One local economic development entity has taken a different course to comply with Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's investigation and action into the practice of getting people into the state pension system through a series of managment agreements crafted by an Albany law firm specializing in advising local IDA's.
The Watertown Trust has instead hired two employees in a private sector manner with no involvement in the NYS Retirement System, effective August 1. Our board is very comfortable with the direction taken and the advice on the matter from the separate legal counsel secured by the Trust.
If signed by the Governor, a recently passed bill ensures pension credits earned to date after the Comptroller had sought to abrogate the credits due to his contention the local development corporations were not eligible to participate in the pension system and that the arrangement in place was in essence a ruse. The other side of the coin is that for years the state accepted the contributions made into the system and then changed the rules late, leaving 12 employees in the lurch. If the past credits had not been left in place the workers in questions would have sued the local IDA and LDC's for the cash equivalent of the plan they were told they were entitled to. They would have won and that would be very expensive.
This whole episode has been an expensive and distracting affair and the actions of the Trust Board ensure the agency and its two employees will move on without further legal gyrations.
Watertown Daily Times | JCIDA OKs to cut ties with sub-agencies so staff can get state pension
8 comments:
Not that I give two $h!ts about anyone at the alphabet soup agencies but why is our creepy state Attorney General the one making the call if they are eligible or not? Our AG's have to much power and not enough brains. We are supposed to have judges to interpret laws.
BTW...did DANC and Tug Hill get kicked out too?
it seems to me that if IDA's, LDC's etc., must be subject to the State's public laws such as the open meeting law, freedom of information law, and the public reporting under the public authorities law, how can the state then question whether these are public agencies w. public employees? It doesn't make sense.
The state didn't question it...the Attorney General dictated it.
First the JCIDA was told NOT ebroll their employees into the retirement system this was 1994, Nonetheless they were and the Donald needed help, We have already spent over 100K in Lawyer Fees on this mess, One has to wonder how efficient these authorties are run and from what Ive been told they are one of the leaders in cost/per job created, Secondly the State Comptroller is the person who brought this up, and the AG acts on the complaint. I seem to recall someone else loosing their pension credits and another lawyer lost his pension, both were eployed by the WSS, No one went to bat for them, seems odd dont it????
Why does the NYS comptroller need the AG to carry out his duties of administering the retirement system?
FYI the State Comptroller doesn't need the AG to carry out his duties of administering the retirement system. The State Comptroller is the sole trustee of the system. The problem was found in a comptroller's audit. And BTW Alexander and his crew were told that those employees were not eligible more than a decade ago. You reap what you sow.
Nice post 1200. And the Truth. To bad AJR and PattyPlate didnt realize it.
The Watertown Trust will simply add these next two employees to the state FreeStuff list at a later date when nobody is looking. All money is free here in the Empire State. Taxpayers, don't be late. Fools.
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