Not from this guy...
Posted on 07/08/2009 6:47:54 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Local governments in New York State face an unprecedented increase in pension costs that will force them to triple their contributions to the state pension system over the next six years, according to an analysis prepared by the comptroller’s office.
By 2015, pension costs borne by local governments upstate, on Long Island and in New York City’s suburbs will exceed $8 billion a year, compared with $2.6 billion last year, under the analysis, which was circulated to legislative and county leaders and obtained by The New York Times this month.
The analysis predicts that counties will have to contribute an amount equal to nearly one-third of their civilian payrolls to the state pension system and more than 40 percent of their payrolls for police and fire departments.
County leaders fear that the soaring contributions will put heavy pressure on their budgets as they struggle to keep up with retirement promises made in times of prosperity.
And there is no clear strategy to mitigate the damage, as Gov. David A. Paterson and Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli have clashed over plans to provide even modest pension relief.
“It’s alarming, eye-popping and unthinkable,” said Stephen J. Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties. “To manage that liability in the face of this deep decline in government revenues is going to be a challenge,” he said. “Where is this money going to come from?”
A less sharp rate of increase has been forecast for New York City, which has its own pension system, but only because it is more poorly funded than the state pension fund and already requires steeper contributions. Still, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg suggested in January that the city could face a 50 percent increase in contributions over the next six years ...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Where is this money going to come from?
The only place it can come from is the taxpayer!
BOHICA!
State Pensions are the worst kind of Ponzi scheme.
Not from this guy...
The analysis envisions a market rebound similar to the one after the crash of 1987, with a return of 1.5 percent in the current fiscal year, annual returns in excess of 13 percent in the next two years and more than 10 percent in the succeeding three years.
As Yogi Bera once said 'predictions are difficult, especially about the future' but it seems to me we are unlikely at best to see the stock market provide returns at the forecast levels.
Jack
bye-bye NY!
Nor from me. Left on Feb. 13th for the land of the rising sun. Taxes are high here, but not as high as when you factor in what NYC and NYS and Social Security were taking in from me.
Why not cut back (by about 50%) the contributions to pensions. My income was cut back 50% in my IRA, and nobody is contributing to that. Time the “pensioners” felt it too.
The States and local Govt need to do what business has done..scrap their “defined benefit” plans in favor of “defined contribution” plans. It is the only way to go in an uncertain and changing world. People need to be responsible for their own savings. They will get smarter by necessity.
We simply cannot affort to pay firemen 100k plus and let them retire at 50 with lifetime 100k plus retirements. Let them strike.
personally, i can’t wait to retire at 47, move south, and begin my 2nd life.
Whoever came up with the idea that after you work somewhere for a set period of time that you could retire at full or nearly full pay and live out the next 50+ years doing squat needs to be shot.
Ditto for all elected and appointed "public servants". Taxpayer-supported pensions insulate them from the results of their idiotic decisions. Once their pensions are subject to the perils of the economy, watch how conservative they'd become.
The problem with any set of assumptions is accountability. As long as someone else is accountable, you can make any assumptions. No one can reliably predict short term returns.
The entire industry of public defined benefit plans is self serving. The idea that you can provide a high level of certain benefits based on uncertain returns is a bankrupt idea. Private sector defined benefit plans (except for union mandated plans) either have much lower benefit levels or have been terminated. The public defined benefit industry purposely understates liabilities by using unrealistic portfolio returns. The industry is as much of a lobbying organization as asset manager. The industry makes outrageous claims about its ability to manage assets cost effectively and provide retirement benefits with low taxpayer cost.
Yet, government thinks nothing of taxing us more so they can cover the funds, thereby reducing our incomes. For those of us that are already retired, it's the same as reducing our "pensions" and, as a result, our "benefits"!
And I don't want to hear any bellyaching about how you were "promised the pension and benefits the whole time you were working and how you planned your retirement around it!". While I was working, I was saving and carefully making retirement plans too - with MY own money. My plans never included paying extra taxes just so you could have all of your promised benefits.
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