Pa. government, school retirees want pension COLA, saying it’s long overdue

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Pa. government, school retirees want pension COLA, saying it’s long overdue
PensionCost-Of-Living-AdjustmentState-Government
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The price tag attached to giving these retirees, whose average age is now 83, is about $112 million a year for 10 years and that is too steep for some while others point to the billions of dollars the state is sitting on in its reserves.

Retired elementary school principal and teacher Robert McVay shared his story of hardship created by the absence of a cost-of-living adjustment in his pension benefits in the last 22 years. He was joined by lawmakers and other retired public servants to call on the General Assembly to pass a COLA before the 2023-24 legislative session ends. Oct. 2, 2024 Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.

“There was no reason for me to believe anything different than that,” he said. “But that all came to a screeching halt” after he retired in 1998 from Franklin Area School District in Venango County. But Senate Appropriations Committee Democratic Chairman Vincent Hughes of Philadelphia said at the news conference the commonwealth can afford it with $14 billion in reserve accounts.

“We cannot overlook the connection between supporting our retired educators and addressing the critical teacher shortage that we face today when we fail to provide financial security for those who have dedicated their life to teaching,” he said. “We must show them that their contributions will be valued. We need to show that not just while they’re in the classroom, but long after they’ve retired.”

Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery County, who along with Sen. John Kane, D-Delaware County, have introduced several bills providing an array of COLA options. They sit idle in the Senate Finance Committee. She called on those in attendance and watching to contact the committee’s chairman, Scott Hutchinson, R-Venango County, to urge him to act on those bills.

“How do you like that?” he said. “I’m guessing not so much, not very much at all. They wouldn’t be willing but that is what they are doing to more than 60,000 retired public servants through their inaction.”

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