Not much for now, with next year’s insurance premiums jumping far more than general inflation and tax revenues. Employers’ only hope to begin stemming these costs long term is a stronger, unified front at the state and national levels. There also could be an important role for public pensions.
Disinflation and economic deceleration will dominate state and local budgets and investments. Cash is king, at least for a while. Payroll costs will outrace revenues. It’s going to be a year for muddling through.
Inflation punished Wall Street and Main Street, and public financiers who ignored it squandered billions. Congress passed two bills important to states and localities. And pensions took a hit, but taxpayers won’t feel that pain for years.
When the governor-elect was serving as Montgomery County commissioner, he streamlined the county’s half-billion-dollar retirees pension plan. Some wonder if the state’s retirement plan will get a similar redo.
Inflation is pressuring state and local employers to grant big cost-of-living increases. But they’ll need to keep in mind the prospect of diminishing revenues in coming fiscal years.
Tax-exempt issuers’ costs have shifted upward dramatically this year as the Federal Reserve has pushed interest rates higher to fight inflation. It’s time to re-strategize debt management programs.
Across the nation, the poverty rate among adults 65 and older rose to 10.7 percent last year, the only age group that saw an increase. In Los Angeles County, homelessness in adults 55 and older has risen 20 percent since 2017.
If passed, a bill would divest the state’s pension fund from the 200 largest publicly traded fossil fuel companies no more than two years from the time the bill is enacted. The pension fund is valued at $92.9 billion.
New Jersey lawmakers are fast-tracking a bill that would reform the state’s pension law to tighten criteria under which former government workers convicted of on-the-job misconduct should lose some or all of their pension.
The State Employees’ Retirement System has sunk to $34.5 billion, a quarterly decrease of 8.5 percent. The system funds more than 70,000 older state and public school retirees with pension payments that haven’t changed since 2004.
An audit found that Massachusetts’ third largest city has made progress with the debt in its employees’ pension system, with 39 percent of future obligations covered. But there is still a long way to go to reach solvency by 2033.
Private equity interests have lurked behind the skirts of public pensions to dodge higher income taxes. Now Big Tech moguls are trying to play public servants for patsies to fight stronger federal antitrust laws.
An estimated 54 percent of older women and 45 percent of older men who live alone have incomes below what is needed to pay for essentials. The financial effects of COVID-19 and the rising cost of living are to blame.
Financial experts say the Florida governor’s ban on so-called “woke” investment policies that consider “environmental, social and governance” issues may affect pensions for state retirees. But others disagree on the ban’s impact.
With government workers’ pay raises lagging the private sector’s, state and local officials will need to navigate through different measures of inflation to fairly calibrate wage and pension increases.
The U.S. Census Bureau found that nearly half of adults ages 55 to 66 had no personal retirement savings in 2017. But a state-sponsored private retirement auto-IRA savings program could give many retiring Kansans a break.
Most Read
