Pension Fund

ANNAPOLIS -- Lawmakers are criticizing a proposal to shift some pension costs to counties, saying the added expense could lead to higher property taxes or reductions in county services. Pensions for teachers, other school system employees and community college staff would become partially a county responsibility under a bill being considered by the Maryland General Assembly. Lawmakers have estimated that Washington County could need about $6.5 million to meet that need. "Obviously, it's going to have a significant impact on the county," said Washington County Commissioners President John F. Barr.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- A health care program for Franklin County retirees will need an infusion of money to keep it fully funded, both for 2008 and 2009, Fiscal Department Director Teresa Beckner told the Board of County Commissioners on Thursday. The county budgeted $1.2 million for the Post-Employment Health Benefits program and $1.3 million for 2009, Shank said. The county is required by Governmental Accounting Standards Board rules to report the fund's annual liability, she said.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Despite Franklin County's pension fund losing millions of dollars this fall, the approximately 240 retired county employees will be receiving a 2.98 percent cost-of-living increase in 2009. The Retirement Board voted 3-2 on Tuesday to give an increase based on 85 percent of the increase in the consumer price index (CPI). County Commissioners Bob Thomas, Bob Ziobrowski and David Keller voted for the increase, with Treasurer David Secor and Controller Carol Diller casting the dissenting votes.

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. - A fight over pension funds has led 15 War Memorial Hospital employees to file a lawsuit against the hospital in Morgan County Circuit Court. The suit was filed Tuesday against the hospital and its board of directors, hospital president John H. Borg and Valley Health Systems Inc., the firm that manages War Memorial Hospital. The hospital is owned by Morgan County. The lawsuit is asking for "an amount in excess of $1 million in compensatory and punitive damages, plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

The City of Hagerstown's finance director said he hopes the state made a $242,091 mistake that overcalculated the amount that the city should contribute to employee pension plans. Alfred Martin said during a City Council work session Tuesday that he discovered last month that the city might have to contribute an additional $242,091 to the Maryland State Retirement System Employees' Pension System than 2007-08 preliminary budget figures projected. The Maryland State Retirement System covers the pension plans for active city employees with the exception of sworn fire and police officers, he said.

tammyb@herald-mail.com ANNAPOLIS - Local legislators insist there will be issues on the table other than politics during the upcoming General Assembly session, which begins Wednesday. "I guarantee you close to 1,500 pieces of legislation will get passed and a lot of work will get done," said Del. Christopher B. Shank, R-Washington. "There's a great deal of important heavy lifting to be done. " Not that other issues can't turn political in an election year, or even a nonelection year - witness the medical malpractice wrangling last year, in which partisan squabbling during a December special session overshadowed the regular session that began two weeks later.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com A bill passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature will reduce significantly the amounts local school districts must pay into the state retirement fund. As a result, area school districts might not have to raise taxes as much as they had predicted earlier this month. School districts across Pennsylvania, including those in Franklin County, had said they expected to need large tax increases to cover their contributions to the state pension fund. In some cases the contribution was expected to go up by hundreds of thousands of dollars, local school officials have said.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The Waynesboro Area School District is facing a budget deficit next year of more than $1 million and taxpayers will be called on to foot the difference. Jack Kennedy, business manager for the district, said it's the worst deficit he has seen in the 38 years he has worked for the district. The deficit is expected to translate into a 5 mill tax hike for district taxpayers, Kennedy said. Preliminary figures show that the district's expenses for the next fiscal year will be $34,510,000.

Pension change could cost districts By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro WAYNESBORO, Pa. - When the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a bill in May raising the pensions for retired teachers, it didn't appropriate money for local school boards to pay for the increase. In the case of the Waynesboro Area School District, the move may cost taxpayers another 2 mills in their tax rates next year, said Jack Kennedy, the district's financial officer. The district's annual contribution to the pension fund could go from $90,000 this fiscal year to $460,000 next year, Schools Superintendent Barry L. Dallara said.

W.Va. author offers retirement advice By DAVE McMILLION / Staff Writer, Charles Town photo: JOE CROCETTA/ staff photographer SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Local financial writer Ellen Hoffman has released her second book to help people deal with the often intimidating task of managing their financial future. continued Hoffman, who gives advice on how to understand pension plans, 401(k) plans, the stock market, insurance and Social Security, has been crisscrossing the country promoting her latest book, "The Retirement Catch-Up Guide," since it arrived in bookstores two months ago. Hoffman has been featured in newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and on television and radio shows from New York to Minnesota.