New York government employees contribute less to pensions

Adding to the cost of paying taxes in New York are the salaries, benefits and pensions of public employees.

An analysis of new data from the U.S. Census Bureau by the Public Policy Institute shows that New York's state and local government employees pay a smaller share of pension costs, but collect higher benefits than public employees in other states.

State and local government retirees in New York collected an average $23,891 in pension benefits in 2005, some 16 percent above the national average, according to the Institute. New York's state and local governments contributed a total of $6.9 billion in taxpayer funding for pensions in 2004-05, Census data show. That was up from $4.2 billion the previous year, and $1.5 billion in 2001.

New York government employees contributed just over $1 billion in 2005. That was less than 4 percent of total receipts to the state's pension systems, which also receive income from investments along with tax revenues paid by public employers. Nationwide, state and local government workers contributed an average 9 percent of pension fund revenue.

"Workers and businesspeople in this state tend to pay more to get less, but when it comes to public pensions, employees are paying less to get more. The taxpayers deserve a better deal on public pensions," RBA CEO and President Al Samuels said.

"New York already has significantly more public employees, in relation to population, than most other states. That's one reason our political culture often serves the interests of those who get paid to provide public services, more than it does the people who are the ostensible beneficiaries of such services," outgoing President of the New York State Business Council Daniel Walsh said in May, while discussing proposed changes to the state's Taylor Law.

The New York State figures include data for 14 separate pension funds. These include the Common Retirement Fund, covering most state and municipal employees in New York; and the Teachers Retirement System, which covers most public-school teachers and some other public employees.

More than 732,000 New York state and local government workers collected public pensions in 2005. That figure represented 10.6 percent of the nationwide total of state and local government pension recipients; New York's population that year was 6.5 percent of the U.S. population.

Average pension for state and local government employees, 2005
Rank	State	Average benefit	Rank, employee contributions as % of total receipts	Employee contributions as % of total receipts
1	Connecticut	$28,170	6	16%
2	Colorado	26,527	32	9%
3	Nevada	25,953	46	3%
4	New Jersey	25,953	3	18%
5	Rhode Island	25,080	11	13%
6	California	24,244	31	9%
7	Alaska	24,014	24	11%
8	NEW YORK	23,891	45	4%
9	Oregon	22,776	50	0%
10	Illinois	22,610	10	14%
11	Georgia	22,543	34	8%
12	Wisconsin	22,286	38	6%
13	Texas	21,480	22	12%
14	Ohio	21,100	21	12%
15	Massachusetts	20,902	12	13%
16	Pennsylvania	20,385	28	10%
17	Hawaii	20,310	44	4%
18	Minnesota	20,032	26	10%
19	Arizona	19,326	7	16%
20	Maine	19,281	27	10%
21	Florida	18,963	49	1%
22	New Mexico	18,630	9	14%
23	Missouri	18,327	30	9%
24	Kentucky	18,199	2	18%
25	Maryland	18,099	40	6%
26	Washington	17,754	43	4%
27	Nebraska	17,577	13	13%
28	Louisiana	17,567	23	11%
29	Mississippi	17,474	8	15%
30	Michigan	17,088	41	5%
31	Utah	16,737	48	1%
32	Alabama	16,658	20	12%
33	South Carolina	16,401	4	17%
34	Virginia	16,390	47	2%
35	Arkansas	16,207	42	5%
36	Oklahoma	15,991	16	12%
37	North Carolina	15,889	15	12%
38	New Hampshire	15,486	1	22%
39	Delaware	15,003	39	6%
40	Idaho	13,195	18	12%
41	Tennessee	13,065	37	7%
42	Indiana	12,900	29	10%
43	South Dakota	12,556	35	8%
44	Vermont	12,423	17	12%
45	Wyoming	12,384	25	11%
46	West Virginia	12,348	36	8%
47	Montana	12,077	5	17%
48	Kansas	11,741	19	12%
49	North Dakota	11,661	14	13%
50	Iowa	11,591	33	9%
U.S. average		$20,474		9%

New York government employees contribute less to pensions and receive more, census data show