A proposal to raise judges’ salaries by $29,000 got a cool response from members of the House Appropriations Committee, who must vote on it or let the raises take effect automatically in 50 days. [...more]
The Judicial Compensation Commission is recommending practically no changes to judges’ pensions, except for an increase in contributions by new judges. But the largest state employees union asked the Senate budget committee Wednesday to consider broader changes to judicial retirement benefits to bring them more in line with retirement benefits for the average state worker. [...more]
A year after a new law was signed prohibiting inmates from having access to people’s sensitive personal information, an audit found that inmates in Maryland Correctional Enterprises doing data entry could see some Social Security numbers. [...more]
Senate President Mike Miller told county officials from across that Maryland that he wants to expand casino gambling, increase the gas tax and push some of the costs of state pensions onto the counties. [...more]
The Maryland pension system had a good year in fiscal 2011, earning 20% on its investments -- up from 14% in 2010 -- and giving it $37.6 billion in assets. But the Maryland system did not perform as well as most large pension systems around the country, showing earnings worse than four out of five of them, according to a report from the Department of Legislative Services. [...more]
The Judicial Compensation Commission unanimously voted to recommend that the General Assembly increase judges’ salaries by $29,006 phased in over three years and starting in fiscal year 2014 -- similar to last year's recommendation for a higher raise that the legislature rejected unanimously. [...more]
The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System has decided to hold on to A. Melissa Moye, naming her the system’s permanent chief investment officer – the position she has held in an acting capacity for 10 months. [...more]
The state teachers union is rejecting most of the final recommendations of the special pension commission, particularly its proposal to shift half the funding of pensions onto county school boards or governments. In a strong letter to the governor and legislative leaders, the union also wants county governments to be forced to fully fund school budgets and to give them authority to raise more taxes or disregard local tax caps. [...more]
Thanks to an improving national economy and careful portfolio management, the State Retirement and Pension System blew past its estimates and gained $6 billion in fiscal 2011, a 20% rate of return. The performance was nearly three times the benchmark rate of return of 7.75%, set by the system’s board of trustees. [...more]
The three national rating agencies have renewed their AAA rating for Maryland’s upcoming $718 million bond issue, but all three continue to be concerned about the state’s pension funding and dependence on federal government spending. These factors were outweighed by the state’s strong economy, its high income and sound fiscal management. The analysts acknowledged the improvements made by the pension changes made earlier this year. [...more]
