Hochul eyes union-pleasing pension boost that could saddle cash-strapped NYC with $328M bill

Gov.Kathy Hochul is negotiating a $1.5 billion union-pleasing scheme to fatten government workers’ pensions — and it could cost the cash-strapped Big Apple a staggering $328 million.The stunning figure would consume more than half of the revenue the governor claims that Mayor Zohran Mamdani and city would gain from her proposed pied-a-terre tax on multi-million dollar secondary homes in the five boroughs.Union bosses — including United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew — are putting on a full court press in Albany to undo the reforms approved a decade ago by then-Gov.

Andrew Cuomo that aimed to rein in pension costs.Under the controversial “Tier 6” reforms, public workers hired after April 2012 saw their pension benefits slashed and their retirement age raised to 62, from 55.The legislation also raised employee contributions toward their pensions.Labor leaders have lobbied to scale back the changes ever since.The proposed porkapalooza now being eyed as part of the ongoing state budget negotiations would allow civil servants to retire at 55 and contribute less toward their pension — while requiring state and local governments to pay more.Budget watchdogs said it would be fiscally irresponsible to impose such the unfunded mandate on local governments.“New York state should not enhance Tier 6 pension benefits.

The expansions under consideration would cost the state, local governments and school districts billions of dollars next year and annually in the future, likely driving property tax increases or siphoning money from other programs,” said Citizens Budget Commission director Andrew Rein.Follow live updates on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist agenda and the latest in NYC politics“That is just a large tip of a multi-billion-dollar iceberg that threatens to increase taxes, reduce services, or destabilize the budgets of New York City, other local governments, school districts, and public authorities,” he said.The plan under cons...