement is unsustainable IMHO. Not in a District that is losing students (down ~12% in five years), is losing population (projected down ~3% by 2009 by US Census), has a state aid funding level that has been relatively flat over the last 5 years, but has seen the amount of the tax levy increase by ~60% over the last 6 years. And our district is not alone - ALL the other Districts in our county also require no contribution from their teaching staff for the POS (i.e. HMO plan).
That's not all. Once GASB 45 REQUIRES government, school districts etc to declare their Other Post Employment Benefits such as retiree health care as a liability on the balance sheet, residents will start to see what sort of obligation governing bodies such as Boards of Education, county legislatures, etc have bound them as taxpayers to fund. It will indeed not be pretty.
Once negotiations are concluded with the bargaining unit and the parties ratify a CBA, I will report more on this and how the process went in our District.
I go along with this idea and have been saying it for years, there is no reason we should be paying for their retirements. They should have a private pension plan like a 401K..
I am running for assembly in the 144th district.
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