Health care costs for retirees in New York State are a whole different story, since actuarial tables don't work well in that area.
“Interestingly, New York State has one of the most stable pension systems in the country”
At the State level the Republicans do OK, I believe they control the Senate currently. I don’t believe RATS have had a veto proof majority in a while.
New York’s founders were quite smart when they required that a separately elected state comptroller be in charge of the public pension fund rather than the governor or the legislature. Andrew Cuomo’s father tried very hard to raid the pension fund when he was governor. The fund is more than 90% funded which is one of the best in the country. This is one of the few government functions in my hellhole state that actually works well.