Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Some participant data on the Town's defined benefit pension plan

With a new Council, I'm hoping to continue the progress* of moving away from defined benefit pension plans (DB) and to defined contribution pension plans (DC).

In terms of pension plans, here's one simple way to view it:The last Council eliminated DBs for future non-union hires, hence the X. It's my hope to now extend this to all future employees. That would be a move toward certainty in the long-term liability and would be a victory for future generations.

Anyway, that was just a recap of some DB history. The real point of this post was to offer you some details on DB participant data. I think this is mostly self-explanatory:If you're wondering about the "BOE" employees... it's my understanding that teachers** get their pensions paid via the State Teachers' Pension Fund... but all non-teachers, such as secretaries and janitors, get their pensions paid through the Town Pension Fund. And if you're wondering about the Fire Department, I understand they are not included here.

Tim White

* See a history here, progress here and action here.
** More precisely "certified staff," which includes teachers and some administrators.

14 comments:

Breachway said...

In a previous post, some people were knocking you for not being/wanting a commitee chair. They said you would rather sit back and complain about things. Well, you complained about this for long enough that the TC finally woke up and stopped the DB for future non-union employees. the increase in the bus contract is a drop in the bucket compared to the future savings the town will have regarding the pension. Thank you Tim White. Keep on truckin until they get rid of DB for everyone. I think you will see that the union will be hard pressed to argue that DB plans are still a popular/accepted piece of the employee benefit package. The bottom line is that DB plans are expensive to run for an employer - period. You would be hard pressed to argue against eliminating DB Plans - unless you are benefiting from the plan of course:) You should follow this up with the real numbers - what the towns liability is vs. whats in the plan.

Anonymous said...

Teachers pay into a state and federal teachers pension fund. They do not pay social security like the rest of us. Their fund is actively trading stocks and futures forcing residents to pay more for commodities

Anyone can stand up at a council meeting and make a stink about anything. Tims desire to not lead makes him a seat filler

Anonymous said...

as aparticipating member of a town db plan, I agree with breechway relative to posting ALL the relative information regarding the DB plans. Not all plans are created equal, painting with such a broad brush is misleading. There are town db plans that are overfunded compared to future liability.

Breachway said...

I guess that I am looking at it from the tax payers perspective. There may be some over funded plans but I don't think that is the case with Cheshire as I thought Tim gave us some numbers last year. As far as not all plans being equal, well you have a liability and you have an annual contribution plus or minus investment return to meet that liabilty...if return is less than planned(not just positive), contribution goes up.the accounting for that is pretty much the same I am sure...the differences are in the payout calculations, vesting, etc. I work with DC plans all day long and the comparison between DC and DB is an ongoing issue. With belts tightening and market fluctuations, this is always discussed during a bid process..."can the municipality/corporation save money by switching to a DC plan vs the current DB plan- the answer is usually yes. You don't have to take the DB plan away from current employees, but most decisions remove the DB plan from new hires. My company has both. I contribute to a 401k that has a 6% employer match and I am part of the DB plan that is employer funded. 3 years ago they changed the DB plan calculation for new hires- less benefits...and last year they quit offering it to new hires....its the way things are headed.....

Anonymous said...

RE: "Tims desire to not lead makes him a seat filler"

You're a bitter and angry loser. The voters have spoken, and they don't agree with you. Get over it.

Anonymous said...

I am a taxpayer too (2:28).

Anonymous said...

Tim does plenty of leading in this website.. ..how much time do you think he has????

Anonymous said...

In another post, I read that a member of the Planning and Zoning Commision, Mickey McPhee, has passed away. I can not say how sorry I am to hear that. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. Mickey volunteered his time for this community and will be greatly missed.
How sad it is that something like this is not enough to momentarily stop the political bickering. Something this profound is not enough to make people pause and take a moment to honor his memory and the pain his passing has caused instead of continuing business as usual on this blog with the name calling and finger pointing

Anonymous said...

"Tim does plenty of leading in this website.. "

Glad people voted for a website instead of a council member.

Anonymous said...

"Tim does plenty of leading in this website.. "

Glad people voted for a website instead of a council member.

Anonymous said...

"Glad people voted for a website instead of a council member."

I would've voted for a garbage can or a bag of kitty litter over DeCaprio and Altieri anyday. Thankfully, we have Tim W. Thanks for the hard work Tim!

Anonymous said...

hey 8:55 i didn't know your mother ran for town council

Anonymous said...

Tim - You are not going to be a committee chair? Where are your guts. You don't want to be responsible for anything. You love to write about things, but do something?

Tim you want to fire everyone solve the police problems are you on the personnel committee? Solid waste what are you going to do there?

What idea have you had, researched and lead the council to see it done? None. You have all of these ideas but you never want to do the work or be responsible to see it done.

All you want is to write about here. That is why you are not responsible for anything that is why you don't chair a committee so you can write about it here and take shots at your own people. No the people in your district elected a reporter and not a councilman, too bad for them.

Anonymous said...

"December 06, 2009 10:37 AM"

Thank you. I agree.