Officials across New York are sounding the alarm over a push by unions to allow government workers hired after 2012 to retire at 55 instead of 63 as part of a $1.5 billion proposed pension porkapalooza.
The opposing politicians — representing scores of cities, counties and towns and villages — said they are against the massively pricey taxpayer-funded overhaul unless Albany picks up the cost instead of burdening their budgets with an unfunded mandate.
“If the state takes any action, it should absorb any additional costs imposed on local governments,” said Paul Feiner, the supervisor of Greenburgh, the largest township in tony Westchester County.
“One hundred percent of all costs should be paid for by the state, not local governments or school districts,” he said of the proposal, which also would decrease some employees’ contributions.
“Nobody wants to see very large tax increases. We have to make living here affordable,” Feiner said.
The Conference of Mayors, Association of Counties and Association of Towns chimed in with a joint statement: “Our position is unequivocal: if the State of New York chooses to amend Tier 6, the State must fully fund all costs associated with those changes.
“Counties, cities, towns, and villages already operate under severe fiscal constraints — the property tax cap, rising costs for essential services, and the growing burden of unfunded state mandates,” the group said.
“Any increase in employer pension contribution rates resulting from Tier 6 amendments would force local governments to make impossible choices: cutting essential services, eliminating positions, or seeking property tax increases that local taxpayers cannot afford.”
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo established the Tier 6 pension plan in 2012 — changing the requirements for different groups of unionized government workers — to rein in costly pension burdens on state and local governments. Union leaders have been fighting to undo or dramatically scale back Tier 6 ever since.
While running for New York City mayor, Cuomo, then seeking union support, said he would consider lobbying to relax the pension tightening he approved.
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Gov. Kathy Hochul, Cuomo’s successor, confirmed she’s in negotiations with labor leaders as part of state budget talks to bring more parity to workers enrolled in Tier 6 with veteran employees whose pensions are more generous.
“Tier 6 is on the table. We’ve been requested to look at it by the unions to right some of the wrongs of the past,” Hochul told reporters after an event last week.
But the current proposed plan would leave municipalities and school districts with $1.2 billion in new costs, according to a copy of a proposal being floated by the unions and obtained by The Post.
That amounts to a $328 million bill just for New York City alone.
Hochul is negotiating the deal at a time when New York’s largest cities are under fiscal pressure. The Big Apple faces a projected $5.4 billion deficit.
But New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he’s open to the pension sweetener while he pushes for other assistance from Albany.
“I’ve long said that I think there need to be changes to Tier 6 because we need to make it as easy as possible for New Yorkers to enter a life of public service,” said Mamdani, a former state assemblyman.
“We believe we can do these kinds of things … in tandem with everything else that we’re pursuing in Albany, which also means putting our city back on firm financial footing.”
Under the proposal being floated, state municipalities outside of New York City could end up being saddled with a total of $407 million in costs for the pension boost. School districts, which are in a different pension system, would see an additional $480 million in costs.
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Local governments also must contribute more to cover employee pensions if investment returns generated underperform, such as during a downturn or bear market.
Feiner, a Democrat who has been the Greenburgh Town supervisor for 35 years, said he’s disappointed that local officials have not been consulted on such a a significant change that could impact the bottom line of municipal budgets.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee for governor, issued a measured statement when asked about the proposed pension change, saying it should be subject to contract negotiations between unions and local elected officials.
“Tier 6 is a complicated issue that should be part of the collective bargaining process. As Nassau County Executive, I have had four years of labor peace without raising taxes. As governor, I will strike the same balance between fair wages and benefits for our workers while protecting our taxpayers,” Blakeman said in a statement.
Thousands of union members, including those with the United Federation of Teachers, attended a rally in Albany last month demanding better pensions.
A similar rally was held by law-enforcement unions on Long Island last week.
