By JOHN HOWELL Chief of staff David Picozzi is outraged; Mayor Scott Avedisian demands a correction and Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladsouceur, who caused the uproar when he charged the administration of ignoring the long-term impact of retiree health costs,
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Chief of staff David Picozzi is outraged; Mayor Scott Avedisian demands a correction and Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladsouceur, who caused the uproar when he charged the administration of ignoring the long-term impact of retiree health costs, maintains little is being done to address this $290.7 million unfunded liability.
Picozzi reminds Ladouceur he and other members of the City Council ratified the Warwick Firefighters contract in 2015 that limited a retiree to an individual plan, whereas retirees who were members of the department prior to the new contract receive family coverage.
Picozzi charges Ladouceur of “lying” at the worst. “At least he should know what he’s talking about.”
In the larger picture, Picozzi says the council complains about the unfunded legacy cost of OPEB, other than pension costs of post employment benefits, but refuses to take action to address it. He points out that although they were comparatively small amounts, the council refused on two occasions to budget funds to start an OPEB trust.
“No one wants to start anything,” said Picozzi.
“We’ve done good things. We need to stop the bleeding at some point…we’re making this better for the future. We’re changing things for the future,” Picozzi said Wednesday. He noted that about 300 city employees are in the tier II contract that limits retiree health care benefits to an individual plan.
“We’re not keeping it going the way it was. This is going to be better off for the taxpayers, for our children and our grandchildren if they are still living here.”
Picozzi sees the long range solution – one giving the city the resources to pay the future costs of retiree benefits – as the end of the 40-year plan implemented to meet the unfunded liability of the Fire and Police I pension plan.
“We’re more than halfway through it,” Picozzi said of the plan. When paid in full, he notes, the city contributions to the plan will drop by about $30 million, freeing funds to pay for OPEB. Further, he notes, expenses will be “a lot more in line” because of contract changes.
Pressed about his vote on the 2015 firefighters’ contract, Ladoueur confirmed his affirmative vote, but finds the change from a family to an individual plan for retirees one of only 11 possible actions the city could take.
“OK, they did something…it’s a beginning,” he said Tuesday.
But Ladouceur sees it as not much more than a baby step.
“Given the magnitude of the unfunded health care report that we received from our healthcare actuary, I am focused on the real time issues and the future of the health care plan for our current retirees, future retirees and our current employees. The fact that our own actuary said, ‘if this were my business model I would run away from it’ speaks volumes about this problem,” he said.
What about a trust, and would he now support a trust appropriation if the mayor were to include it in his budget?
Ladouceur called a trust “a waste” and said Jefferson Solutions, the city’s healthcare actuary, questioned if that was the proper course of action.
“I’m not going against the advice of the actuaries,” he said.
Currently, the city is on a pay-as-you-go system, which is costing taxpayers in excess of $8 million annually. Of that amount, 70 percent of the cost is for uniformed retirees – police and fire – while the balance is for all other employees. Teachers come under a different plan. The unfunded liability for teacher retiree benefits other than pensions is an additional $52.3 million according to Jefferson Solutions in its report April 3 to the City Council.
“This is the single largest unfunded liability the city has. While the 2015 contract does change the "family health coverage" to "single coverage health care" for future retirees," it does not address the lion’s share of the other 90 percent of our actuaries’ recommendations. I was surprised to see that the mayor was not present at the presentation given by our actuaries so he could speak to the concerns and dark future forecast that our actuaries presented to us. My job right now is to focus on the upcoming budget that will be presented to us by the administration and concentrate on bringing some relief to the taxpayers,” Ladouceur said.
Raymond Cerrone of Jefferson Solutions said Tuesday that the most current report is based on contracts and retiree and personnel counts as of July 1, 2015. He said those totals would not reflect contract revisions implemented since then.
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richardcorrente
Mayor Avedisian HAS ignored the long range impact of the retiree health costs. I proposed an alternative to it many times during my campaign. (see Corrente Plan - pension buyouts),
For ANYONE to say the issue WASN'T ignored is WRONG, BLATANTLY WRONG!! It WAS ignored for 17 years!
And anyone who says Ed Ladouceur is "lying about it" is...lying about it... and lying about Ed as well.
To quote Chief of Staff David Picozzi, "We've done good things. We need to stop the bleeding at some point." Well, which one is it?
I agree that the Avedisian administration is responsible for 17 years of "bleeding" but where are the "good things"? I propose a retiree pension/benefits buyout program that will provide a win-win situation for the taxpayers and the retirees as well. It worked for Texas. I don't see how it wouldn't work for Warwick. Critics of this idea have said "Where will we get the money for the buyout?" The answer is simple. If the City is saving a lot at the cost of a little then even if they are borrowing the money, it still saves tax dollars. It's time to look into ideas like this one. We simply can't keep kicking the can down the street.
