PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Some retired state workers in Rhode Island have been collecting pensions that exceed six figures while the state retirement system is underfunded, and cost-of-living adjustments have been frozen.
The Providence Journal reports that a cost-cutting overhaul passed in the General Assembly in 2011 changed age and work thresholds for retirement and froze cost-of-living adjustments until the state pension obligations were 80% funded.
Citing numbers from state Treasurer Seth Magaziner’s office, the newspaper reports that the state employee’s retirement system is about 53% funded and the teachers’ retirement system is about 55% funded, according to the latest figures that date to June 2018.
Of the top 30 highest pensions in the state, only one is not a judge. The highest annual pension is about $209,000.
