NY Republicans prioritize costly union pensions over taxpayers
As New Yorkers were getting ready for Easter festivities, state Senate Republicans chose to deceive state taxpayers on Holy Thursday.
New York’s taxpayer-guaranteed public-pension system provides state and local government employees with a state-tax-exempt payment in retirement based on their earnings and length of service, protecting them from financial market fluctuations.
The cost of these pensions rose dramatically from under $1 billion in 2000 to nearly $10 billion by 2010.
In response, state lawmakers and governors created new pension “tiers” in 2010 and 2012 for future hires, with changes such as increasing the retirement age to 63 and requiring more employee contributions towards their pensions.
The adjustments implemented in Tier 6 of 2012 are already saving taxpayers over $1 billion annually and are projected to save over $80 billion in total.
With nearly half of the public-sector workforce in Tier 6, public-employee unions are pressuring Albany to revert to previous pension benefits, costing taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
In 2000, unions successfully lobbied lawmakers to stop requiring pension contributions from public employees, contributing to the system’s unsustainable costs within a few years.
Legislative Democrats are urging Gov. Hochul to include a partial rollback of Tier 6 in the state budget, costing city taxpayers over $160 million in the first year alone.
This reversal of pension reforms would raise property taxes across all counties, cities, and school districts.
Senate Republicans attempted to pass the same pension benefit increase through regular legislation, betraying taxpayers who they claimed to represent.
Thursday’s actions were aimed at gaining support from unions for the upcoming election, even though many senators had previously voted for Tier 6.
The conference demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice credibility and principles for the favor of public-employee unions.
Albany Republicans’ betrayal of taxpayers raises doubts about their effectiveness in representing constituents.
Ken Girardin is the research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy.
