York, Pa., needs $10 million by Dec. 31 to meet its minimum pension payment obligations, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said March 23.
Unlike other localities throughout the commonwealth, York continues to lag on its required annual payments, DePasquale said at a briefing in the 44,000-population city 25 miles southeast of state capital Harrisburg. York is also the seat of its namesake county.
Based upon the latest audit, said De Pasquale, the city owes more than $4.13 million to its employee pension funds for missed payments for 2013 and 2014. Another $5.7 million is due by the end of 2015: $3.4 million for the police fund, $1.5 million for the firefighter fund, and $757,667 for the non-uniform fund.
According to DePasquale, York failed to fully pay the minimum municipal obligation, a repeat finding that could result in withholding state aid.
“I know that despite Mayor [Kim] Bracey’s best efforts, York simply does not have the money and there is no realistic way the city will ever catch up without help,” said DePasquale, who has also sounded the municipal pension alarm in Scranton, Pittsburgh and Jeannette.
Bracey, appearing with DePasquale, called for help at the state level. “The system is simply broken," he said. "Unfortunately, our situation in York is not unique.”
Both urged passage of a bill that would among other features shift new state hires to a cash-balance hybrid pension plan, and require the calculation of pensions based on base pay and a small percent of overtime to curb the practice of “spiking,” or increasing final average salary with excessive overtime and unused sick or vacation days.
