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Thursday, July 20, 2017
your financial advisor is up for election and
st least in theory suffolk county elections are harder to rig snd msnipukste thsn ehen he was defeated and manipulated a redo of the election fir presudent of teamsters local 707 which reoresents nassauo otb employees who are awaiting a us suoreme court decision on whether the have to pay dues
get your ya yas out snd let us hear from those members of tesmsters local 707 whose pension payments were reduced by the pbgc
honest elections like lawful arrests are not the norm?
wall street journal reporter for long island sleeps at deep sleep in the hamptons
President Donald Trump's proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 released Tuesday calls for increased spending on the military and infrastructure, paid for by tax reform, regulatory rollbacks, reduced non-defense spending and cuts in federal employee retirement benefits.
Revenue projections to have a balanced federal budget within 10 years are based on 3% annual growth in the economy, in contrast to the Congressional Budget Office's projection of 1.9%.
The proposed budget also calls for additional premiums paid to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. by underfunded multiemployer pension plans by adding a variable rate premium and exit premiums similar to existing rates for single-employer plans. The changes are projected to raise an additional $16 billion to keep the multiemployer program solvent for the next 20 years, plus another $5 billion that would come from having multiemployer plans pay premiums faster, so that they fall within the 10-year federal budget window. Adding these new premiums would require legislation.
Some of the revenue raisers in the proposed budget would help finance an infrastructure initiative budgeted for $5 billion in the first year, and $200 billion total through fiscal 2027. The administration will propose additional funding focused on incentives for private investment, according to the budget document.
Federal retirement costs for employees would increase under the proposal, with benefits based on a worker's last five years instead of three, and workers sharing half the cost of defined benefit contributions with employers. Cost-of-living increases would be reduced or eliminated. The changes are aimed at bringing the federal government in line with private-sector companies, which the budget notes “are providing less compensation in the form of retirement benefits.”
On tax reform, the president calls for a lower individual rate and protecting deductions for retirement savings, while business tax rates would be lowered and special interest tax breaks eliminated. That reform could reduce taxes on upper-income families, which would place the burden of reaching a balanced budget through federal spending cuts of programs primarily benefiting low- and middle-income recipients, said G. William Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. “Many of these programs need reform, and the goal of reducing public debt is laudable, but there is a level of unfairness in the president's budget proposal that would be devastating to low-income families and states struggling to provide critical public services.”
Mr. Hoagland called the president's budget “just the opening bid in what will be a very contentious debate over the next several months on the budget and other competing priorities.”
The president's budget does not cover the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which submit their own budgets.
SEC funding, which does not affect the federal budget because it is offset by transaction fees, would remain unchanged from the current $1.6 billion level and keep the current hiring freeze. It calls for continued access to a Reserve Fund to finance information technology improvements, but the president's budget would eliminate that fund by 2027.
CFTC officials called for $31.5 million in additional funds to implement its fintech initiative, perform more cost-benefit analysis and oversee swaps clearing organizations.
Milton Acosta, of West Babylon, worked for companies that paid into the Road Carriers Local 707 Welfare and Pension Funds, on May 20, 2016. Photo Credit: Heather Walsh
A federal agency has declared a Hempstead-based union pension fund insolvent, a move that has resulted in additional benefits cuts for the plan’s nearly 4,000 retirees.
The retirees receiving benefits from Road Carriers Local 707 Welfare and Pension Funds are getting less than half of what they were promised.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., an agency of the Labor Department that insures private-sector pensions, said Wednesday that it had started providing financial assistance to the pension fund, whose retirees worked for different employers in related industries like trucking and warehousing. Such plans are called multi-employer pension funds.
Similar plans nationwide, including two others on Long Island, have been hit hard because of the declining numbers of employers contributing to the funds, and investment losses incurred during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, the agency said.
So many trucking companies have failed or consolidated that at many pension funds retirees far outnumber workers. That decline has left the funds short of cash because companies pay into the pension funds based on the number of active workers. For Local 707’s pension fund, the ratio is about five retirees for every worker.
