New York State Municipal Govt. Pension Contributions Savings Seen Through 2010

Albany, NY (AHN) - Contribution amounts from New York state and local government for the 3,000 employees in the state pension plan will go down until 2010, the state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Thursday.

Those declines in contribution amounts are because of the good rate of growth the pension plans have enjoyed, but a statewide recession that began this year will necessitate increases in contributions after 2010, DiNapoli said.

Contribution rates will drop to an average of 7.4 percent while average employer contributions into the police and fire retirement system will fall to 15.1 percent.

Those drops will result in a savings to taxpayers of $300 million since pension costs are generally one of the largest costs to municipal government budgets. On average such costs equal about 20 percent of what the tax a city levies on property.

Local governments will get $180 million of the savings while the state will garner a total of $120 million. New York City has its own pension system and its employees are not enrolled in the state pension program.

The savings will help taxpayers and municipal governments to balance their budgets, while still supporting the workforce employed by government, the mayor of Binghamton told the local newspaper on Thursday.