Hearing Set on Proposed County Employee Pension Changes

The following article excerpt is from our content sharing partner, FairfaxNews.com.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this week inched closer to making changes in its pension plans for new county hires, acting on a longtime argument by Supervisor Pat Herrity that Fairfax pension benefits are too generous.

The board voted to authorize a public hearing on November 20, 2018 to consider proposed amendments to the ordinances for Fairfax County’s three retirement systems. The changes would be effective for new employees hired after June 30, 2019.

“Pension costs compete with our ability to provide quality services to our residents and to pay competitive salaries to hire the best and brightest teachers and employees,” Herrity said in an emailed statement. “We cannot continue to ask our residents to work after their retirement to pay significant increases in their taxes so our new County employees can retire as early as age 55 with a pension benefit that is much more generous than surrounding jurisdictions.”

The action has been a long time coming. In 2009, Herrity asked for a review of the county’s pension plans and in 2013, the board made some minor changes. Following additional advocacy for changes to address the plan’s unfunded liability and cost, the board began another review in late 2016.

Read more at FairfaxNews.com