ACKLIN UNVEILS PLAN TO SOLVE CITY'S PENSION CRISIS
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Wednesday, September 9, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
CONTACT: Andy Gastmeyer, Press Secretary
412.327.6951 (cell) | 412.481.3150 (office)
ACKLIN UNVEILS PLAN TO SOLVE CITY’S PENSION CRISIS
PITTSBURGH – With Pittsburgh's pension obligations still sorely underfunded, and with a state takeover of the city’s pension fund still a long way from being averted, Independent Mayoral Candidate Kevin Acklin today unveiled his plan to solve the city's pension crisis. Acklin’s plan would restore the city's pension funding above the critical fifty-percent solvency level within two years by divesting a portion of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s $417 million in assets and putting that money into the pension fund.
The Acklin Plan would avert a catastrophic state takeover of the pension fund without privatizing the city's parking garages, eliminating union jobs, raising taxes, or reducing services. The Acklin Plan also takes an important first step toward refocusing the city’s development policies on neighborhood investment and community development rather than subsidizing large-scale corporate projects.
“If we divest less than half of the URA’s assets and devote them to the pension fund, we could avoid a state takeover, put the pension fund back on the path to financial success, and ensure the retirements of Pittsburgh’s hard working men and women,” Acklin said.
Citing the need for “bold new thinking and clear-headed financial planning,” Acklin declared that his plan, the “first serious, substantive effort in more than a decade to address our city’s most pressing financial problem.” In brief, the four components of The Acklin Plan for Pensions are:
1. Partially divest URA assets
2. Infuse diverted URA assets into the pension fund
3. Refocus the URA on neighborhood investment and community development
4. Stop the state takeover of our pension fund
Acklin also addressed Mayor Ravenstahl’s suggestion of privatizing the city’s parking assets, noting that a study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University earlier this year revealed the process would yield only $71 million for the pension fund. Acklin argued that other cities have faced major problems after privatizing their parking assets, and that Pittsburgh “can not trade in long-term stability for short-term gain. Especially a short-term gain that will pay for less than half of what we need to bring the pension fund back to solvency.”
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Read Kevin's full remarks.
See the video of his remarks.
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