Tag: Retirement
Cardin farewell tour gives thanks all around
The posters put up by the staff of U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin said, “Thank you Howard County,” but they might just as well have said “Thank you, Ben” from the elected officials who met with the retiring senator Friday.
The effusive praise and thanks for Cardin’s 58 years of elected service were mutual in the second leg of his “farewell tour” of the state. He’s represented Marylanders for 18 years in the Senate, 20 years in the U.S. House and 20 years in the state House of Delegates, including eight as speaker.
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Unions, pension board unhappy O’Malley cut $100M in promised payment to retirement fund
The largest unions representing state workers and public school teachers are upset at Gov. Martin O’Malley’s decision to permanently cut $100 million from extra payments into the state pension system. The money came from additional employee salary deductions required by a 2011 pension reform, and was intended to help cure underfunding in the pension system.
Read MoreProposal to raise judicial retirement age pending in Senate
A vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the mandatory retirement age of judges from 70 to 72 has been put on hold until Friday, when floor amendments will be offered.
Read MorePension commission will vote on cutting benefits, COLAs
The commission studying changes to state pensions and retiree benefits will vote in two weeks on whether to recommend that the General Assembly and governor raise the retirement age, trim the cost of health insurance benefits, and eliminate cost-of-living increases for at least five years.
Casper Taylor Jr., the former speaker of the House of Delegates who heads the Public Employees’ and Retirees’ Benefit Sustainability Commission, said the goal is not just to make the pensions more sustainable in the long term, but to save $400 million to $500 million in the next fiscal year.
Read More$1.6 billion budget gap predicted
With a slow economic recovery, increases in retirement costs and the end of federal stimulus funds, Maryland is facing a $1.6 billion budget gap and a $2.1 billion structural gap for fiscal year 2012, analysts from the Department of Legislative Services told a joint General Assembly hearing on Wednesday.
Warren Deschenaux, director of policy analysis for the DLS, said that the $2.1 billion gap is not guaranteed: It could get smaller depending on factors such as the new revenue projections due next month or revenue growth rates, which are exceeding expectations in the first four months of fiscal 2011.
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