Fung Tells General Assembly to Reject Pension Deal

Cranston Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Allan W. Fung said the General Assembly should reject the negotiated pension settlement.

The deal, announced Friday, is expected to increase the unfunded pension liability by $245 million for state employees, teachers and municipal workers. 

"What are we going to do re-mortgage the house again? The taxpayers of our local cities and towns can not afford any increase into the public-pension system. The only way to raise this additional revenue is on the backs of the taxpayers of Rhode Island," Fung said.

The rest of Fung's statement:

Fung said the annual taxpayer contributions to public-employee pensions more than doubled, from $139 million in 2003 to $302 million in 2010, and were expected to double again to $621.8 million 2012. The re-amortization of our liability was already an estimated $1.8 billion dollars to the taxpayers.

"I urge every resident in the State of Rhode Island to call their Representative and Senator and tell them to reject any new legislation that will add additional costs, whether it be next year or further in the future, to the taxpayers of Rhode Island. We are now going into year three of this issue while we are suffering from the worst unemployment rate in the country, one of the worst states to start or run a business, and one of the worst tax environments in the country. It is imperative that Rhode Island has a leader that will not only help it turn the economic corner, but also restore Rhode Island to the great state it use to be."

"The Treasurer continues to play political games with our pension fund. First, it was the divestment of a fund that held stock in a gun company, and most recently, dumping Daniel Loeb's ThirdPoint, the best performing hedge fund in the state. (The Rhode Island pension fund had an average return of 14% last year while ThirdPoint's return was 24.7% and 49% over the last two years). The Treasurer has a fiduciary responsibility to the beneficiaries and the taxpayers of Rhode Island to achieve the greatest return on investment as possible; period. The time for pandering and politically expedient decisions needs to come to an end," concluded Fung.