Association Remains Vigilant

JUNE 6, 2008: House and Senate leaders have now appointed a six-member conference committee to negotiate the differences that exist between the House and Senate versions of the FY09 state budget. The Committee consists of three members each from both branches of the Legislature.

Agrees With House On $16,000 State/Teacher Base

May 23, 2008: After two days of
intense lobbying and as debate on the ’09 State Budget was winding down last
night, the Senate passed the Association’s local option proposal for a new
$16,000 COLA base, as part of its version of the Fiscal ’09 State Budget. While
much still needs to be done to ensure that the proposal remains intact in the
Budget’s final version, the Senate’s action marks a major milestone in the
Association’s continuing efforts to improve the COLA for all retirees – state,
teacher and local.

Cites ‘Fictitious’ Dangers To Bond Rating

MAY 15, 2008: Striking a body blow to the Association’s hopes of raising the base, to which the annual cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) is applied, state Treasurer and Receiver General Timothy Cahill has come out against the proposed $16,000 base, passed by the House and contained in the Senate’s FY09 budget. Specifically, the treasurer, who chairs the state’s pension board, is against extending the pension funding schedule by three-years to accommodate this modest increase in the COLA base.

An amendment to raise the pension COLA base to $16,000 for state and teacher retirees was adopted by a 153-0 vote during House debate on May 2nd. The amendment, which was offered by Representative Frank Hynes (D-Marshfield), came during the final day of House debate on the FY ’09 State Budget. Because the amendment included a provision to extend the state’s unfunded pension liability payment schedule from the current date of 2023 to 2026, local government retirement systems, which have their own individual funding schedules, could not be included in Rep. Hynes’s amendment. It is important to our Association that all retirees, state and local, have the same opportunity to increase their COLA base from $12,000 to $16,000.

Mary Ann Dugan of Medford is our first “confirmed” member to have received a US Treasury check under the federal Economic Stimulus Program. She was eligible because she showed a tax liability of over $600 on her IRS 1040 report.

“I went online on April twenty eighth to check my bank account and was surprised to see that a $600 stimulus check had been credited to my account that morning,” Dugan reported. While the intent of the program was to improve the economy by recipients going on a spending splurge, that wasn’t so in Mary Ann’s case. “I used the money to pay bills. It cost me $45 just to fill the near-empty tank of my Mercury Sable. I don’t think many retirees are going out and buying new HDTV’s (high definition) with their check,” the Department of Mental Retardation retiree said with a chuckle.

We would be interested in hearing from other members who received their stimulus checks.