Municipal Pensions

Pittsburgh Won Back Its Financial Independence, But Can The City Prevent Repeating The Past?

By Margaret J. Krauss • Mar 6, 2018

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7:24

More than a dozen financially distressed cities and towns across Pennsylvania are in a special oversight program run by the state. Last month, Pittsburgh was deemed ready to leave it. But officials say, there's always a danger of backsliding. As Pennsylvania municipalities leave the state oversight nest, are they truly ready to fly? Or are they in danger of repeating the past? 90.5 WESA’s Margaret J. Krauss reports.

On a Monday morning in February, people packed the Pittsburgh mayor’s conference room to witness the city’s successful transition to financial independence — an event lauded as a turning point for the city’s future.

Essential Pittsburgh: Mayor Peduto Discusses Suing The ICA And Finding Municipal Pension Solutions

By Essential Pittsburgh • Jul 8, 2015

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49:23

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto makes his monthly appearance on the program. He'll discuss why the city has filed suit for $11.4 million in gaming funds he says are owed to the city by the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. The mayor will also share his reaction to Governor Wolf’s task force’s recommendations on municipal pensions, his experience joining with other mayors to push for immigration reforms, and what he thinks about the Steelers bid to bring the Super Bowl to Pittsburgh.

Mayor Peduto: Pension Recommendations A Good First Step

By Deanna Garcia • Jul 1, 2015

Following the release of recommendations from Gov. Tom Wolf’s Task Force on Municipal Pensions, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said that while the recommendations do not contain every pension change he’d like to see, it’s an important start.

“We wanted to see some movement on a hybrid model, defined benefit plan, and perhaps reform state Act 205 which gives funding to cities with distressed pension plans like Pittsburgh,” said Peduto’s spokesman Tim McNulty, “but, it was an important first step.”

Scranton Officials Improperly Doubled Pension Payments To City Workers

By Irina Zhorov • Jun 25, 2015

Scranton’s double-pension payments – offered as a retirement incentive to 35 city workers – were improperly implemented, and cost the city $2.9 million in unapproved costs.

State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale released a report this morning which found “the transactions surrounding the doubling of pension payments revealed a disregard for the applicable laws governing pension plans by the officials charged with fiduciary responsibility for the Plan – the Mayor, City Council, and the Pension Board.”

Proposals To End Municipal Pensions Start To Gain Traction

By Mary Wilson • Jun 9, 2015

A month after Republican lawmakers advanced a plan to end the traditional pension for new state workers, they’ve set their sights on doing the same for future municipal employees in Pennsylvania.

The cited reason for the change has been repeated in most debates over public pensions: People are living longer, and the annual pension payouts for city retirees are getting harder for municipal governments to afford.