Assemblyman Peter Abbate, a Bensonhurst Democrat and chairman of the Governmental Employees Committee, is calling out Mayor de Blasio for stymieing legislation that would increase pension benefits for injured police officers and firefighters.
The pension bill, a favorite of union leaders, would provide New York City police officers and firefighters hired after 2009 with the same disability pension given to those hired before that year. It would amount to about three-fourths of the annual salary. Currently, as part of a cost-saving measure during the recession, put in place by Governor Paterson, officers hired after 2009 receive disability pensions that equate to half of their annual salary.
Abbate alleges that the mayor bullied the city council into denying a request for Albany lawmakers to take up the pension bill. The city council’s rules require that any bill with at least 35 sponsors gets a public hearing. The legislature may not take up a bill without permission from the Council. The bill has received bipartisan support in Albany, as well as from City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Public Advocate Letitia James, and Governor Cuomo, who included pension-saving measures as part of his 2012 legislation.
Mayor de Blasio’s position is that the bill is too expensive, costing an additional $342.1 million over the next five years. De Blasio devised his own plan earlier this month. His plan eliminates the Social Security offset and bases pension amounts on the highest maximum salary of a union member. This plan would aid new hires sitting lower on the pay scale. To finance the plan, the cost of living adjustment for retirees would be reduced to a lower rate. At the request of council members, employees would also have the option of opting out and maintaining their current third tier of benefits.
Abbate said 40 city council members are in favor of the pension bill, but they don’t have the courage to buck de Blasio and press the issue, and that de Blasio hopes to wait it out another two weeks when the session ends in Albany, which would make the proposal mute.
Under the current plan some cops and firefighters on disability would only get $27 to $30 dollars a day, said Abbate.
“The mayor goes around asking everyone to support a $15 dollar an hour minimum wage even for McDonalds workers, which I support, but the he wants cops and firefighters to live on $27 a day,” said Abbate.
