Corbett’s Pension Plan Costs Taxpayers $40 Billion More…

Pennsylvania State Education Association: Facts say that Gov. Corbett’s pension plan costs taxpayers $40 billion more.

Text of Sept. 23 press release.

HARRISBURG – Gov. Tom Corbett’s pension plan will cost taxpayers approximately $40 billion more over the next 30 years, based on analyses and reviews conducted by three actuarial firms.

Mike Crossey, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, reminded legislators that actuaries for the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) and the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) reported in June that elements of Gov. Tom Corbett’s pension plan carry a $40 billion price tag.

The cost is largely due to the impact of closing PSERS and SERS to new employees, an approach at the heart of Gov. Corbett’s plan.

“Lawmakers have 40 billion reasons to vote ‘no’ on the governor’s pension plan,” Crossey said. “There has been too much rhetoric in this pension debate, and not enough fact. The facts say that the governor’s plan is a bad deal for taxpayers, and lawmakers should reject it.”

House Bills 1352 and 1353, and Senate Bill 922 reflect the governor’s pension initiatives. None of them advanced through the General Assembly before its summer recess, but a renewed push may come now that legislators have returned to the Capitol.

“Gov. Corbett should listen to the experts who are hired to be independent, impartial, and mathematically certain,” Crossey said. “The governor’s numbers don’t add up. They never have, and there is plenty of evidence to prove it.

“Legislators need to understand that these bills aren’t a solution; they create a new revenue problem,” Crossey said. “Nothing that costs the taxpayers another $40 billion should be considered reform. That’s a fact.”

Crossey is a special education teacher in the Keystone Oaks School District. An affiliate of the National Education Association, PSEA is the state’s largest school employee union, representing 182,000 future, active and retired teachers and school employees, and health care workers in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Wythe Keever, 717-255-7107; or David Broderic, 717-255-7169