State facing at least $47 billion in retiree benefit payments
ALBANY, N.Y. — The state has reported for the first time how much it will cost taxpayers to provide health benefits to government retirees: at least $47 billion over the next three decades, according to Gov. George Pataki’s Budget Office.

The cost, which could reach $54 billion, was provided in an update on the state’s financial condition. The new estimate was required by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, a not-for-profit organization that establishes the financial accounting and reporting standards for state and local governments.

“This is huge, but it can be dealt with,” said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a group that tracks the state’s finances. “The problem is the Legislature has actually been doing everything they can to make the problem worse. Now that this number is out there, they will hopefully get a grip on the dimensions of the problem and stop it.”

Darcy Wells, a spokeswoman for the Public Employees Federation, the second-largest state workers union, said that “any government cost over a 30-year period is going to look huge.”

“It’s an alarmist figure to put out there because nothing has changed,” she said. “The obligation of the state to fund health care requirements for retirees is still the same. But when you go 30 years out, it’s a huge figure.”

There are now 125,000 retirees and 194,000 current state workers.

McMahon warned that the total cost for taxpayers could reach $200 billion when including local government retirees.

State lawmakers this year passed at least 36 bills to expand pension benefits for public workers, the Empire Center said last month. McMahon also said that lawmakers have previously passed bills to make it harder for the state and local governments to tinker with retiree benefits. Those bills have been vetoed by Pataki.

McMahon said the state could scale benefits to the time of service or cut back funding some Medicaid costs to save money.

“This is a new report and we’re reviewing it,” said Charles Carrier, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Scott Reif, a Pataki spokesman, said that the Republican governor has cut the state work force by about 20,000 since he took office, “significantly reducing the overall cost of future retiree health benefits.”

New York state employees receive some of the best retirement benefits with some of the lowest employee contributions. Only four states _ Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut and New Jersey _ provide greater benefits, according to an analysis by Robert Ward of the Public Policy Institute of New York State, the research arm of the Business Council of New York State.

“This is the latest evidence that we need to get public payroll costs under control,” Ward said. “Most taxpayers don’t enjoy the health benefits that public employees do. Where’s the fairness in that equation?”

Division of the Budget: http://www.budget.state.ny.us/

A friend of mine has a daughter that moved there, she said there is 30 teachers working with her that are all from Buffalo. There is whole communities full of retired state, county and local government employees living in her area. Sad that they cannot even support the very taxpaying citizens that are giving them the pensions and healthcare we paid for. If they only paid state taxes and part of their healthcare we could save millions if not a few billion.