AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine lawmakers are considering freezing enrollments in the state’s $10 billion public employee retirement system.
Current employees and retirees wouldn’t be affected, but future employees could be shifted into the Social Security System and a smaller supplemental retirement plan.
The Maine Sunday Telegram says a report submitted last week to the Legislature describes one possible option for a new system, which could take effect as soon as June 2015. The Appropriations Committee is expected to discuss the report in the coming weeks, although a decision is not likely until next year.
The committee Chairman, Sen. Richard Rosen of Bucksport says it’s a good time to consider a new start now that the existing pension system is stabilized. Lawmakers have addressed underfunding in the 70-year-old system.
Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the entire reason we went to a state retirement system because we could offer a better deal to our public servants and it was less expensive to the taxpayers than paying in to social security? If this fact has changed, then the ALEC fueled republicans may have a case to present–if not, then they are wasting time and money…….again.
Screw the goldbricking ‘public servants’. Dump the pension system and if the whiners don’t like it, let them get REAL jobs in the public sector. We don’t need 4/5 of them anyway.
I think you might have larger problems than what you’re talking about.
I hope you get a handle on them for your own sake.
it seems to me that YOU are the whiner here. “We don’t need 4/5ths of them?” Did you just drink a fifth? What do you recommend? Kindergartens with 100 students? Only plow 1/5th of the roads? Do you even have a thought process???
Take me out and shoot me! I am so sick of people like you. I worked hard and my pay was always kept low because of the promise of the retirement system. Golden years? Ha!!
we sure don’t need you.
wow…. Thats kinda viscous….
And I bet you’re one of the loudest complainers if the potholes aren’t fixed quickly enough, or you need a trooper and have to wait more than 10 minutes. Unbelievable. Now if you said we could downsize the State House and senate by a percentage, you’d probably have some support. It seems we have a State Representative or 2 from just about every town in the State, and you can be sure they make a lot more than a ditch digger at DOT.
I keep hearing that it’s cheaper but if you look at any state job posting you’ll see something along the lines of “Employees contribute 7.65% of their gross salary State matches 17.65 – 26.31% depending on job position” This is WAY more.
Hopefully this applies to legiscritters too. The favored method of political payoff is to stick a worn out political hack in a high paying job for three years and let them pad their retirement at taxpayer expense. If there was any justice THAT would be a crime punishable by time in the stocks and stripping of the entire pension.
I could be wrong, but I believe the statement and the numbers don’t match right now because we are playing catchup for years of underpayment as well as the lost Bush years on Wall Street (came in at 14k, left at 8k).
Jobs in corrections-25 year retirement 14 $ a hour and 100$ a week for health insurance come one come all
Yeah! What he said!
No thanks, with Ponte in charge it’s only time before the inmates are running the show anyway…get out while you can…I hear DHHS is much friendlier place to work.
There should be no public pensions. You can’t expect to give all members annual double-digit ROIs. The mess of course is that we already have people that paid into these systems and should get something back.
Federal Government did this it 1984. Employees had a choice to stay with the existing system and start paying into medicare fund or transfer the monies into the new retirement system.
I don’t agree on not offering it but I do believe that the employee should contribute a lot more to it and things like acumaleted sick time should not be used in determining the benifit as that is a benifit in itself. Also no one in State Goverment should be paid more then the govoner.
Everyone in State Government should be paid more than this Governor.
because they serve the public they should get the best beenfits and retirement funding, they have honor jobs
Maine has far too many laws which require too many state workers; half of these jobs are a welfare program. We need a make a law, take a law principle in Maine. Cut the government, cut the need for pensions.