“RI Taxpayers” Urges Officials to Reject Pension Settlement
Friday, April 03, 2015
Rhode Island Taxpayers, an advocacy group “for honest, effective and fiscally sound government on behalf of Rhode Island Individual and Business Taxpayers,” released a statement Friday urging the Governor, General Assembly leadership and all legislators to reject the pension reform settlement announced Thursday afternoon and allow the case to go to trial.
"These secret pension reform negotiations have amounted to an unconstitutional, alternative law-making process unaccountable to the people," states R.I. Taxpayers' Chair Larry Fitzmorris. "Further, under a settlement, the critical matter of whether the pensions represented an implied contract would remain unresolved and might even jeopardize the state's legal position if this matter comes up again down the road."
The General Assembly passed a landmark pension reform law in 2011 in the face of sharply escalating pension contributions that threatened to effectively bankrupt the state and some cities and towns.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"Far from being an awesome achievement, as the Special Master describes it, this settlement is a bad deal for taxpayers," said R.I. Taxpayers' spokesperson Monique Chartier. "Remember that this is a second, enhanced settlement. So we are now two steps removed from the original pension reform at a cost of an additional $232 million for state taxpayers alone!"
"Secret negotiations are where state government does its worst work," continues Fitzmorris. "The judge's gag order has kept the decision process secret from those who will have to pay the bill. Union members and retirees were given information by their leadership but taxpayers were kept completely in the dark about this deal."
"It was a bad process that produced a bad result for taxpayers," concludes Chartier. "For this reason, we strongly urge Governor Raimondo and the entire General Assembly to reject this pension reform settlement."
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