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CAPITAL REGION
County fiscal chiefs cautious of borrowing for pensions
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01400&AppName=1
.............>>>>.............>>>>.......             Philip Fields, chairman of the Schenectady County Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, said Schenectady County does not need to participate in the comptroller’s proposed program. “I don’t think we are there yet. We can afford to pay these costs because of the savings we are achieving through other efforts,” he said.
    Schenectady County will pay $7.8 million into the retirement system in 2010, up $2.9 million or 60 percent, and more in 2011.
    Fields said a county’s pension payments are a reflection of the stock market. “If the stock market does better, like it did in the last three months, the returns would start to go back up and our contributions would be less,” he said.
    In 2009, however, the stock market meltdown and the recession caused a $110 billion decline in the state pension fund, resulting in the increased contributions.
    Benefits to roughly 350,000 retirees are secure, but state and local governments will have to pay more to compensate for the diminished returns, DiNapoli said.

Does anyone see where this is leading? Borrowing to pay for retirement?

What "savings"? More crap about mythical RX savings from Canada. Makes as much sense as some here.

  And this stunad gets re-elected with 100% of the vote? Wait until the new Home costs kick in. Thank You SS Savage!

Generous state employee contract.  Who can I approach to cover the losses that I incurred to my pension fund and 401K account balance when the
stock market collapsed?

There should be a review of the investment practices and assumed level of risk of investments in which public service employee pension funds are invested.  Seems to me that to protect the state and local taxpayers, the fund administrators should be required to better diversify the funds and avoid
high risk investment opportunities, despite the potential for significant gains.

Will the taxpayers and municipalities be refunded their payment to cover the "diminished returns" if and when the stock market achieves rates
of return that exceed the annual rate of inflation?

I hear China is offering Great loan rates  - just ask the feds

Quoted from GrahamBonnet

Does anyone see where this is leading? Borrowing to pay for retirement?

yeah,,,,bend over....... >

Here's an idea.....let the unions back it out of their 'fees'......GET OFF MY BACK AND KISS MY A$$....

make the unions and arbitors fill in the holes........

maybe Bruno and the rest of the cronies(all parties included) will step up.....SHOW ME THE $$ TRAIL....

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EDITORIALS
Avoid borrowing to make pension payments

    Perhaps, given the state’s penchant for borrowing money, it’s not so surprising that Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has introduced legislation that would allow municipalities to borrow from the state to reduce the increased pension contributions they’re supposed to make beginning next year. Still, it doesn’t seem like such a hot idea.
    Payments into the state pension fund are expected to rise from roughly 7.5 percent of payroll to roughly 11 percent next year, a requirement that is going to put considerable strain on recession-wracked municipal budgets. DiNapoli’s proposal would allow them to stretch the higher payments out over 10 years by borrowing at 5 percent interest. Never mind that this is higher than current market rates, the idea stinks primarily because the pension contribution is an annual expense. Unless the tab goes down in the future, or local economies pick up dramatically, municipalities are likely to fi nd themselves in the same bind next year, and the year after, etc. If they borrow every time, instead of biting the bullet and paying cash, their pension costs will just keep getting worse. .......................................>>>>................>>>>...........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00901&AppName=1

It's about time that government on all levels learns how to make the tough decisions and cut spending and balance the budget.

Quoted from Shadow

It's about time that government on all levels learns how to make the tough decisions and cut spending and balance the budget.

They don't need to learn how....they already know how. They choose NOT to!! And it don't matter what party they belong to!

Hourly rates can always be 'shaken down' but pensions provide a 'different' animal...."I cant do anything about
it. My hands are tied...blah blah blah...."........