Sure as soon as RI stops utility rate hikes, yearly property tax increases, healthcare costs, heating oil, food prices from increasing. Basically stopping the Cost Of Living from going up in this state. THEN stop COLA's If not then just increase the budget every year to cover all of the current & future retirees who will be qualifying for state assistance

Maybe for future retirees. Unfortunately for Raimondo, doing it retroactively is illegal.

First start using real figures don't assume the unemployment in RI will be 10% for the next 20 years and that all retirees live to age 80......maybe stop COLAs every other year for 10 years and increace the contribution 2% or so and then see where we are.....Start a new fund for new hires with some type of combo.....Government overreacting is not the answer......I bet the companies that sell 401Ks are donating a bunch to the anti pension groups.....most of those in these plans get either no or limited Social Security as little as 40% of what they would get if they worked for a private company, its called a winfall even though they paid 100% the government keeps 60%

People who NEVER receive reasonable COLAs in retirement will be unable to survive in a few years. Some arrangement for increases in COLA must be built in to the retirement plans as it is in social security.

well BD as anyone on ss know theres been no cola for 3 years, goverment says it's no, no it is. dosn'tt look like the last council or any one on here trying to keep the FTM either doesn't know that or doesn't care

The pension is grossly underfunded. I am a teacher and have paid into the system for over 15 years. I appreciate the honesty and integrity of Gina Raimondo. I do not appreciate the dishonesty of our union leaders, they have lied to us and continue to lie to us. I wish I could discontinue my union dues and add to my retirement fund with those funds. I accept the fact that our COLA's are gone for a long period of time and that I can at least rely on some truths in numbers from our treasurer so I can do some planning for the future.

SS is handing out it's first COLA in three years this coming year. This state wants to freeze people out for possibly up to 2 decades if not longer. If the COLA even returns at all after that time. Yes the pension is underfunded and everyone says, "it's not the employees fault," but it's the employee or more accurately the blue collar employee who will be paying the heavy price by having to flirt with poverty at some point over the next two decades. I paid into the system for 30 years. I retired with 67% of my pay. My gross income from retirement is less than $30K/yr. I hardly think I will ever make more retired than I did working by getting a COLA which Raimondo is saying as one of her talking points. The fact is anyone who does & will are obviously on the higher end of the pay scale in the $70K+ to $100K+. People in that pay range are either in management, judges, law enforcement etc or in unions that had favor within the State House whose members are considered "professionals" in that pay range. 3% on top of that is A Lot more than 3% on the retirement of a janitor, laborer, secretary and the like. Triple digits per month compared to double digits. Thousands of $/yr compared to a few hundred per year. She's talking about them & applying it to all.

My father retired in 1976 with $12,000 pension, no colas. He died in 1997 living on that pension, in poverty. It was not right. There needs to be something, but not the automatic 3%!

Cost of living increases make sense, and are a responsibility we should not shirk... imagine how it would be to live on $12K a year now, when it was fine 30 yrs ago... not so good for our elderly...

I agree Joe. My complaint has been that the union I belonged to kept their mouths shut for over 20 yrs. while it's members were being hammered in the media with outright lies & misrepresentation of the facts. Now they are trying to play catch up. More than once we got sold out like giving up the parody clause, etc.As for people from unions getting elected, well people who are lawyers & in realestate get elected & do all they can for others in those areas as well. How many people are now stuck paying mortgages on houses they bought several years ago that had artificially inflated price tags. Developers, lawyers, appraisers, mortgage brokers, banks, etc all made & make a killing with those shady deals. They all have their "people" in the state house

For 30 years I had close to 10% of my salary deducted based on a promise that when I retired I would get a pension with a COLA. If I wanted to make significantly more money, I would have chosen to work in the private sector. Teaching was my passion and I accepted making less money than many others with less education, always knowing the promise that was made when I retired. I will never collect Social Security, my district did not participate. I felt that this was not a sacrifice since I was made a promise, and with the COLA I would be able to afford all the price increases of daily life. Without the COLA that will not be possible. How can I be told I will get ABC upon retirement and then be told they are sorry, you are screwed. Is is even legal? When I retired I signed a document stating the exact amount that I would be receiving, which was also signed by the state retirement board. It would be akin to taking out a motrgage for 6% interest and then telling the bank that I cannot afford that and I will just eliminate the interest in the future. Of course I would not blame the bank because they did not create the problem, just as I did not create the pension problem. I did exactly what I was mandated to do...the promise?

