Gov. Hochul, NY state legislatures disgusting Tier 6 self-dealing will worsen the affordability crisis

Looks like New York lawmakers are laser-forced on boosting “affordability” for themselves: A third of the Legislature stands to gain personally from the coming public-pension giveaway.Overall, more than half of New York’s 780,000 public employees are in line for a windfall as Albany looks to roll back the 2012 pension reforms that made retirement benefits less obscenely generous for anyone hired after 2012.Their benefits still beat most in the private sector, but public sector unions demand more, and the state’s leaders are poised to burn an estimated $1.5 billion a year on these pension sweeteners.That includes about $330 million from the annual city budget, over half what Gov.Kathy Hochul guesses City Hall will pull in from her pied-a-terre tax.And the damage could be worse, up to $2 billion a year for the city alone, if the rollback is retroactive.The “reforms” would also move the retirement age from 62 down to just 55 after 30 years of public employment, because … well, because the unions want it.State lawmakers already draw six-figure incomes for roughly 60 days of actual legislative work, but news site The City has identified 74 state legislators eligible for this windfall, including 11 Republicans — who all, except for Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick of Suffolk County, support this taxpayer rip-off. During his 23 years in office, Fitzpatrick has pushed to shift all state workers away from the current defined-benefits pension system to a defined-contributions plan, similar to a 401(k).Since the unions push to roll back every reform that passes (that’s why this one is “Tier 6”), that’s likely the only way to truly end the decades-long metastasis of public-employee pension benefits.

The state Conference of Mayors, Association of Counties and Association of Towns warned Tier 6 rollback “would force local governments to make impossible choices: cutting essential services, eliminating positions, or seeking property tax increases that loc...