New York City pension plans get new money to invest in pension funds
- August 24, 2021
New York Gov.
Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday that the state’s pension plans will receive $500 million in new funding for their investment strategies.
Cuomo made the announcement in his State of the State address, the state-owned news agency New York Daily News reported.
Cuomo is in his second year as governor, following his election last year.
He was the first Democratic governor in state history to win a second term.
In the past, the funds have been underfunded.
New York State has $1.1 trillion in unfunded liabilities, according to the State Controller’s Office.
The New York Times estimated the state would need to raise $1 trillion to cover unfundable liabilities, which is more than $2,000 per person.
Cuomo announced the pension funds would receive a $500,000 annual allocation of their funds.
The new money is expected to boost the fund by $200 million annually.
The state’s new $1 billion fund is meant to address unfunding pension liabilities in two ways.
First, the governor is seeking to make up for lost money by investing in more qualified investments.
New Jersey, which had $9.5 billion in unfound pension liabilities, received $1 million from the New York fund this year, according the state.
Cuomo also wants to get rid of as much as possible of the fund’s unfundly investments.
The $1,000 allocation in the New Jersey fund will be enough to cover a $20 billion shortfall in New York state’s state pension fund, Cuomo said.
He is seeking the additional money to do this, according The New Yorker.
Cuomo has also proposed to create a separate fund for New York’s police pension, which has about $10 billion unfundled.
Cuomo said the fund will help to fund the city’s police pensions.
Cuomo’s proposal to get the city to pay its cops is in line with a plan by New Jersey to get state aid for its police pensions, which have been a major source of funding for the state government.
The proposal was championed by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who called it “historic.”
New York was one of only three states that did not have to pay the federal government for its state pension, the Times reported.
New Yorkers also have less than $1 in their state pension funds and pay about $9,000 to their city’s city pension fund.
The city of New York is the only city that has not paid its state police officers for years.
Cuomo called the plan “historic,” calling it “an historic opportunity to move forward with this investment.”
Cuomo’s plan to get New York back on track comes as New York has been embroiled in a bitter debate over the death of Eric Garner.
Garner, who was in police custody for nearly a year after a chokehold on a New York police officer, died of a fatal chokehold at the hands of NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo.
The Garner case was a rallying point for protesters and activists.
