December 10, 2010. Republican legislators plan to cut $1.4 billion from FRS, “[State employees] don’t contribute and that’s wrong” Everything on table
By GARY FINEOUT
H-T Capital Bureau
Published: Friday, December 10, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.
TALLAHASSEE – One of the big questions surrounding Gov.-elect Rick Scott’s plan to cut billions of dollars in taxes is this: Where would he make up the difference?
Florida’s nearly 700,000 public employees could be about to find out.
Scott wants to cut $1.4 billion next year from taxpayer contributions to the public employee pension program, and this week many legislators signaled their support for the notion.
Such a move would, for the first time since 1975, force teachers, firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and other government employees to make significant contributions out of their own salaries. Florida is one of only a handful of states in the nation that don’t require employees to pay for their pensions.
“Our state employees have the best deal in the country,” said Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate and chairman of the Senate panel that is considering the changes. “They don’t contribute and that’s wrong.”
In addition to Scott’s plan, several other proposals have surfaced. All call for making public workers pay for at least part of their pensions.
Read more at heraldtribune.com
Showdown looming over Florida’s pension plan
By Gary Fineout
December 7, 2010
Florida lawmakers this week will begin their first steps in reforming the state’s massive pension plan, a move that could yield tremendous savings yet also trigger a potentially politically explosive showdown with teachers, firefighters and police officers from across the state.
Governor-elect Rick Scott is counting on pension reform as a key ingredient in helping carry out his “7-7-7” plan that calls for tax cuts as an effort to jumpstart the state’s fragile economy.
Scott initially proposed mandating that state workers and others pay part of their pension costs. Scott then would use the savings to help pay for his tax cuts, including a cut in property taxes. But other ideas have surfaced lately, including the idea of shutting down the main pension plan to any new hires.
“The plan right now is that everything is on the table,’’ said Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate and chairman of the Senate panel that will hear from cities and counties about pensions on Thursday.
Florida is home to one of the state’s largest pension plans in the nation, with assets worth more than $100 billion. There are nearly 1 million people enrolled in the Florida Retirement System, including nearly 700,000 active employees, most of them working for school districts.
Read more at fltrib.com
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