Council at Odds: Members Call for Changes to Pension Reform
Friday, May 04, 2012
Just days after a pension reform ordinance was unanimously approved by the City Council and signed into law by Mayor Angel Taveras, two members of Council leadership are calling for an amendment that will allow some retirees to continue receiving a cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA).
Council President Pro Tempore Terry Hassett and Finance Committee Chairman John Igliozzi plan to introduce an amendment will allow COLAs to be given out to retirees who do not make above a certain amount in their pension.
The Councilmen say their amendment is not yet finalized.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe pension reform ordinance, which takes effect July 1, requires all COLAs to be suspended until the pension system is 70 percent funded and caps all future pensions at one-and-a-half times the median state household income. The ordinance also makes changes to disability pensions and eliminates elected official pensions.
While the two Council members say they support pension reform, Igliozzi said he is focusing on the “human element” with his proposal. He referred to ordinance as “drastic and draconian.”
“Part of being an elected official is rectifying a bad decision,” Igliozzi said. “There’s a fundamental unfairness here and we need to find a more moderate solution. Even the administration is looking for a more moderate approach.”
Taveras, whose office remains in negotiations with retirees, said he would veto any attempt to weaken the changes made to the pension reform ordinance.
Other Council members said they were completely unaware Hassett and Igliozzi were having second thoughts about the ordinance. Council President Michael Solomon said the plan was twice supported unanimously by the Council and said the city needs all of the savings generated from pension reform.
“The Providence Pension Protection Plan - passed twice unanimously by this Council - is critical to the future of this City and all who love it,” Solomon said. “If we fail to achieve any savings in that plan this city's path towards fiscal stability is in great jeopardy.”
Councilman Michael Correia, who sat on the subcommittee that constructed the ordinance, said he was “shocked” to learn Hassett and Igliozzi were submitting an amendment. Hassett was also a member of that subcommittee.
‘I sat on the pension committee for six months and [neither of] my colleagues came before the committee to testify,” Correia said.
The Councilmen agree that the roughly 600 retirees receiving five and six percent COLAs need to be addressed, but have raised concerns about public safety employees who have yet to retiree and the retirees who are earning very little.
Hassett, who has long said he would like to see COLAs tied to a national index, said he is in favor of pension reform, but he wants to do right by those who protect and serve the capital city.
“Pension reform is necessary, without question, but to severely challenge the financial security of police and fire personnel upon their retirement in such a dramatic manner is not what I am willing to permit,” Hassett said.