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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (46347)	5/22/2004 3:29:18 PM
From: gamesmistress	Respond to of 793991

Here's another good one. OTOH, the teachers will have excellent guaranteed benefits. OTOH, the schools will be able to afford so few teachers that each teacher will have to do the work of two and work themselves into an early grave. :-/ State panel approves guaranteed benefits for retired teachers Published in the Courier News on May 11, 2004 TRENTON -- Despite opposition by the state Treasury Department, a Senate committee Monday endorsed a bill that guarantees health benefits for retired teachers in public schools and county colleges could never be reduced. Teachers who retire with 25 years of credit in a state-run retirement system would have lifetime medical coverage that would be more or less equal to whatever benefits they were receiving when they finished their fifth year of work. An official with the state Division of Pension and Benefits warned that allowing teachers to become vested in the health plan after five years of work may prevent state government from being able to control spending in the future. Henry Matwiejewicz, a manager at the Division of Pension and Benefits, said pension and health benefits will cost the state $1.66 billion this year, about 8 percent of the state budget. But he said health benefit costs are "spiraling" upward at 7 to 16 percent annually. If inflation for medical costs grows 12 percent a year, such costs will account for more than 20 percent of the state budget by fiscal 2008, Matwiejewicz said. "Our concern about this bill is not the potential current cost increases but the potential significant future cost increases that this bill may impose upon the state because it basically would handcuff the state," Matwiejewicz said. Advocates for the change said it would help the state attract and retain teachers because would-be teachers and support staff personnel would know that, should they take a job in New Jersey, their retirement benefits are guaranteed. app.com