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To STEVED: you really need to sound alarm to your co-workers regarding this point.

Last year I testified at the budget hearing and objected when Chief of Staff, Mark Caruolo described how the administration has been advised by the city actuarial experts that if they negotiated “frugal” contracts it could help reduce pension liabilities. The result - three years with no raises for all city employees.

My objection, and you can listen to the testimony as it is on the city council web site (refer to May 31, 2013 part III audio at position 2578) was that it shouldn’t be a policy of the administration to realize pension savings at the expense of active employee.

For more proof of the deceptive tactics by this administration, here is an excerpt from the November 8, 2012 letter from Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company (GRS), city pension actuarial experts, outlining Warwick’s “Funding Improvement Plan” for the Police I/Fire I pension plan. (This document will be discussed before the state pension commission and the city council on Monday March 11). “One factor that is expected to help dampen the growth of the liability is a recent agreement for minimal to no salary increases for current active members for the next three years. If the three-year pay freezes are realized in future valuations, the City contributions into all of its pension plans could be lower by as much as $5 million per year when compared to current projections”.

So my final point is this: The union presidents are not going to allow the administration to continue to screw their membership by negotiating future contracts with no raises as a remediation policy to cut pension costs. So what is the possibility of this pension reform assumption continuing in the future? ZERO!

But why include it in this improvement plan? Because it provides another illusion that Mayor Avedisian and Mark Caruolo have a viable plan to fix the problem.

PURE FICTION! Bernie Madoff and ENRON executives and would be proud.

From: Sparks fly even before actuary reviews pension plans

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