Governor Sides With Government Union Bosses Against Taxpayers
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, New York State’s beleaguered homeowners already carry a median annual property tax burden of $6,542.
That’s well over double the national median annual property tax assessment of $2,937, and higher than in 46 of the 49 other states.
But the Empire State’s powerful government union bosses and Big Labor Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul are evidently convinced that the hefty tax payments forked over by hardworking middle-class, as well as high-income, New York families are far too low.
Otherwise, they would surely not now be teaming up to unravel the government pension reforms signed in 2009 and 2012, respectively, by Democrat Govs. David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo.
Affecting only future hires, these reforms still leave civil servants hired over the past decade-and-a-half with more generous retirement packages than their private-sector counterparts while at the same time stopping taxpayer costs from totally spiraling out of control.
Governor’s Excuse For Sticking It to Taxpayers Doesn’t Hold Water
“Putting more recent hires, so-called ‘Tier 5 and 6 employees,’ under the same unaffordable pension scheme as employees hired prior to 2009 would cost Empire State taxpayers an estimated extra $1.5 billion a year right off the bat,” noted National Right to Work Committee Vice President John Kalb.
“According to the nonpartisan Manhattan Institute, the total additional cost foisted on New Yorkers statewide over the next 30 years would be no less than $100 billion!
As the Manhattan Institute’s Ken Girardin has pointed out, that means ‘every New York family would be on the hook for $20,000’ in added pension costs!”
Ms. Hochul and other union-label politicians who say they are in favor of “fixing” (that is, eliminating) Tiers 5 and 6 aren’t contesting careful analyses showing how exorbitantly expensive that will be.
But the governor and her cohorts claim sticking it to taxpayers is necessary for K-12 public schools and other government institutions to hire people.
“That’s just plain ludicrous,” retorted Mr. Kalb.
“Empire State government school payroll data show it. From 2012 to 2022, the last decade for which comprehensive state-level data are available, New York State’s taxpayer-funded school staff grew by 61,000, while student enrollment dropped by 178,000!
“The fact is, with the current pension tiers in place, Empire State government schools are already able to hire far more people than necessary.”
Government-Authorized Union Monopoly Bargaining Is the Root of the Problem
Gov. Hochul’s decision to back additional bloating of government pensions, despite the severe blow it will deal to already overburdened property taxpayers, as she seeks reelection this year is about Big Labor monopoly power and the extraordinary political power that it affords union bosses.
Unionized Bureaucracy Grows Even as Student Enrollment Drops, Taxpayer Costs Balloon
Under state law, government union bosses now wield the power to codetermine with elected officials or their appointees how nearly a million state and local civil servants are compensated and managed.
Union bosses in New York and around the country have exploited their special privileges to featherbed government payrolls with administrative employees who do little or nothing to make public services better, but enrich Big Labor through the dues automatically deducted from their paychecks.
Taxpayers Will Be on the Hook For Massive Pension Plan Expansion
And the vast electoral clout government union kingpins have amassed over the decades as a consequence of their monopoly-bargaining privileges is why they routinely pull off blatant money grabs like the Tiers 5 and 6 destruction they are attempting this year in New York.
But Right to Work leaders and members nationwide stand ready now to help taxpayers and other concerned citizens in New York lay the groundwork for monopoly-bargaining repeal.
This article was originally published in our monthly newsletter. Go here to access previous newsletter posts.
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