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Mr. Cushman I haven’t had time to watch the entirety of that video because it is quite long but I do find the discussion interesting so I intend to finish it eventually.

Having said that, one of the very first things you discuss, the sustainability of the pension system, is inaccurate. You state that any eventual savings realized from “getting the albatross of pension 1 off our books” will quickly be eaten up by required contributions to pension 2. That’s simply not true. The city’s yearly contributions for pension 2 are, over the next twenty years, expected to tick up slightly in the short to medium term, but actually decrease by 2037. That is, while FD payroll is projected to increase from $16.1 million in 2019 to $26.3 million in 2038, the city’s contribution is expected to remain flat and funding levels of the plan are expected to approach and possibly exceed 100%. Keep in mind this payment, which is currently $4.3 million, covers ALL EMPLOYEES, active and retired, who were hired after 1992. That number is expected to peak around 2030 at about $5 million dollars, before returning to around $4.3 million in 2037, as an increasing percentage of active employees fall into tier 2. And while the actual dollar amount will remain relatively static in the long term, as a percentage of payroll pension contributions are slated to drop from around 27% today to around 16% twenty years from now. All of this is explained in the fiscal note that has been the topic of such debate over the last month.

And you used the example of 6 FFs who retired in 2016 and will draw over $11 million over 20 years against $750k in employee contributions as evidence of the system’s unsustainability. You’re right, thats not sustainable. Thats why it wasn't sustained and was closed to new hires many years ago. For the past 28 years no employee has been hired under those terms and the “numbers” for any employee hired since 1992 aren’t remotely similar. The problem isn’t that pension 2 benefits are inherently unsustainable, it’s that the city failed to fund pension 1 for 40 years. But, come 2036, at the conclusion of the 40 year amortization of pension 1 liabilities, the “albatross” will be gone and the city will be left with a pension system with little to no unfunded liabilities and a projected $25-$30 million yearly surplus in the budget some of which can be utilized to offset the city's OPEB obligations.