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Posted: 8:45 PM Aug 6, 2009
Pension Problems Discussed at Municipal League Luncheon
City Leaders from all across the state discussed how to fund pensions at Thursday's Municipal League Luncheon.
Reporter: Will Jones Email Address: will.jones@wsaz.com |
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2 Comments 
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- City leaders from across West Virginia are still meeting in Charleston- Thursday was day three of the Municipal League’s Annual Conference.
As was the case in years past, how to fund pensions for police officers and professional firefighters continues to be a big issue.
In fact some cities are being forced far into the red because of pension plans and their last resort could be filing for bankruptcy.
Charleston and Wheeling are hurting, but some say Huntington is by far worse-off than any city in the state.
“Because of the economy and the loss of citizens, the city of Huntington’s revenues are very flat,” said Huntington’s Deputy Mayor Tom Bell.
If you add the city’s pension responsibilities for police officers and professional firefighters to the mix, Huntington leaders say the city is in trouble.
Huntington alone has $135-million in unfunded liability pensions.
“It’s been accumulating and it has now reached a critical point,” Bell said.
Although not as severe, other cities are facing the same financial problem.
Statewide- there is a nearly $700-million deficit in the pension fund program. Charleston, Huntington and Wheeling account for half of that.
“The pension problem is a problem in Charleston. It’s a can that we kicked down the road for several years- other cities can’t do that. It’s 8-percent of our budget,” said Charleston Mayor Danny Jones.
For many cities it’s a never ending balancing act.
“We don’t have the luxury of the federal government to operate in a deficit. We have to balance our budgets every year. So those things become a critical part of our budgeting,” said Clarksburg City Councilman Jim Hunt.
One solution that the Municipal League has pushed for is home rule- it would give cities the option of raising money through taxes.
“We have great cities and we don’t have the ability to manage our own affairs. A good home rule bill will go a long way to solving a lot of our problems,” said Morgantown Mayor Bill Byrne.
Huntington leaders plan to meet with state Senator Dan Foster to work out a solution to the city’s pension problems. Senator Foster chairs the Senate Pension Committee.
Senator Foster says some possible solutions could be changing the contribution schedule and changing the pension plans for new hires.
In the last legislative session, a bill to help the cities with their pension fund problems died in the senate finance committee.
Latest Comments
Hmmm, looks like recruiting police officers and firefighters just got a little harder. Its not like the pay is great already and now you take a good retirement away for risking our lives for your family and friends for over 20 years? Its not the workers fault the city leaders cannot manage the retirement plans and single out certain people who are aloud to abuse this. lets run the numbers in Charleston and see if the fire department follows state law that is suppose to keep people from bumping up their pension by working ton's of overtime?? Hmmm, politics as usual, dont ask dont tell.
And once again through the solid leadership of those wonderful dems/socialists, we will have to pay higher taxs to help with the accounting problem that always seems to just pop up. There's a problem,no jobs,no taxes, no taxes, no money. Simple huh?
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