Pension Reform

The Pennsylvania House's approach to pension reform is, to paraphrase Lincoln, government of the unions, by the unions, and for the unions. Unsurprisingly, legislators also put in a little something for themselves. House Bill 2497 is being touted as a reform of the bloated pension system currently enjoyed by state workers, public school teachers, and (even more so) elected officials. Of course, if you are an average Pennsylvania taxpayer, you might think of it as the pension system from hell.

AN ADVOCACY GROUP campaigning nationally for public pension reform visited Philadelphia on Thursday promising to "expose" the city's top pension recipients - including one retiree with a $4.5 million estimated lifetime payout. But what the group really exposed was its own fuzzy math. The Chicago-based Taxpayers United of America released a list of local pension recipients, topped by former Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, who it said would get an "estimated lifetime pension" of $4.5 million.

HARRISBURG - With only a week until he delivers his budget proposal, Gov. Corbett is making it increasingly clear that his administration is willing to play hardball to get the legislature to confront the escalating cost of public employee pensions. And likely to be caught in the middle of the fracas: aid to public schools. Speaking Monday at a monthly press club luncheon, Corbett budget secretary Charles Zogby reiterated - albeit more forcefully than before - that unless legislators tackle the rising cost of Pennsylvania's two major pension funds, there will be deep cuts in the next state budget, and very possibly in education funding.

By Richard C. Dreyfuss As Gov. Corbett's fiscal year 2013-14 state budget proposal is finalized, the familiar challenge of balancing finite resources against ever-increasing spending requests begins. This year, expect debates over special initiatives ranging from liquor privatization to transportation funding. But there is one recurring and unresolved challenge that only seems to become worse with each passing year - public pensions costs, specifically those of two statewide plans, the Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS)

Josh Shapiro is the Montgomery County commissioners chairman and serves as chairman of the county's pension board When trying to pare budgets and be more efficient, go where the money is. That's why Montgomery County, the commonwealth's third most populous county, closely examined the costs associated with our $450 million public employee pension fund. Public pensions are an area of significant potential savings, and of particular importance to state and local governments around the country.

THE PENDING FIGHT over pensions for Pennsylvania state workers and public-school employees is certain to include enough actuarial data and ideology to make most minds, including mine, go numb. We're talking billions of obligated tax dollars to hundreds of thousands of people, lots of politics, Rubik's Cube-like fiscal stuff, some of which will wind up in court, making more paydays for lawyers. It is, in short, a cluster-shag. At the heart of the issue is a divide separating (most)

The pension reform package Gov. Corbett proposed last week to address the state's $41 billion pension debt leaves 386,000 state employees and teachers wondering how it would change their retirement income. Specific answers are not easy to come by because of the complexity of the proposed changes and the uncertainty over whether there is legislative support for some or all of the proposals. There is also uncertainty for school districts as they prepare preliminary budgets not knowing precisely what their state funding will be, given that Corbett tied his education-funding proposal to approval of his pension package.

HARRISBURG - Signaling the importance of pension changes in the coming months, the Corbett administration released a detailed report Monday warning of steep budget cuts if a way is not found swiftly to rein in public-pension spending. The 19-page report labeled Pennsylvania's pension funding problems a crisis, saying it had been created by a combination of generous enhancements over the last decade to member and retiree benefits, lackluster investment returns, and nearly a decade of underfunding by state government and local school districts.

TOMORROW, the state House is likely to vote again on House Bill 1848, providing fiscal relief for our battered city budget. The second vote is necessary because the state Senate amended the bill to include big changes to public pension plans across the state. There are three possible outcomes of the vote: The House could defeat the bill because it doesn't want to rile up the unions or mess with pension reform. That's the worst case for the city. Or it could alter the amendments in the bill, which would cause another delay as the bill goes back to the Senate.

City Council apparently is preparing to tack an improvement in pension benefits for elected officials, including Council members, onto a 30-page municipal-pension reform bill proposed by the Goode administration. A bill introduced yesterday by Council President Joseph E. Coleman would allow local elected officials to become vested in the city pension fund after only six years, instead of the current 10 years it takes for all city employees to qualify for pension payments when they retire.

