A Billion Here, a Billion There: New York City and Pensions Coming Due

Editor's note: This editorial is based on a new report by E.J. McMahon and Josh B. McGee, The Never-Ending Hangover: How New York City's Pension Costs Threaten Its Future.

Little in life is guaranteed, but this much is certain: city government retirees by the hundreds of thousands will receive pension payments until they die, with every penny funded either by gains on investment portfolios or by you, lucky taxpayer.

A nerve-wracking new analysis from the Manhattan Institute reveals just how much we’re on the hook for — as much as $142 billion to make good on obligations, or more than twice as high as the city’s official estimate.

As it is, the city injects nearly $10 billion a year, in part to fill the gap when investments perform below the too-generously-assumed 7% annual rate of return.

Payments to prop up pensions amount to a hefty chunk of the city’s swelling $85.2 billion budget, creaking further with the weight of 17,000 full-time jobs added to the city payroll by Mayor de Blasio.

More pensions, more problems. But who’s counting?

This editorial originally appeared in the New York Daily News

______________________

This piece originally appeared in New York Daily News