Last week, citing declining revenue projections, Governor Malloy announced that he was abandoning his $55 rebate plan and would also not make a scheduled $100 million payment to the state employees’ pension fund.
The latter decision is a canary in a coal mine, portending a future disaster for state employees and the state as a whole.
Connecticut’s pension fund is one of the worst run in the nation. Continued mismanagement by Democratic State Treasurer Denise Nappier (who has been in office for 16 years) and the Democratic-controlled state legislature has left the fund with only $9.7 billion in assets to cover $23 billion in accumulated obligations.
Younger and future state employees will not get the pensions they have been promised. Like Detroit’s pensioners today, they will get pennies on the dollar.
The severity of the problem can partially be grasped by realizing that even if the state contributes $100 million every year, it would take 133 years to plug the funding gap, even if obligations don’t rise a dime!
Wake up, Connecticut!
Pam Staneski is a Milford resident.