It's a travesty.... The individuals currently retired, or retiring in the next few years spent their entire lives in service to the state! Now you tell them "Sorry, but you'll have to make do with less than you were promised, but it's not our fault" Didn't anyone involved with the pension system look at the numbers before now? Someone just found out about this? I have a hard time believing that no one knew this was coming years ago, and just looked the other way. Same thing is going on with social security... and that's been in the news for years!!! Surely someone whose job it is to monitor the pension system in Rhode Island, and who should have been knowlegable in how the system operates, and also been savvy to how any financial systems operate, must have had some idea this was building! Is there corruption? Was someone artificially inflating the numbers to look good? All questions that need to be answered! I'm not a state worker, just a citizen, and all I have to look forward to is my 401K and social security if it still exists when I retire. I just think the workers deservedly getting their pensions shouldn't be getting shafted during their retirement years!

I may be stupid, but I do not understand what is meant by "artificially inflated prices" in the housing market...

Markets work by supply and demand and the demand brought housing prices up... yes, many got loans they should not have gotten, but then the banks created those loan products and offered them out to the public... this is how markets work... if we do not like it, we should work to tune our markets so that market excesses, like the housing market, or the dot come market before that, do not have the ability to destroy our entire entire economy...

Some public sector workers earn less than private sector workers and most public sector workers can NOT collect social security. Imagine if social security never went up, then what would happen to the elderly? COLA's are essential to people in the public sector.

They certainly should NOT stop the COLAs for retirees. Everything else is still going up for them as with everyone so how do they pay when they don't have it? The COLAs aren't that much but at least help somewhat. Retirees should NOT have to live as 2nd class citizens. They did their job and now deserve to enjoy their retirement and not feel that they have to sit home and stare at 4 walls day in and day and day out. That is cruel!

did anyone read the article about the head of the Fire fighters Union saying that the numbers were "crunched" unrealistically by the State Treasurers Office, rounding down significantly the return on Investment from the Pension Fund, and rounding up significantly the longevity expected... the numbers in these assumptions far exceed the ones used for most other pensions and for Social Security and Medicare... it is in fact a very conservative estimate when they tell you funds will run out, beyond reason... yes there is a need to fix the issue, but it is not the issue as it is being represented by the Treasurer and the governor...

Your public sector pensions finical structure - What you and your employer paid in does not provide the resources for a COLA indexing. The taxpayer lacks affordability / ability to pay for these COLA indexing Pensions & companion benefits pkgs golden handshakes. Perhaps another solution is to increase your pension contribution significantly if you want a COLA or better yet close down the public employees pensions and roll the available funds over into a private plan that you take responsibilities for managing. The taxpayer and all taxable entities are already over leveraged e.g. you can not get blood out of a rock. What is to good to be true is not true. OBTW the companion retirement benefits is an equally critical situation that mist be adjusted to market realities as well. We should now understand why FDR was strongly opposed to public sector employees having collective bargaining rights. The underpinnings of the Republic would be eroded as the elected and appointed officials would be compromised by a self serving civilian army of the left (sounds like today's problems)! Clearly we mist resolve this situation by a transition plan to a redesigned / baseline retirement and benefits system for public sector employes.

Artificially inflated means that greedy mortgage companies gave out loans to people who could not pay. The brokers were convincing homebuyers that their home would keep going up in value. Some homeowners sought multiple loans as their house value was pushed up (partly by speculators in the flip market). The loans were packaged and sold overseas to financial institutions who were left holding the bag and to Real Estate Trusts here. It was a nice pyramid scheme although not on purpose.

I always worked on the premised that a home loan payment should not exceed 1/3 of the takehome pay. But some people who got into a house on poor credit, just stayed for the free rent during foreclosure.

The more specific issue of pension reform is what Average Joe wrote about. What good will anything be if the state goes bankrupt. You will get nothing---instead of a reduced pension.

I understand what you mean by artificially inflated, but I dont see markets getting artificially inflated or deflated... it is simply the nature of unregulated markets that they go up and down in this fashion...

The loans you speak of were not only sold overseas, but to domestic investors as well... not just trusts... But buyers needed little convincing regarding prices going up... some just timed it wrong... but it is the nature of markets that these things happen... perhaps we need to revise our understanding of just how markets work...