Josh Shapiro is the Montgomery County commissioners chairman and serves as chairman of the county's pension board When trying to pare budgets and be more efficient, go where the money is. That's why Montgomery County, the commonwealth's third most populous county, closely examined the costs associated with our $450 million public employee pension fund. Public pensions are an area of significant potential savings, and of particular importance to state and local governments around the country.

GOV. CORBETT was wise to step back from the threat he made to tie any increase in state aid for public schools to the Legislature passing the pension reforms he is seeking. That line in the sand was drawn by the governor and his top aides before he presented his budget. Last week, the governor erased that line. He said he wouldn't presume to tell the Legislature what to do. His budget, Corbett said, is "now over in their camp. . . . We've made our proposal, now they get to massage it. " The ultimate solution, though, is going to require more than a massage.

HARRISBURG - The budget ax might not land on public schools after all. For weeks, Gov. Corbett and members of his administration have sent strong signals that they would likely look to education funding for budget cuts if the legislature did not act to rein in the state's skyrocketing public-employee pension costs. But on Tuesday, the governor softened his stance. Surrounded by school administrators at a news conference in the Capitol, he said it was the legislature that would ultimately have to choose where to cut in order to recoup dollars for the state's two major pension funds.

The pension reform package Gov. Corbett proposed last week to address the state's $41 billion pension debt leaves 386,000 state employees and teachers wondering how it would change their retirement income. Specific answers are not easy to come by because of the complexity of the proposed changes and the uncertainty over whether there is legislative support for some or all of the proposals. There is also uncertainty for school districts as they prepare preliminary budgets not knowing precisely what their state funding will be, given that Corbett tied his education-funding proposal to approval of his pension package.

By Richard C. Dreyfuss As Gov. Corbett's fiscal year 2013-14 state budget proposal is finalized, the familiar challenge of balancing finite resources against ever-increasing spending requests begins. This year, expect debates over special initiatives ranging from liquor privatization to transportation funding. But there is one recurring and unresolved challenge that only seems to become worse with each passing year - public pensions costs, specifically those of two statewide plans, the Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS)

THE PENDING FIGHT over pensions for Pennsylvania state workers and public-school employees is certain to include enough actuarial data and ideology to make most minds, including mine, go numb. We're talking billions of obligated tax dollars to hundreds of thousands of people, lots of politics, Rubik's Cube-like fiscal stuff, some of which will wind up in court, making more paydays for lawyers. It is, in short, a cluster-shag. At the heart of the issue is a divide separating (most)

HARRISBURG - With a week until he delivers his budget proposal, Gov. Corbett is making it increasingly clear that his administration is willing to play hardball to get the legislature to confront the escalating cost of public-employee pensions. Likely to be caught in the middle of the fracas: aid to public schools. Speaking Monday at a monthly press club luncheon, Budget Secretary Charles Zogby reiterated more forcefully than before that unless legislators tackle the rising cost of Pennsylvania's two major pension funds, there will be deep cuts in the next state budget, and very possibly in education funding.

A NATIONAL research group on Tuesday released an analysis of how cities across the country are struggling to cope with enormously underfunded pension and retiree health-care accounts, saying that 61 of the biggest U.S. municipalities came out of the recession with a combined $217 billion shortfall. Even against that depressing backdrop, Philadelphia's troubles stood out. Philly and Chicago were the only major cities that ranked near the bottom of the barrel in two key indicators of retirement funds' solvency: how much money they have in the bank and how much they are collecting each year.

ROME - Italian Premier Mario Monti announced Friday that he is heading a new campaign coalition made of up centrists, business leaders, and pro-Vatican forces who back his "ethical" vision of politics, aiming for a second mandate in office if his fledging reform movement wins big in parliamentary elections. After a four-hour huddle with his supporters, Monti ended weeks of speculation at home and abroad about whether the internationally respected economist, who was appointed to head a nonelected government a year ago, would seek a new term, this time given to him by the voters.