No More Taxpayer-Funded Pensions for Politicians!

Dear Neighbor,

New York State is recovering very slowly from the longest recession since the Great Depression. Suffolk County residents have shown their strength and resilience by making tough adjustments and sacrifices for their families. Responsible choices and good fiscal policy also need to be practiced by our state leaders. They have a duty to call upon all legislators to reform our broken economic practices. That’s why I introduced the most significant pension reform legislation that Albany has ever seen.

I continue to push for pension reform in New York as an advocate for eliminating, or reducing, overtime from the calculation of pension benefits, a practice known as “pension padding.” I am demanding that our state Assembly and Senate take action to correct a practice that defrauds taxpayers and crushes our state economy. I also believe that reforming the pension system, starting with the removal of the political class, defined as all politicians and political appointees, from the defined-benefit plan, is the necessary first step toward getting the Empire state’s fiscal house in order.

We need to reform our budget by first removing the political class in New York State from the defined-benefit pension system and place them into a defined-contribution plan such as a 401(k). By doing so, we will stop pension padding by the political class immediately, make political patronage jobs less attractive, and reduce the incentive to “take the path of least resistance” regarding New York State’s most difficult fiscal issues. The time for serious and substantial pension reform is now. This can, and must, be done.

• More than 1,000 suburban Long Island school administrators and teachers retiring with pensions above $100,000 per year;
• “Double-dipping,” which allowed a Long Island superintendent to retire with an annual payout of $316,000 while simultaneously collecting a $225,000 salary in another school district;
• A system which costs taxpayers a total of $2.5 billion annually;
• The political class controlling a retirement system that grants them benefits higher than those who work in the private sector.

Reforming government
pensions protects you.

• The Defined Contribution Plan would effectively cap costs and provide stability in pensions;
• Taxpayers would no longer be forced to bear the risks associated with market downturns and a decline in taxpayer revenues;
• Public pension costs would become both predictable and easily understandable while allowing taxpayers to see the real cost of proposed benefit increases.

• Benefits would be portable. When workers change jobs, their retirement account can be transferred or rolled over to an IRA;
• Employer contributions would become the worker’s property after just one year of employment;
• Employees would gain a greater degree of authority and discretion over their own retirement plan as opposed to the current system; and
• All employees accumulate benefits on the same basis, regardless of government tenure.

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