Official: Retirees miss cuts
Changes due for future pensioners
HARRISBURG - A pending proposal by Gov. Tom Corbett to overhaul two public pension systems won't affect the several hundred thousand retirees drawing pensions, state Budget Secretary Charles Zogby said Monday.
"We don't see any changes that are going to impact current retirees," Mr. Zogby said in an address before the Pennsylvania Press Club. The Public School Employees Retirement System provides pensions to 195,000 retirees; the State Employees Retirement System provides pensions to 115,000 retirees, according to the state Budget Office.
But Mr. Zogby suggested the governor will likely propose changes next week in pension benefits for future public school employees and state government employees and to some pension benefits and formulas not yet earned by current employees. These could include not counting overtime pay as pension earning and adjusting how the final years of salaries are calculated.
Echoing statements made by Mr. Corbett in recent weeks, the secretary said that curbing escalating pension costs is necessary to finding state money to cover education costs.
"Pensions and education funding are clearly linked," he said, adding that PSERS accounts for the bulk of escalating pension costs.
A statewide public teachers union said Monday that Mr. Corbett is trying to force lawmakers to make a false choice about spending priorities.
"It looks like the governor is ready to hold Pennsylvania's students and taxpayers hostage if he doesn't get his way on other issues," said Mike Crossey, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
In addition to outlining a $27 billion spending plan for fiscal 2013-14, Mr. Corbett is expected to unveil comprehensive proposals to provide new transportation funding and to privatize state-owned liquor stores either during his budget address Feb. 5 or the days leading to it.
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have scheduled hearings on the budget next month.
Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.com