A little bit of everything
It takes quite a bit for the quiet, diplomatic State Treasurer, Nancy Kopp, to criticize her fellow Democrat, Gov. Martin O’Malley. But she gently laid it on the line in opposing O’Malley’s $100 million budget cut for state pension contributions.
“It’s a question of trust,” Kopp said
Read moreState Treasurer Nancy Kopp told lawmakers Thursday that she opposed Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed $100 million cut in the pension contribution, and said it would undermine trust by the state’s bond rating agencies.
“I think this is a very difficult thing to defend with the rating agencies,” Kopp told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and Administration.
Read morePicking apart Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed fiscal 2015 budget, the legislature’s chief fiscal analyst told lawmakers Monday that the administration relied on “familiar budget balancing strategies” to make the numbers work. They included a small than average surplus, shifting special funds, replacing cash with bonds, tapping reserves and cutting pension payments.
Read moreThe largest unions representing state workers and public school teachers are upset at Gov. Martin O’Malley’s decision to permanently cut $100 million from extra payments into the state pension system. The money came from additional employee salary deductions required by a 2011 pension reform, and was intended to help cure underfunding in the pension system.
Read moreO’Malley as usual rolled out the new budget with an elaborate PowerPoint presentation to reporters that put a positive spin on the budget numbers. But a different spin can be put on some of the numbers.
Read moreMaryland legislators elected next year would see their salaries rise to $50,330 in 2018, a 16% raise over the next four years recommended Monday by the General Assembly Compensation Commission.
If the legislature accepts the recommendation, it would give the part-time lawmakers their first raise in eight years. Delegates and senators currently make $43,500.
Read moreA new poll found strong public support for increasing Maryland’s minimum wage to $10 an hour, a step being pushed for the upcoming General Assembly session.
The poll by Goucher College also found the majority of the Maryland public regards current pensions for retired state employees as too low, and also thinks all Maryland workers, not just those employed by the state or local governments, should have a pension.
Read moreThe money Maryland’s state and local governments have failed to set aside to fulfill pension promises made to teachers and employees has ballooned to more than $22.5 billion over the past five years, a new report has found.
But the counties that run their own pension systems are in much better shape than the state of Maryland, with the exception of Prince George’s County.
The most under-funded retirement benefits continue to be health insurance for these retirees, which amount to $28 billion for state and local governments. Only a handful of county governments have tried to sock money away.
Read moreThe Maryland state pension system achieved a 10.6% return on its investment portfolio for the fiscal year that ended June 30, bringing the fund assets to a total of $40.2 billion, Chief Investment Officer Melissa Moye told the pension trustees Tuesday.
The return exceeded the system’s target of 7.75% annual return, and was far better than the dismal results of less than 1% for fiscal 2012.
Read moreThe governor and state treasurer cheered Maryland’s retention of its AAA bond ratings released Friday, and the three New York rating agencies continued their praise of Maryland’s high incomes, diversified economy and strong fiscal management.
But the agencies, which have given their top ratings to Maryland for decades, also sounded what have become routine warnings about the state’s dependence on federal spending in an era of cutbacks and sequestration. They continued to worry about the state’s high pension liabilities, particularly compared to the other eight states that also get AAA ratings.
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