The PBGC said the Local 707 retirees’ benefits were cut on Feb. 1 to bring them in line with the maximum payout allowed at funds the agency assists. That reduction followed a 40 percent cut the plan made last year as the fund struggled to pay retirees.
After the first cut, the pension plan’s trustees sought permission for another cut to keep the fund from going broke. But the PBGC rejected that bid because it concluded that the move would not restore the plan to solvency.
Unlike with single-employer pension plans, the PBGC doesn’t take over the multi-employer pension funds. Instead it provides financial assistance while the funds’ trustees continue to administer it. Local 707’s fund is administered by four trustees, including fund administrator Kevin McCaffrey, who is also a Suffolk County legislator.
Milton Acosta, a 74-year-old retired forklift driver in West Babylon, has seen his monthly pension decline from $2,223 a month to $831, after the two cuts.
“I had to declare bankruptcy last year after the first cut,” he said yesterday. “I don’t know what I am going to do now.”
Neil DeStefano, a 73-year-old retired warehouse worker from Franklin Square, said his pension has dropped from $2,200 to about $850.
“It’s been a lot of pressure on me,” said DeStefano. “I am afraid that I am going to lose my house.”
McCaffrey blames the pension’s woes on government rules that don’t allow the multi-employer funds to adjust benefits before they run out of money.
“It is a broken pension system that needs to be fixed,” he said.
Some of the retirees also blamed the federal government for not taking a more active role.
“The government has bailed out all these banks, and they aren’t doing anything for us,” DeStefano said.
Q: I received an insolvency notice from the Local 707 Pension Fund in December 2016. What does this mean?
A: The notice that the Local 707 Pension Fund provided to you in December 2016, is known as a "Notice of Insolvency Benefit Level." The notice describes your monthly benefit payment under the plan benefit formula and it shows the monthly benefit payment that is guaranteed under federal pension insurance. Now that the Local 707 Pension Fund is insolvent you will receive only the guaranteed benefit amount.
PBGC is the federal pension insurer that guarantees basic pension benefits. The amount of PBGC's guarantee is set by law under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Because there are legal limits to what PBGC can pay, your benefit level has been reduced if it exceeds the limit.
Q: The insolvency notice the Local 707 Pension Fund sent me shows how much I will receive. What should I do if I don't understand how my new benefit was calculated and/or believe it is incorrect?
Q: Will I continue receiving my pension? Will my pension decrease?
Q: Will PBGC take over administration of my pension?
Q: The Local 707 Pension Fund reduced my benefits to the PBGC-guaranteed level. What should I expect?
Q: I'm 80 or older, or I'm disabled. Why are my benefits being cut?
Q: Who participates in the Local 707 Pension Fund?
Q: Didn't Congress pass a law in 2014 to help troubled multiemployer plans?
Q: The Local 707 Pension Fund's applications under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act were denied in 2016. What does it mean to my benefit that the applications were denied?
Q: How reliable are PBGC's future payments to the Local 707 Pension Fund; so that the 707 Fund can continue paying my guaranteed pension benefits?
Q: What are the reasons for underfunding in troubled multiemployer plans?
Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey speaks beside Legislator Robert Trotta during a press conference at the William Rogers Legislature Building in Hauppauge Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015. Photo Credit: Barry Sloan
Kevin McCaffrey won back the presidency of his Teamsters union local, regaining the $106,000 union post that he had lost in November following cuts to members’ pensions.
McCaffrey, minority leader of the Suffolk County Legislature, retook the position as head of Teamsters Local 707 in Nassau County by a vote of 525-455, according to ballots opened Wednesday. The election was rerun because ambulance company employees originally did not get their ballots.
Local president John Kelder, the president who had beaten McCaffrey by six votes in November, said he would challenge the revote.
“There were plenty of irregularities,” Kelder said. “We’re appealing the decision and we expect to persevere.”
McCaffrey called Kelder and his slate of candidates “desperate people.”
Steve Lucas, a retired trucker from West Babylon who had his pension cut, has criticized McCaffrey for working both the Teamster positions and legislative job.
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