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All this week, NPR will be looking at the nation's looming pension crisis. Risking Retirement Funds: Jim Zarroli reports a lot of cities and states are trying to rebuild pension funds by resorting to chancy investments. Pennsylvania's Pension Spike: Tamara Keith reports from Pennsylvania, where the two large public pension funds are in multi-billion dollar holes.  

In less than a decade, the number of town employees making more than $80,000 annually has more than tripled. Over that same period, Dracut has reduced the number of people collecting town salaries by about 20 percent. Last year, there were 900 people paid town salaries, compared with 1,082 people on the salary rolls at the start of the decade.  

When my eyesight began to give me trouble, I tried to ignore it. "Nope, not getting glasses," I told myself even after the headaches had started, a result of my straining to read. Finally, I got my eyes checked and, as a result, I bought reading glasses.

The sooner people realize where they are, the easier it is to correct it going forward   -Jack VanDerhei

 

Retirement incentives typically are a way to save money, by replacing an employee who's at the top of the salary schedule with a lower-paid worker, said Doug Busch, executive director of Finance and Personnel for Fenton Area Public Schools (FAPS). A teacher with a master's degree, who is at the top of the salary scale, earns $68,772. A new teacher with a bachelor's degree and no teaching experience earns $36,621.  

God help anyone in the private sector who is retiring in the next few years. Far removed from the guaranteed Rolls Royce pension enjoyed by those in the employ of the State, employees in the so-called real economy face the threat of being left with nothing come the day they walk out of work for the last time. In 2010, a majority of professional employees in their 50s and early 60s are on the old-school defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.

The board is very concerned with the effect on defined contribution and defined benefit schemes of investment losses since 2007 and, especially, the obligation on defined benefit schemes to tackle their deficits.   -Brendan Kennedy

 

The city is sinking into an $100 billion hole of soaring employee pension and health care costs. According to the city's latest annual financial report, New York City's fi ve pension funds, including those for teachers, police officers and firefighters, are short nearly $40 billion on their future obligations to current workers and retirees. And that's based on highly optimistic — some say "delusional" — calculations that the city will somehow earn at least 8% a year on its investments going forward.

The city pension funds are tens of billions in the hole, and taxpayers will have to pump a lot more money into them. If you think the pension tab is high, just wait a few years   -E J McMahon

 

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has sent a letter to 28 state agencies, authorities and local governments — including Saratoga County — requesting information about their pension practices. Cuomo said the 28 entities were selected because they "have some of the highest salary or pension payments in the state." County Administrator David Wickerham said he doesn't believe Saratoga County fits into Cuomo's "pension padding" investigation.

There is currently a striking variance in levels of retirement benefits paid across the state   -Andrew M Cuomo

 

The Springfield School Board does not want a spike in retirement costs to come as a surprise to taxpayers. In the next several years, the district, like other districts, will face a substantial increase that must be funded. School Director Emeritus Stan Johnson presented the future outlook on PSERS, Pennsylvania's Public School Employees' Retirement System.

There might be alternate funding sources at the state level, such as gaming revenue or natural gas taxes. There may be some federal assistance. Options for the school district are limited.   -Stan Johnson

 

Annual pay raises for most state government workers were suspended Friday for the upcoming fiscal year as Louisiana grapples with hefty budget shortfalls and agencies continue to face spending cuts. The Civil Service Commission agreed to prohibit the raises for more than 60,000 rank-and-file state employees, called classified employees. Gov. Bobby Jindal followed that decision with a suspension of salary boosts for thousands of political appointees, known as unclassified workers, in the cabinet agencies

This is not an easy proposal to make, but these difficult and challenging times require shared sacrifice   -Shannon Templet

 

Unfortunately, many people are wrestling with this very problem. Specifically, they plan to work until a certain age — but they leave the work force earlier. Obviously, this can have a big effect on a variety of other retirement income factors, such as the amount of money they need to put away each year while they're still working and the age at which they should start collecting Social Security and begin tapping into their IRA, 401(k) and other retirement accounts.