Happy Easter everyone
Rick Corrente
The Taxpayers Mayor
Thursday, April 13, 2017 Report this
Stacia24
http://www.warwickwatchri.com/
Warwick City Administration Has Failed To Address Unfunded Retiree Healthcare Costs
4/13/2017
More inaccurate and dishonest information coming out of the Warwick Beacon and it's the taxpayers that are outraged.
The Beacon likes to site the "unfunded actuarial accrued liability" of $291 million because it's the lesser of the scary numbers.
The present value of future healthcare benefits --despite the baby steps that were taken to ratify the the 2015 WFD contract that limited a retiree to an individual plan while retires prior to 2015 receive family coverage-- is $381 million. The annual required contribution to fund the cost of FUTURE benefits is almost $26 million--and the City has never paid a penny.
Mr. Picozzi states that the City Council refused to fund Mayor Avedisian's Interlocal Trust fund of a measly $25k as a method of "taking action" to address the massively growing unfunded healthcare liabilities. The reason why the City Council chose not to go in this direction is because setting up this fund appeared by all testimonies and accounts of its funding structure and investor appearance to be nothing more than a ponzi scheme.
The video below includes the questioning and feedback that directly came from the administrators of the Interlocal Trust (of which Avedisian is a board member) that raised many eyebrows and resulted in the City Council deciding, "no".
Mayor Avedisian --putting up his cheerleader Mr. Picozzi-- to advocate the City joining the Interlocal Trust is nothing more than a political soundbite. Picozzi is demonstrating why the public testified against joining this Trust.. because it's just a political gimmick to make it seem like Avedisian is addressing the issue--- but in reality its all a sham.
It's amazing, Picozzi touts the "great reforms" the City made in retiree healthcare in 2015, but it still falls very short of what the school administration requires of the school teachers which is... at age 65, they pay for their own healthcare and it does NOT include spousal coverage. .
Mayor Avedisian and Mr. Picozzi...modeling what the teachers are doing when they retire should have been the starting point in 2015.
Mayor Avedisian, why didn't you stipulate in 2015 that retirees would be responsible for paying their own prescription costs and a copay on their healthcare premium?
Mayor Avedisian, why didn't you stipulate that ALL City employees after 2015 would move into an individual vs a family plan?
Mr. Picozzi makes the "spin" statement that when the city is finished paying for the Police/Fire 1 pension plan in about another 20 years, it's going to free up about $30 million extra dollars.
If wishes came true...
In 5 years, never mind in 20 years , the value of future healthcare benefits for retirees will have increased astronomically, probably at a value somewhere around $500 million or so, if not more...
The Mayor and Mr. Picozzi would have much more credibility if they called for immediate elimination of COLAS in City pension plans and the institution of an immediate copay for retiree healthcare that also eliminates spousal coverage.
Mayor Avedisian, it would also be expected-- at a minimum-- that you eliminate the cap on prescription drugs for city employees that's currently costing Warwick taxpayers 3.9 million per year.
Mr. Mayor, you helped create and exacerbate the massive financial dilemma the City faces, it's up to you, NOW, to take the honorable steps to fix the mess you created.
Anything else is a dereliction of your duty.
Thursday, April 13, 2017 Report this
Warwick Man
Stacia is back yea.... atleast she used the right screen name this time. Can't wait till she starts having conversations with herself again. Nuttier than a fruitcake....
Friday, April 14, 2017 Report this
richardcorrente
Dear Stacia24,
Excellent comment. Spot on!
Dear Warwick Man,
What part of Stacia's comment did you find fault in? Seems to me that she was just quoting factual events. Comments like hers can only lead to discussions that result in a better Warwick. She offers suggestions that you and I can agree with or disagree with, and, for the record, I have done both. We should all give her credit for thinking of them.
Happy Easter everyone.
Rick
Friday, April 14, 2017 Report this
Warwick Man
Richard,
You must have forgotten when a couple years ago she had a conversation with herself using different screen names only to screw it up and get caught. When you have to use multiple screen names to hype your own failing campaign you have a screw loose. She has been banned multiple times on other media sites and deletes dissenting comments. The real and much larger crowd sees right through her BS. She and the captain need to get in the next train to anywhere but here.
Friday, April 14, 2017 Report this
richardcorrente
Dear Warwick Man,
I haven't forgotten. Stacia24 still deserves high marks for effort in my opinion. I think we can agree that she does put in the time and effort few others do. Yes?
Happy Easter Warwick Man.
Rick
Friday, April 14, 2017 Report this
Warwick Man
If her facts were correct I would give her kudos, yet MOST of the stuff she peddles is incorrect or twisted to make her point.
Friday, April 14, 2017 Report this