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All of the top Democrats in the state, including\u00a0Hochul and state comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, supported the union\u2019s push to change Tier 6. The changes were one of the biggest fiscal and political choke points in the already overdue state budget, alongside\u00a0Hochul\u2019s big-ticket policy fights on auto insurance, immigration, climate and housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The proposal to sweeten the package also faced pushback from local governments and other critics, who said that undoing the 2012 reforms would burden state and municipalities with hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs, which they say will inevitably result in higher property taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Proposed changes to Tier 6<\/p>\n
The overall estimated cost of the changes will be $557 million, with the state contributing $118 million and other parties paying $440 million, according to estimates from the governor\u2019s office. This is down from an original proposal that would have cost $1.5 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Gov. Kathy Hochul rallied with unions on March 8 for changes to the Tier 6 pension system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Darren McGee\/Darren McGee\/ Office of Governor<\/p>\n
The deal struck by lawmakers and the governor would lower the retirement age for teachers from 63 to 58 after 30 years of service.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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State and local public employee contributions would be lowered to a range of 3% to 5.75% depending on salary bracket. Police and fire department employees would see an increased cap on the amount of overtime that can be included in the calculation of retirement benefits from 15% of wages to 25%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All other public employees, largely sheriffs and corrections officers, will see an increased cap as well. This will go from $22,000 to $30,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rob Merrill, a spokesman for the Public Employees Federation, which represents over 50,000 state government workers, declined to comment on the proposed changes until the legislation is introduced.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Melinda Person, the president of the New York State United Teachers, praised the proposed changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis Tier 6 agreement is proof that when workers organize and stay united, change is possible,\u201d Person said in a statement. \u201cThis victory belongs to every member who spoke out, rallied, lobbied and kept the pressure on. We are taking an important step toward building a fairer future for the next generation of public workers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nHow much it will cost?\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Tier 6 was created for employees hired on or after April 1, 2012, and supporters of the original law argued it would save state and local governments tens of billions over time.<\/p>\n
Under the current state rules, Tier 6 members contribute 3% to 6% of pay depending on earnings and receive full benefits at age 63, though they can retire earlier with permanent reductions. The New York State and Local Retirement System says Tier 6 is now its largest member group in service and accounts for more than half of total membership.<\/p>\n
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It is also widely unpopular among state workers because the benefits are less generous than earlier pension tiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tier 6 had already been softened in recent years: In 2022, lawmakers made it possible for Tiers 5 and 6 members to vest after five years of service, down from 10 years. Another change in 2024 temporarily excluded certain overtime from the calculation of Tier 6 contribution rates.<\/p>\n
The overall cost of the new proposed changes to Tier 6 will be studied by the state comptroller\u2019s office soon after the bill is introduced. The governor\u2019s office estimates say that lowering the retirement age will cost $166 million, but there will be no cost incurred by the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Addressing employee contributions for state and local employees would cost $244 million, with the state footing $85 million. The changes made to police and fire departments would cost $74 million and cost the state $13 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Proposed changes to overtime will cost $72 million, with $20 million coming from the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Heastie said that New York has earmarked at least $50 million for local governments to cover the increased costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s push to overhaul Tier 6 pensions has clashed with the fiscal realities facing local governments already under financial strain. That includes the city of Albany\u2019s widening budget gap<\/a> and recent warnings by officials in Rochester about unsustainable pension and health care costs.\u00a0<\/p>\nOne of the central arguments behind Tier 6 reform is that offering better pensions is the key to solving public-sector staffing shortages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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However, state and local officials have previously told the Times Union that younger workers increasingly prioritize salary, flexibility, work-life balance and health insurance over retirement benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Labor leaders and Democratic lawmakers argue that deteriorating working conditions, particularly in high-stress sectors such as corrections, have eroded the appeal of public service jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a statement to the Times Union, Chris Koetzle, the executive director of the New York Association of Towns, said that while his organization supports \u201cfair retirement security for public workers, reforms must be balanced and fiscally responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He said the proposed changes will be felt in local governments for years to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPolicies that increase long-term pension burdens without providing sustainable funding solutions could force local governments into difficult choices: higher property taxes, cuts to services, delayed infrastructure projects, or reduced staffing,\u201d\u00a0Koetzle said. \u201cUpstate communities and small towns cannot continue to absorb unfunded mandates from Albany without consequences at the local level.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Union members at a Public Employees Union Rally for Tier 6 changes in March.\u00a0 Darren McGee\/Darren McGee\/ Office…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[609,844,9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-240943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-government","tag-latestnews","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}