l****f
发帖数: 332 | 1 不知道是谁想出来的主意
To Pay New York Pension Fund, Cities Borrow From It First
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/nyregion/to-pay-new-york-pens
ALBANY — When New York State officials agreed to allow local governments to
use an unusual borrowing plan to put off a portion of their pension
obligations, fiscal watchdogs scoffed at the arrangement, calling it
irresponsible and unwise.
And now, their fears are being realized: cities throughout the state,
wealthy towns such as Southampton and East Hampton, counties like Nassau and
Suffolk, and other public employers like the Westchester Medical Center and
the New York Public Library are all managing their rising pension bills by
borrowing from the very same $140 billion pension fund to which they owe
money.
Across New York, state and local governments are borrowing $750 million this
year to finance their contributions to the state pension system, and are
likely to borrow at least $1 billion more over the next year. The number of
municipalities and public institutions using this new borrowing mechanism to
pay off their annual pension bills has tripled in a year.
The eagerness to borrow demonstrates that many major municipalities are
struggling to meet their pension obligations, which have risen partly
because of generous retirement packages for public employees, and partly
because turbulence in the stock market has slowed the pension fund’s growth.
The state’s borrowing plan allows public employers to reduce their pension
contributions in the short term in exchange for higher payments over the
long term. Public pension funds around the country assume a certain rate of
return every year and, despite the market gains over the last few years, are
still straining to make up for steep investment losses incurred in the 2008
financial crisis, requiring governments to contribute more to keep pension
systems afloat.
Supporters argue that the borrowing plan makes it possible for governments
in New York to “smooth” their annual pension contributions to get through
this prolonged period of market volatility.
Critics say it is a budgetary sleight-of-hand that simply kicks pension
costs down the road.
“You’re undermining the long-term solvency of these funds and making the
pension fund even more of a gamble than it already is,” said Josh Barro, a
senior fellow and pension expert at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative
research organization. The state, he said, is betting that the performance
of the financial markets will improve over the next decade and bail the
system out.
“If performance continues to be weak, then contribution rates will be even
higher than the rates we’re trying to avoid now, and you’ll produce even
more fiscal pain down the road,” he said.
Nationwide, the cost of public retiree benefits has soared in recent years,
and states including California, Connecticut and Illinois have been
borrowing to pay, or even deferring, their pension bills. Many states are
worse off than New York. New Jersey is still paying off bonds issued in 1997
to close a hole in its pension system.
And governors and lawmakers across the country have been trying to take
steps to reduce future pension costs, with limited success.
But New York appears to be unusual in allowing public employers to borrow
from the state’s pension system to finance their annual contributions to
that system.
The state’s borrowing mechanism, approved in 2010 under Gov. David A.
Paterson, was backed by public sector unions and by the state comptroller’s
office, which oversees the pension fund and prefers to call the borrowing a
form of amortization, or paying a debt gradually, with interest. The public
employers that borrow from the pension system essentially contribute less
than they owe in a given year, and agree to repay the difference, with
interest, over a decade.
Contributions to the pension system, which covers more than one million
members, retirees and beneficiaries, are due annually from the state and
municipal governments. As they struggle to pay their obligations under the
current system, municipalities are borrowing $200 million this year, up from
$45 million last year, the first year the borrowing plan was available,
according to the state comptroller’s office.
“I don’t think any financial manager likes to see the can kicked down the
road, and would prefer to see all costs paid for in the years that they are
incurred,” said Tamara Wright, the comptroller of Southampton. Southampton,
on the East End of Long Island, recently borrowed a fifth of its pension
bill — $1.2 million of $6 million — by decision of the town board.
“I certainly am sensitive to the board’s concerns about the current
economic times,” she said.
The state is borrowing too — $575 million in the current fiscal year, and $
782 million in the next, under a budget proposed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
The state’s comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, said in a statement, “While
the state’s pension fund is one of the strongest performers in the country,
costs have increased due to the Wall Street meltdown.” He added that “
amortizing pension costs is an option for some local governments to manage
cash flow and to budget for long-term pension costs in good and bad times.”
The comptroller’s office noted that only a part of the overall pension
contributions owed by the state and municipalities was being borrowed. And
it said the number of borrowers had risen partly because the borrowing plan
only recently became available.
“It would not be fair to draw a characterization about statewide municipal
finances from these numbers,” said Kevin Murray, an executive deputy in the
comptroller’s office.
But it is clear that a number of major public employers are having trouble
affording the state’s current pension system.
“Sharp increases in pension costs are unsustainable and are devastating
state and local governments,” Robert Megna, Governor Cuomo’s budget
director, said in a statement.
Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, is proposing changes that would require future state
employees to share a greater portion of their pension costs, and would allow
them to opt into a 401(k)-style retirement plan. The proposal is known as
Tier VI because it would be added to five existing pension benefit
categories.
The governor’s proposal has been met coldly by labor unions, as well as by
many state lawmakers and Mr. DiNapoli, also a Democrat and an ally of the
labor movement. The proposal is supported by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of
New York as well as other municipal leaders, and by business groups.
“It’s the most significant rising cost that we have,” Scott Adair, the
chief financial officer of Monroe County, said of pensions.
In Poughkeepsie, which is contributing $3.6 million into the state pension
system this year and borrowing nearly $800,000, Mayor John C. Tkazyik, a
Republican, said rising pension costs and new federal accounting
requirements for retiree health coverage could have dire consequences.
“It could bankrupt the city,” Mr. Tkazyik said, adding that the city had
cut its work force, to 367 from 418 employees, in four years as it struggled
to compensate.
The New York Public Library is borrowing nearly $2.9 million of a $14.7
million pension bill this year. A library spokeswoman said the decision to
borrow came at the urging of the city, which finances a majority of the
library’s budget. The city has its own pension system, separate from the
state, which has undergone its own fiscal stresses because of sharp
contribution increases.
“After a strong recommendation from the city, the library decided to
amortize its pension payments because of the cost savings to both the
library and the city, which reimburses more than half of our pension costs,
” said Angela Montefinise, the library spokeswoman.
But the Bloomberg administration played down its role.
“The library system decides how to manage their finances,” said Marc
LaVorgna, a Bloomberg spokesman, adding, “The decision was made by the
libraries.” | l******t
发帖数: 55733 | | l****f
发帖数: 332 | 3 俺是真心佩服这个点子，不知道是不是原创
【在 l******t 的大作中提到】
: 左脚一垫右脚，右脚再一点左脚？
|
|
