State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli isn’t buying into a key part of Gov. Cuomo’s pension reform plan – suggesting Thursday that a move to 401(k) stye plans was too radical and could damage the economy.
“The big concern I have is the more extreme proposals that suggest eliminating defined benefit pension plans and substituting them with 401(k)plans,” DiNapoli said at a forum hosted by the Nationa Public Pension Coalition in Washington D.C.
The coalition is a union-backed group that seeks to protect pension benefits.
DiNapoli, who controls the state pension fund, rejected the notion that current pension payments were “unsustainable” and argued that 401(k)s were never intended to replace pensions.
“I think they’ve certainly proven to be inadequate to providing retirement security,’ DiNapoli said.
Cuomo, during his 2012-13 budget proposal, said pension costs were no longer sustainable and unveiled a proposal requiring all new state and city workers, including police and firefighters, to choose between a 401(K) plan or getting pension benefits that are less generous than those currently offered.
When asked specifically about Cuomo’s plan, DiNapoli said: “I think I’ve been pretty clear in terms of looking at it from the point of view of providing retirement security that defined contribution plans are not the better way to go.”
