WPRO News and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A Superior Court judge has approved a proposed settlement to resolve years of legal wrangling over Rhode Island’s landmark public pension system overhaul.
Judge Sarah Taft-Carter wrote in her decision Tuesday it’s not a “perfect solution” but the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate.
She overruled objections to it.
Taft-Carter conducted a five-day hearing in May to determine whether the settlement is fair.
Seventy people signed up to testify and about half of them did. Hundreds filed written objections.
Public sector unions and retirees sued over higher retirement ages and cuts to cost-of-living increases designed to save the state $4 billion over 20 years.
The state struck a deal with most defendants to preserve about 90 percent of the savings from the 2011 reform.
The terms must be incorporated into the law.
