Sunday's Newsday, on pages A6 and A7 had an interesting -- if fiscally disturbing -- article, titled "Pension costs rise, taxes next?", on the growing costs of the NY State Teachers Retirement System.
For those who no longer have the paper, it can be accessed on Newsday's website, where it was retitled "Jumbo pensions' spark state funding debate."
I have some concern about the representational fairness of some statements; for example, when comparing one single school year with another, there is the possibility for overstatement of the trend line of the pension fund increase (as there were a few years when school districts, and their taxpayers, were contributing close to zero, since the dramatic rise in the stock market temporarily masked the real costs).
There also may be too much of a focus upon the "Royalty" among the retirees," the superintendents earning absurd amounts in retirement, as most people do not earn anything close to those amounts.
But, you can also use Newsday's website to use their search function to research the retirement pay of any one of the over 131,000 retirees under the Teachers Retirement System. And, yes, some of those amounts, being paid in retirement, and being annually increased by an index to inflation, is far beyond what many residents may have earned during their working career.
Nevertheless, the overall impact of the article, with some facts that are well beyond refutation by any honest person, is powerful, and troubling.
Lest you imagine that the cause is any particular union, or any particular school district, or even any particualr county, there is a damning statement in the article:
"Unlike most private retirees, New York public workers contribute to their pensions for only their first 10 years of employment. In addition, they receive cost-of-living increases and lifetime health insurance, pay no state or local taxes on their pensions and do not have to deduct an offset for for Social Security.
Several of those pension sweeteners were approved by the 2000 state Legislature, and they have dramatically driven up costs, according to local budget officials."
It is that last sentence that makes it clear that our problems can only be solved by the State Assembly and the State Senate and the Governor of New York.
But, although the power rests with the legislators and the governor, the pressure potential to change, for good, or the pressure potential to resist change and plummet this State and its taxpayers into fiscal perdition, rests with the New York State United Teachers and local teachers unions such as our own.
If they do not become part of the solution, then they will indeed become the anchor which drags us all beneath the water, and ultimately destroys education in New York State.
This article in Newsday is well worth your time and consideration.
About Me
- Jerry Hannon
- After a thirty year career at Chase, serving as a Managing Director and Global Relationship Manager, I took early retirement in the summer of 2000, and that enabled me to become active in community, school district, and town activities. Since 2004, I have been a member of the Elwood School District's Citizens Finance/Budget Advisory Committee, and since 2005 I have been a member of its Audit Committee, and serve on three other committees of the district. During the 2006/07 school year I was President of the Elwood PTA Council, and I remain active in PTA activities. In the community I serve as EVP for Community Affairs of the Old Chester Hills Civic Association, and served the Town of Huntington as a member of its Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee. For thirty five years, I have been a Director of the NY Council of the Navy League, and currently am Chair of its Audit Committee. A Vietnam Veteran, I retired as a Commander in the US Navy Reserve, and previously commanded two Naval Security Group reserve units.