Greed on the part of the investment banks and mortgage lenders was certainly a fact, but that too is one of the fundamental assumptions about markets: that greed will result in a benefit to society and to the investor... this is the basis, philosophically, of capitalism and market based economies in general... I still cant say that anything was "artificially" inflated... inflated yes, but not artificially...

cola's the cola for anyone on ss has been 0% for 3 yearsnow we are getting a 3% bump so with alot or you who got 3% X 3 years= 9% while the elderly and retired got nothing. And you just whine, and this way of the fact that if #2 the FTR is not voted in then you can exspect tax increases to just suck up that little 3% bump you just got. VOTE YES TWICE ON NOV.8TH

Pension plans use statistical methods to determine what funding is needed to start them off and survive based on pay out plans... The contributions from the pensioners and employers should be made commensurate with the payout requirements... these pensions have solid math behind them... it is when the employers use the funds other than as designed, fail to repay the borrowed funds, or pay out those golden parachutes without having had them planned or paid in, that troubles start...

I am not in favor of privatizing public pensions, at all, as most people do not have the skill sets required to invest properly, and in any event the banks have not proven to be reliable... I see no reason to pump up their fees for them in this way... better, would be to adjust payouts based on pay in, with pay in being adjusted to account for longer lives, realistically, cost of living increases, and 'member" contributions into the future...

But for me this talk of armies of the left smacks of a lack of reality...

If the COLA is eliminated, RI will have the distinction of being the ONLY state in the country altering the public pensions of those already retired. Why does that not surprise me? Why are our neighbors in MA not threatening public employees with these changes? I would have gladly invested nearly 10% of my weekly salary on my own, however, I did not have that option and had to rely on "the promise" made to me and so many others.

Paul, I think your comment "I am not in favor of privatizing public pensions, at all, as most people do not have the skill sets required to invest properly,.." is laughable. So are you saying that public employees are not intelligent enough to invest in their retirement? The majority of private sector employees with a 401K do it everyday. Oh, and the State has done a wonderful job for public employees up to this point.

Average Joe... do you claim to be an expert on investing? You may think that it is not a high level skill to invest profitably, but then, if it were so easy, there would not be such huge income disparities in our country... I do see many people managing their own investments, and losing their shirts... so for me, I do not find it laughable at all... sad really... but then, I suppose you are an expert and I just dont get it...

AJ, are you sure about that? Most retirement plans, both public and private, allow some discretion in the products invested in... I do not know for sure what discretion RI public Employees have, but I cant assume they have none... anyone know for sure?

As a teacher I had no say as to how my money was invested or spent.

I find it amusing that a Member of the Legislature on the Committee handling pension reform was indicted today for first degree sexual assault. Add to that Rep. Gordon, Rep. Watson, and Rep. Medina .. . . .quite a team working for us ...

And add Chris Masselli, State Senator from Johnston, who is serving time for mortgage fraud...

Okay Vicki, so state workers have no say in the programs used for investing the Pension Fund... I do feel that this should be changed, just as other State's pensions and private sector pensions are managed, with some program options for the pension member...

Oh you are the guy i read about from the planning board and the police

Clarence, your numbers regarding teachers and their earnings are laughable. I also lost my health care when I retired. I have to pay for a plan as any other private citizen that does not have a plan through their employer. I will never collect social security either. Please do not talk of which you do not know.

Looking at the polls results, it appears that the unions got the word out to vote in the poll "en masse". Can't fool me!

one need not be in a Union to support Cost Of Living Increases for pensioners... I am not now and have never been in a Union nor worked for the State but support cost of living increases as a matter of equity and fairness...

I guess you would agree giving the judge a $30,000 COLA.? It's wrong and should not be allowed .I am on SS and have not gotten a cost of living increase. The COLA's are driving up the cost to the tax payer. In some cases school teachers are reciivng 100% of their salary in their pension. Check the Providence papers. (58% of them.) Do you know some teachers were making over $50,000. Come on wake up. They know the got a deal. The got a free candy store called the state ,while some retired people are on food stamps and don't have money for their heating bills. Do you call that FAIR. They are called the RICH people in this state

For a judge to get a $30,000 COLA he would have to be earning $1 million per year... are you aware of any judges making that much?

As for SS, cost of living increases have been in place for most years it has existed, except the last 3 yrs... you must have only been receiving payments for that long or less...

Teachers are among the most valuable assets our society has... worth more in my view than doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. and almost all other jobs... $50K per year after 20 yrs or so of work is not bad, but not enough for such an important job... so as far as that is concerned, I have to say that we are getting away cheap and paying far less than the importance of the job justifies...

As for 1005 of the salary? I am assuming these teachers you mention have been retired quite some time... to make that data meaningful, we would need to know what that salary is, and when they retired, and so how many years of COLAs have been included... and of course, we should then compare the COLA to actual inflation over that same period... anything less is meaningless...