Karen Karten, a retired teacher, urges lawmakers to bring back cost-of-living increases for retirees during debate on the fiscal 2025 budget on Friday, June 7, 2024. (Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)
A series of town hall events to educate Rhode Island state workers about changes to the pension system starts Monday.
Hosted by the office of Rhode Island General Treasurer James Diossa, the five public meetings arrive in the wake of modifications made to the state’s pension system following the 2024 legislative session — the most significant of those changes being an increase in the number of retirees eligible for cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs).
Frank Karpinski, executive director of the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island (ERSRI), and agency staff will run the sessions and answer questions.
“We want to ensure that ERSRI members have all the information they need to understand the pension changes now in effect,” Diossa said in a statement. “We understand there is a lot of information out there, and we want our members to know exactly what these changes mean for them.”
COLAs for employees who stopped working before June 30, 2012 were frozen under then-treasurer Gina Raimondo to allow the state’s underfunded pension system to recover. But the legislative changes mean certain teachers and municipal and state employees could start receiving COLA benefits next year, rather than waiting until the state’s pension system is 80% funded as previously required.
Diossa has supported the COLA changes, albeit cautiously. Soon after the budget was passed in June, Diossa posted on social media that increases could raise the pension fund’s shortfall by an estimated $417 million, which could potentially harm the state’s bond rating as well.
“If we are going to adopt these changes, we have to fund them every year,” Diossa previously told Rhode Island Current . “That is where I am most concerned, the long-term of it. We can fund it next year, and the year after, but we have to stay the course.”
Other adjustments in the fiscal 2025 budget to state pension policy include the formula used to determine benefit amounts, higher income limits for retired educators who resume teaching, and the benefits available to state public safety officers.
Pension information town hall
- Monday, Aug. 26, 1:30 p.m.: Community College of Rhode Island, Newport County Campus, 1 John H. Chafee Boulevard, Newport
- Monday, Aug. 26, 4:30 p.m.: Quinta Gamelin Community Center, 101 Asylum Road, Bristol
- Thursday, Aug. 29, 1:30 p.m.: Community College of Rhode Island, Flanagan Campus, 1762 Old Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln
- Thursday, Aug. 29, 4:30 p.m.: Cranston Senior Center, 1070 Cranston St., Cranston
- Friday, Aug. 30, 2:00 p.m.: Mount Pleasant Library, 315 Academy Ave., Providence
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Most Popular
Comments / 0