Benefit Sustainability Commission’s complete recommendations available

The complete recommendations of the Benefit Sustainability Commission have been posted on the General Assembly’s web site.  The recommendations are in the form of a letter to Governor O’Malley, Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch.

Pension Costs by County

The Department of Legislative Services developed a presentation on costs for the Benefit Sustainability Commission.  On page 51, the presentation indicates the different pension shifts proposed and the breakdown by county for libraries, community colleges and schools.

The Washington Post recently ran an article discussing the difficult budget decisions that Governor O’Malley would be facing, including the possibility of shifting the pension costs to the counties.  (You may need to set up a free login to access the article.)

Shifting pension costs to local government recommended by Benefits commission

The Public Employees’ and Retirees’ Benefit Sustainability Commission is a bi-partisan group established by Governor O’Malley.  Their charge is to study and make recommendations on how manage the rising costs of health and retirement benefits for state workers, including teachers and librarians in Maryland.

On Monday, the commission voted on several recommendations.  The recommendation with the biggest impact for libraries is to push 50% of the pension costs back to the local boards of education and libraries, to be phased in over 3 years.  It appears that a recommendation to have the state help fund social security costs will be used to offset the local government’s increase in pension costs, but the details are unclear.  Another recommendation is to study the feasibility of adopting a Hybrid Cash Balance pension plan, which would combine a 401 (k) plan with the existing traditional pension plan.

See today’s Maryland Reporter article for further explanation of all of the recommendations.