ELMIRA – Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli praised Governor Cuomo’s efforts in securing the passage of the state Tier VI retirement pension plan. "The need for pension reform in New York is clear: counties have been forced to cut back time and time again due to rising retirement costs, hurting our residents and keeping us from spending money on jobs, infrastructure, and important local projects. Governor Cuomo recognized this problem and heard our concerns, and we thank him for his leadership and hard work in seeing this historic pension reform put in place," said Santulli.

The new plan does not affect any current employees or retirees in the state retirement system but will help alleviate pension costs for governments in the future. The plan includes employee contributions and increasing the retirement age as well as steps to eliminate pension-abuse padding and payment for unused vacation and sick time. The Governor estimates the new tier will save State taxpayers and local governments including New York City $80 billion over the next 30 years.

“In Chemung County, pension payments in the past five years have increased from $3.8 million in 2007 to nearly $7 million in 2012.  From 2011 to 2012 alone, the increase was over $1 million.  Although we will not see immediate relief, it is a good first step in the right direction,” added Santulli.